Kriya Yoga
Four Spiritual Masters and a Beginner
“Kriya Yoga belongs on the bookshelf alongside classics like Autobiography of a Yogi, to be delved into again and again…”
Foreword Clarion Reviews
When Heidi Wyder was travelling the world and arrived in Varanasi, India, she decided it was the perfect spot to dabble in a bit of yoga. The young novitiate had no inkling that this casual step to get in shape was the launch of a transformative, lifelong spiritual journey. Kriya Yoga: Four Spiritual Masters and a Beginner shares her remarkable immersion in an extremely powerful practice that leads to inner peace and supreme bliss.
Logging her progress with the original Kriya Yoga, Wyder’s fascinating and uplifting account takes spiritual seekers everywhere on a captivating voyage along the ancient and much sought-after yoga path known in India as the “Holy Grail.” The book does this by recounting the extraordinary and miraculous lives of the renowned spiritual master Lahiri Mahasaya, his son Tinkori Lahiri, and his grandson Satya Charan Lahiri, who passed the authority to teach others to his most advanced disciple, “Guruji” Prakash Shankar Vyas.
As she explores questions surrounding prayer, meditation, healing, levitation, and the meaning of life, Wyder presents Guruji’s logical and authoritative answers. Kriya Yoga now enables others to access the authentic and scientific Kriya Yoga, and further their own personal quest towards self-discovery and peace of mind.
Returning to the source
Returning to the source of Kriya Yoga, Wyder chronicles her personal progress on the much-sought-after meditation technique from the beginner’s perspective, whilst exploring issues such as:
- What is the key to lasting inner peace and happiness?
- How were Jesus and other spiritual masters able to heal?
- What are the secrets behind levitation and walking on water?
- What is the difference between prayer and meditation?
- What does breath-control have to do with finding God?
- Why should a master with supernatural powers hide these from the general public?
- How and why has Lahiri Mahasaya’s Kriya Yoga been changed since its arrival in the West?
- How can I recognise the original Kriya Yoga method?
The Story of Yoga
Since the 1980s, yoga has become highly commercialised: Hatha Yoga is packaged as a workout, whilst Tantra Yoga is marketed as the answer to increasing sexual prowess. New varieties are constantly appearing, and a large proportion of books currently available emphasise the physical aspect alone. Kriya Yoga: Four Spiritual Masters and a Beginner is different because it deals with the whole story of yoga. Whilst it clarifies the origin and purpose of Hatha and other branches of yoga, it is concerned primarily with its spiritual and mystical aspect.
The Source of Kriya
At a time when many are propagating a changed method of the scientific technique, this book returns to the source and principles of Kriya Yoga, offering a clear and honest perspective. It explains why seekers should be wary of claims that five to ten minutes of meditation a day can lead to self-realisation and ultimate freedom; or that a few months will suffice in order to unlock the chakras and raise the kundalini. The original Kriya Yoga as given by Lahiri Mahasaya is no ‘quick fix’. The book explains the important reasons why Kriya has always been transferred from authorised teacher to disciple in the original tradition.
Available in paperback & Kindle from Amazon and most online bookstores.
Why this book was written
Due to this continuing crisis facing the authentic and scientific Kriya Yoga, Guruji entrusted Wyder with the task of writing Kriya Yoga: Four Spiritual Masters and a Beginner. He wanted there to be a book on the market whereby spiritual seekers would be able to recognise the much sought-after meditation technique in its original form as given by Lahiri Mahasaya. It reminds seekers of the importance of having a living spiritual master on this path.
In Kriya Yoga, the original Kriya Yoga may be found and recognised. An entire chapter is dedicated to the yogic method in which questions are answered such as:
- What is Kriya Yoga?
- What are the benefits of Kriya Yoga?
- What are the secrets behind levitation and walking on water?
- What is the connection between respiration and mind?
- Why is Kriya Yoga referred to as a ‘scientific’ technique?
- How exactly has Kriya Yoga been altered since it arrived in the West?
- How can I recognise the original method and principles of Kriya Yoga?
- Why can Kriya Yoga not be learned from a book alone?
Yogic terms are explained, including:
PRANA AND PRANAYAMA Cosmic Energy and how we can tap into it ourselves
THE CHAKRAS the seven energy centres in the human body located at points along the spine
KUNDALINI the dormant, latent power in man which lies coiled up at the root chakra
KUTASTHA also referred to as ‘the Third Eye’ or ‘the Spiritual Eye’
SUSHUMNA for yogis, the key to rendering external breathing unnecessary – victory over death itself
SAMADHI otherwise referred to as ‘super-consciousness’
“Samadhi is beyond reason, beyond the intellect and beyond the workings of mind. It is a question of practice, not theory, and therefore it is impossible to philosophise on the subject. However, the reality and existence of this state, which is scientifically attainable through Kriya Yoga, has produced spiritual masters, saints and prophets throughout every age: and their experiences of super-consciousness formed the foundations upon which the major religions of the world were built.”
Extract from Kriya Yoga, Four Spiritual Masters and a Beginner
Other editions
Kriya Yoga (versione italiana)
È nata nel Sussex, in Inghilterra, nel 1969. Come cantautrice, ha inciso due album all’inizio degli anni Novanta. Ha conseguito una laurea in francese e tedesco presso l’Università di Exeter e, in seguito, ha fatto pratica e ha lavorato come insegnante di lingue in Inghilterra. Attualmente vive in Australia con il marito e i figli. Lavora come insegnante e scrittrice, e nel frattempo s’impegna al massimo nella pratica delle tecniche di Kriya Yoga che le ha insegnato “Guruji” Vyas.
Su Amazon.it
2027
About the author
In 1995, Heidi Wyder travelled to India on a round-the-world ticket as a young singer-songwriter and language teacher who had recorded two folk-pop albums. She had everything to be grateful for, yet could not shake the feeling that something was missing. It would never have occurred to her, as a devout Christian, that a spiritual practice was what she needed, but following a chance meeting with Guruji in Varanasi, it soon became clear that Kriya Yoga was the elusive something she had been searching for. Since then, the practice has been at the heart of her life, and her music.
She and her family migrated to Melbourne in the same year as Guruji, and she has lived, worked, and practised Kriya Yoga there ever since.
Born in Sussex, England, she studied French and German at the University of Exeter before training as a teacher at the University of Cambridge. She has enjoyed a long teaching career in Switzerland, England, and Australia. Today she continues to share Guruji’s wisdom through her writing and on social media. Her music is available on all major streaming platforms.
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