Benefits of Kriya Yoga

From the talks and writings of Paramahansa

Yogananda:
Kriya Yoga Gives the True Experiene of !eligion
"Your life will reflet spiritual onsiousness if you
meditate# $ine the pu%liation of my %ook
&Autobiography of a Yogi'( everyone is asking a%out
Kriya Yoga# That is my purpose# ) didn*t ome to
give theologial a%strations( %ut a tehni+ue
where%y those who are sinere an truly know God(
not ,ust theori-e a%out .im####The pratie of Kriya
gives the true experiene of religion( whih annot %e
had %y ,ust talking a%out God# /esus said: 01hy all
ye me( 2ord( 2ord( and do not the things whih )
say3*
"1hen %y Kriya Yoga ) open my spiritual eye( the
whole world drops away from my onsiousness( and
God is with me# 4nd why not3 ) am .is hild# $t# )gnatius said( 0God seeks willing hearts that .e
may give .is %ounties to them####* That is most %eautiful( and that is what ) %elieve# God seeks
willing hearts for the %estowal of .is gifts# .e is willing to give us everything( %ut we are not
willing to make the effort to %e reeptive#5
6 Paramahansa Yogananda(
Journey to Self-realization

7pen 7neself to the Blessings of God
"Prayer with devotion is a wonderful means of
opening oneself to the freely flowing %lessings of
God( a neessary link of man*s life to the )nfinite
$oure of all %enefation# But it takes a long time
for prayer to %e effetive when the mind is
outwardly roaming# That is why one hour of Kriya
Yoga meditation an %estow more effet than
twenty8four hours of ordinary prayer#
"Those who pratie the tehni+ue of Kriya deeply for even a little while( and sit long in
meditation in the resultant stillness( find that the fore of their prayer is dou%led( tre%led( a
hundred times more powerful# )f one enters the inner temple of silene and worships %efore the
altar of God with prayer and invoation of .is presene( he omes +uikly# 1hen the
2isten to an audio reording of
Paramahansa,i*s words on Kriya Yoga
onsiousness is withdrawn from the sensory surfae of the %ody and its surroundings and
entrali-ed in the ere%rospinal shrines of soul pereption( that is the most effetive time to
pray#5
6 Paramahansa Yogananda(
The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You
Kriya Yoga 6 .ighest 9ethod of God :ontat
"Kriya Yoga is the highest method of God ontat# )n my own searh for God ) traveled all over
)ndia( and heard wisdom from the lips of a num%er of her greatest masters# ) an therefore vouh
for the fat that in $elf8!eali-ation teahings are the highest truths and sientifi tehni+ues
given to mankind %y God and the Great 7nes#
"The aftereffets of Kriya %ring with them the utmost peae and %liss# The ,oy that omes with
Kriya is greater than the ,oys of all pleasura%le physial sensations put together# 0;nattrated to
the sensory world( the yogi experienes the ever new ,oy inherent in the $elf# Engaged in divine
union of the soul with $pirit( he attains %liss indestruti%le* <Bhagavad Gita =:>?@# From that ,oy
experiened in meditation ) reeive the rest of a thousand sleeps# $leep %eomes virtually
unneessary to the advaned Kriya Yogi#
"1hen %y Kriya Yoga the devotee enters samadhi wherein his eyes( %reath( and heart are
+uieted( another world omes into view# Breath( sound( and movement of the eyes %elong to this
world# But the yogi who has ontrol of the %reath may enter the heavenly astral and ausal
worlds and ommune there with God*s saints( or enter osmi onsiousness and ommune with
God# The yogi is not interested in anything else#
"1hoever will give less importane to everything else( remem%ering what ) have said( will get to
God without fail#5
6 Paramahansa Yogananda(
!an"s #ternal $uest

Eradiate Bad 9ental .a%its and Karma
"Eah of your ha%its reates a speifi 0groove(* or pathway( in the %rain# These patterns make
you %ehave in a ertain way( often against your wish# Your life follows those grooves that you
yourself have reated in the %rain# )n that sense you are not a free personA you are more or less a
vitim of the ha%its you have formed# Bepending on how set those patterns are( to that degree
you are a puppet# But you an neutrali-e the ditates of those %ad ha%its# .ow3 By reating %rain
patterns of opposite good ha%its# 4nd you an ompletely erase the grooves of %ad ha%its %y
meditation# There is no other way# .owever( you an*t ultivate good ha%its without good
ompany and good environment# 4nd you an*t free yourself from %ad ha%its without good
ompany and meditation####
"Every time you meditate deeply on God( %enefiial hanges take plae in the patterns of your
%rain# $uppose you are a finanial failure or a moral failure or a spiritual failure# Through deep
meditation( affirming( 0) and my Father are one(* you will know that you are the hild of God#
.old on to that ideal# 9editate until you feel a great ,oy# 1hen ,oy strikes your heart( God has
answered your %roadast to .imA .e is responding to your prayers and positive thinking# This is
a distint and definite method:
"First( meditate upon the thought(
0) and my Father are one(* trying
to feel a great peae( and then a
great ,oy in your heart# 1hen that
,oy omes( say( 0Father( Thou art
with me# ) ommand Thy power
within me to auteri-e my %rain
ells of wrong ha%its and past seed
tendenies#* The power of God in
meditation will do it# !id yourself
of the limiting onsiousness that
you are a man or a womanA know
that you are the hild of God#
Then mentally affirm and pray to
God: 0) ommand my %rain ells
to hange( to destroy the grooves of %ad ha%its that have made a puppet out of me# 2ord( %urn
them up in Thy divine light#* 4nd when you will pratie the $elf8!eali-ation tehni+ues of
meditation( espeially Kriya Yoga( you will atually see that light of God %apti-ing you#5
6 Paramahansa Yogananda(
The %i&ine Romance