Kriya yoga

Kriya yoga is a set of advanced techniques, or kriyas, practiced as a type of yoga popularized in the West by by Paramahansa Yogananda, which, according to those who practice it, makes the practitioner more spiritually advanced. Gurus and their disciples of Yogananda's Self-Realization Fellowship have and continue to initiate into kriya yoga people professing an interest in becoming more spiritual.

History

According to the Yogananda's book, Autobiography of a Yogi (http://sources.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobiography_of_a_Yogi), kriya yoga was well-known in ancient India, but was eventually lost. In 1861 however, the book continues, the guru Mahavatar Babaji, the same as the legendary immortal guru Babaji who was one of the seven Rishis, initiated Lahiri Mahasaya into kriya yoga. Mahasaya then revived the practice, and it soon spread throughout India. Yogananda, a disciple of one of Mahasaya's disciples, Sri Yukteswar Giri, then brought kriya yoga to the United States and Europe during the twentieth century. It was brought to the Netherlands by Swami Hari Harananda Giri, another disciple of Yukteswar’s lineage. Much of its notability comes from Yogananda's popular autobiography.

Other lineages

Another lineage in teaching kriya yoga stems from Paramyogeshwar Sri Devpuriji, who received his initiation from Siddha Guru Sri Alakh Puriji, also one of the seven Rishis, according to the book Sri Lila-Amrit, the biography of Sri Deep Narayan Mahaprabhuji, written by Dharmsamrat Paramhans Swami Madhavananda.

A third lineage was initiated by Swami Satyananda, who discovered the practices from the ancient tantric scriptures and initiated his followers into the system. This practice is thought by the Bihar Yoga / Satyananda yoga tradition. Books in the topic include Swami Satyananda's A Systematic Course in the Ancient Tantric Techniques of Yoga and Kriya and Kundalini Tantra.