I’ll be giving a live webinar on Thursday night on just this subject (which will include a first ever interactive kirtan with tabla, guitar, and harmonium) and wanted to give a little background of what chanting has meant to me.
When I came to Ananda and experienced chanting for the first time, my heart was wonderstruck at how so few words with such a simple melody could have such a profound effect upon me. Tears flowed as my heart was cracked open with a crowbar.
How different this was from my experience in the Presbyterian church in which we’d typically sing three hymns, all with 3 or 4 different verses that kept our attention wrapped up in the words of each line. Nobody ever explained hymn singing to me, and as I stood next to my mom sharing the hymnal, I got the feeling that this was something that was expected of me, and it was simply something one did as a good Christian. Was God expecting us to sing to Him? I couldn’t quite get the deeper meaning, and occupied myself with learning the harmony parts - at least that was pleasing enough.
If chanting is something new to you, please, please understand this: God is not expecting us to sing to Him, but rather wants us to sing with Him, and to open ourselves to His presence. The chanting that we have to offer is simply an opportunity to experience for ourselves firsthand God’s presence. It’s not something that we expect people to do simply because it ought to be done, but is a meal offered for anyone to partake. What we get out of it is up to us, and what a feast it can be.
This evening I taught a Music and Meditation class for the Meditation Teacher Training class at the Expanding Light. For some, chanting was a new encounter, and my job was to give them as dynamic experience as I could of what chanting is all about. At the end of the class, my consciousness was completely transformed and I found myself blissed out - one of the benefits of leading such a class!
My approach is this: in order to convincingly convey something to someone, I must bring it alive as completely as possible. For instance, if I were to try to share my enthusiasm about the new ice cream store in Nevada City, I’m going to try to bring to mind (and mouth!) the experience as vividly as I can so that I can use the best words to convey the experience (”the lemon custard was divine: creamy, sweet, and refreshing!”). But no matter how many words I use, I don’t think I can leave you with the exact taste in your mouth. And seeing as finished off the cup, all I can do is give you directions (Treats - 110 York Street!).
With chanting, we get to go beyond the realm of words into that of vibration, and with dynamic energy on my part and receptivity on the your own, I can help lead you to a direct experience for yourself. How is that possible? For me, I must again feel the vibration of each chant so powerfully that it can’t help but aid in awakening those same vibrations within your own self. And as we chant together, you must be as open as possible to the experience. If I slightly dampen my cello strings, no matter how hard I try to produce a freely resonating sound, it will remain muted. As I feel and broadcast (both vibrationally and digitally), I’m offering through my own state of receptivity what is possible for you to experience - bliss divine, eternal love, devotion, peace, deep calmness, and power. If my hope is for you to touch a little of what chanting has to offer, I must be an ever deeper channel through which this all can flow. And that challenge is what leaves me residing in bliss.
Here is a recording of I Am the Bubble from the Crystal Clarity album, Bliss Chants. As you listen, try to feel what is happening on a deeper level than just the auditory - go within and feel for God’s presence as Bliss. The more you can open to the experience, the more you can resonate with joy.
Seven years ago, unexpectedly, I woke up one morning with a strong desire to meditate.
I’d thought meditation was a good idea for some time — but meditation was something that other people did. I’d tried it and it hadn’t worked out. But, here was this new feeling: “I must find God!”
I struggled on my own for a month or two, until I discovered Ananda’s center in Seattle and learned the Hong-Sau Technique from Nayaswami Hriman, one of the spiritual directors there.
This started my lifelong journey of meditation.
Meditate Without Fail
“Struggles of the battlefield pale to insignificance, when man first contends with inner enemies.”
— Paramhansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi
In the beginning of the spiritual path, it is good to dive as deeply as you can — you have an enthusiasm then, that, if put to good use, can serve you throughout the rest of your life.
As an example, a goal that served me very well was this: create a daily habit of meditation. I had heard that Swami Kriyananda had meditated every day since he first learned how, without fail.
Great! I would do the same. But it was harder than I thought.
First, I started having back problems. At times, I could only sit for 15 minutes at most. Then, there were other days that my mind was so resistant to meditation, it was all I could do to drag myself, literally crawling! (self-pityingly), to the chair in front of my altar, there to sit for a moment and finally flop over onto the floor.
I was determined to meditate at least some every day. This meant no vacations, no holidays, and no Sundays off. (Thinking back on this, I realize this absolute, unwavering method is not the route everyone takes to daily meditation, but it is what got me to a strong daily practice the fastest.) A funny realization is that I’d probably never been this consistent about anything else in my entire life.
And finally, strange to relate, my first meditations resulted in an unpleasant feeling of disorientation. (For at least a month, I couldn’t meditate at all: I read books of Paramhansa Yogananda’s instead.) There was a solution: Nayaswami Hriman guided me to meditate with my eyes open, in the beginning, and gave other suggestions, which in time cured the problems entirely.
But, in the beginning, I didn’t know that these problems had solutions: they all seemed like impossible challenges.
Back pain was a good example. Many meditators have experienced it — perhaps including yourself!
Once I moved to Ananda Village, over a year later, I went to see Dr. Peter Van Houten, an Ananda Minister and doctor at the local (award-winning) Sierra Family Medical Clinic. At this time, by one trick or another, though physical therapy, and perseverance, I was able to meditate for more than an hour at a time, but still felt limited by discomfort.
Dr. Peter offered some advice, and said this sort of thing is pretty normal — and that it usually goes away in “three to five years.”
The “three to five years” have since come and gone. And he was right! Now, it’s rare for any back pain to interfere with meditation. However, if you do have trouble with back pain, or any other medical issue, seeing a doctor is still probably the best first step to handling it.
As to the other challenge, the daily one of meditation itself — it became easier over time, and has been the most rewarding discipline of my life.
The Journey Continues
My favorite advice from that time period were quotes from Yogananda and Kriyananda like, “The only thing you have to do is never give up,” “The path is not really so difficult, if you but take it one step at a time,” and “A saint is a sinner who never gave up.”
Connecting regularly with Hriman, I continued to meditate and seek advice when I felt stuck, or was confused on some point. I owe a lot to the opportunity to have asked so many questions, and received such useful and kind guidance.
Three months into my practice, I started taking classes at Ananda Sangha in Seattle, and began to meet fellow devotees. After a class on how to play the harmonium, Satyaki Brockschmidt, the teacher and author of The Harmonium Handbook, asked how long I’d been meditating.
“Three months,” I replied.
“Ah, those are the most difficult. Once you’re through those, you’re pretty well set.” Another man there agreed.
Hopeful words! Though I’ve had other struggles — some with meditation, some not — and also been blessed in many ways — including learning Kriya Yoga, and taking the vows of brahmacharya and discipleship — I don’t suppose any three months in my life have been so strikingly challenging or positive.
And here we are, several years later. Life is an adventure, isn’t it? Who can say with confidence what we’ll be doing even a year from now — and what new things we’ll have learned, or gained in that time?
Everyone’s challenges are different. We may face great tests, and reap great gains — usually they come hand in hand — but if we do, may we have the clear devotion that Swami Kriyananda did, when he said, during one of his own major battles:
“Divine Mother, you can take away everything, but you can never take away my love for you.”
Often I tell Kriya Yogis, particularly those who are math-challenged, that there are only two ‘mathematical equations’ one needs to memorize in order to achieve success on the path of Kriya.
“Twenty-five percent of spiritual success comes by the devotee’s effort.
“Twenty-five percent comes by the Guru’s effort on his behalf.
“And fifty percent comes by the grace of God.”
—Paramhansa Yogananda
Whenever I see myself or others bogging down spiritually, this formula will invariably help me get back on track.
Keep in mind that the devotee’s 25% part means 100% of his or her effort. How we apply that effort will determine results we get from Kriya Yoga, or from any spiritual practice.
I had a very interesting experience several years ago that served as an analogy for Yogananda’s formula for spiritual success. I was on pilgrimage in India with a good friend.
One morning we went to a remote bank of the Ganges to practice Kriya Yoga. We had a wonderful meditation in a quiet setting. There wasn’t another soul around – very unusual in India!
After meditating, I slowly walked into the Ganges to bathe, remembering that it is a very sacred river with the power to wash away one’s sins.
(I also remembered Yogananda’s wry comment that, for many people, their sins are awaiting when they come out of the river, much like their clothes hanging in the trees on the river’s bank!)
I had gone about twenty feet into the water, which was flowing very calmly at that place, when suddenly I stepped into quicksand.
The reason I’m not using an exclamation point here is because these types of nature experiences seem to happen all too often to me. I’ve been rescued by helicopter from a mountain-climbing accident, caught in a tornado, struck by lightning, etc., etc. In fact, this was the second time in my life that I’ve dealt with quicksand.
Because of that, my experience-based reaction was simply, “So, Divine Mother, what fun are you going to have with me today?”
As it often happens with quicksand, my feet struck solid ground after sinking about thigh deep. The water was up to my chest, lapping gently. I was in no immediate danger, but anyone with a quicksand experience would know that I was very, very stuck.
No matter how hard I tried to move, my legs and feet refused to budge.
It’s a very good analogy as to what brings most people onto the spiritual path.
People will sometimes face impossible long-term obstacles, only to be moved to utter despair, when at the end they fail in spite of their very best efforts. Often that is what turns them toward seeking God and the help of a Guru.
Fortunately, I had a ‘guru’ in the form of my dear friend Vidura, who was standing safely on the solid bank, free from the ‘delusion’ in which I was completely stuck.
I called him over, showed him a safe spot to stand, and asked him to reach over and help me.
Even with Vidura pulling on my hand with all his might, it still took my best effort and cooperation with my ‘guru’ to get me out.
If I had casually laid out my hand for Vidura and said lazily, “I’m ready, guruji (to continue the analogy), you can now save me,” or if I had struggled merely on my own, I would still be stuck in that quicksand.
It is the very same for success on any spiritual path, but especially the path of Kriya Yoga.
It takes our very best effort, and the help of a Guru who is on safe ground and on very good terms with God. And also, importantly, it takes our willing cooperation with the Guru’s efforts to get out of our delusions.
This cooperation takes the form of following the discipline and practices the Guru gives us, and doing them just as he teaches.
It also means attunement and devotion to the Guru, which make us receptive to his grace, love, and help.
And it takes our deep devotion and self-offering to God.
Any time you feel yourself bogging down spiritually, practice introspection and apply Yogananda’s mathematical equation for spiritual success.
Ask yourself:
“Am I making enough effort to get out of my trouble? Is it the right kind of effort?
“Am I following the teachings of my Guru to the best of my ability, and am I cooperating with his efforts on my behalf?
“Am I depending too much on my own efforts, and not opening myself enough to the grace of God and the help of the Guru?”
Then remember Yogananda’s other important ‘equation:’
“Kriya Yoga plus devotion works like mathematics. It cannot fail.”
Then ask yourself again:
“Am I doing everything in my life with a sense of devotion and self-offering to God?”
When you remember to apply Yogananda’s two simple equations, you will inevitably find the ultimate success: Self-realization and freedom in God.
——————
On another subject: We are trying to help one of our Ananda members from Mexico City to visit Ananda this summer. He’s a very fine man who teaches music at a school in Mexico City, and isn’t able to afford the air fare to California. If anyone would like to donate their frequent flyer miles to help bring Allejandro to Ananda Village this summer, please contact me by clicking on the “Email Devarshi” link at the top right of this page. Thank you!
My blog this time is going to be a fairly shameless effort on my part to convince you that you need to take the Ananda Meditation Teacher Training Course. The next one starts June 18th. It is 9 days long: a week plus two weekends on both ends.
Wait, wait, don’t go away! I’m guessing you’ve thought about this before — am I right? Perhaps now’s the time to take action!
Still, I know very well what pops up in many people’s minds when this subject arises:
“Who, me? I’m not a teacher. I could never teach classes on meditation (or anything else). I’m shy. It’s not my thing. I don’t meditate well enough myself. I’m not a good public speaker.”
And on and on!
I think I’ve heard every excuse in the book. If you have a new excuse, challenge me — I’m game!
Savitri teaching a class
There is an old saying which is very true: “If you really want to learn how to do something well, volunteer to teach it.” For then you really have to apply yourself not only to learn the subject, but to figure out how to communicate it clearly.
This principle is especially true with meditation, which is so experiential. To be able to understand meditation well enough so that you can teach it, you really need to be meditating yourself.
So teaching meditation is highly motivational for your own personal practices—and this is very good news!
Feeling unworthy? Many people I’ve met, who could and should be teaching meditation, don’t, because they feel their own meditation practices are “not good enough.”
To them I say: “Even a little practice of meditation will free you from dire fears and colossal sufferings” (paraphrased from the Bhagavad Gita). This includes the fear that you aren’t meditating well enough to teach it!
Swami Kriyananda told us that the most effective teachers are often those who perhaps have not had much experience in what they are teaching. They are closer to understanding (from personal perspective) what their students are going through in their struggles with taking on a new discipline. They might be able to clarify the subject much better than a long-time meditation teacher, who may have forgotten what it’s like to be new to all this!
Please remember that thousands of souls all around you are crying out in desperation for the great life-changing techniques of quieting the mind and opening the heart.
Let that thought help you through any thoughts of inadequacy. Even if you teach only one person to meditate in your whole life, it may very well change his or her life forever, and he or she may in turn change the lives of untold numbers more.
Forget the word “teach.” It’s really just sharing something you love yourself, with somebody who needs it.
I can think of many stories about folks whom I’ve taught to meditate, but one in particular stands out. There was a young woman whom I met in about 1984. She was the mother of four children, the youngest ones being triplet daughters (toddlers at the time), and she had a demanding full-time job.
I had little hope that she could find the time to meditate, but she was (is!) a lovely, intelligent, and energetic person; and she seemed very sincere in her desire to learn whatever I could teach her about meditation, which I did in a brief one-on-one class.
Now, over 25 years later, her children are grown and gone from home. She is not only still faithfully and regularly meditating, but she is also helping to lead one of our Ananda Centers and teaching meditation on a regular basis to many people. And two of her four children are now meditators, too!
A large number of people in the world are already convinced that meditation would be a very helpful skill to add to their lives. But they still need a bit of training (from you!) in the basics of meditation, plus how to get a steady meditation practice going for themselves.
Who could benefit from learning how to teach meditation? Those who enjoys the benefits of meditation themselves and who sincerely want to share what has inspired them.
It is also an excellent skill to add for anyone who is a position of service in any capacity, most especially counselors, ministers, massage therapists, yoga teachers, healing practitioners of any type, psychiatrists, psychologists, physicians, nurses, chiropractors, naturopaths, retreat managers, and other related occupations.
Have I convinced you? Still have doubts and fears (costs too much, don’t have time off work, too far for me to travel, etc)? There is always a way! Let us help you find it.
If you are still thinking this doesn’t apply to you, then forward this post on to somebody you know, who would benefit greatly from becoming a meditation teacher.
“Take this course! It will change your life and help you change the world for the better.”
— J.D.M., California
“This is a great program for anyone wishing to deepen their meditation practice and lock in a methodology and teaching practice that can be shared with anyone, anywhere, any time.”
— JH, Massachusetts
“This course is like opening a giant store room and finding everything you ever wanted and needed inside. And you will be assisted in every possible way in learning to teach meditation. I really had not anticipated that I would finish the course thinking: ‘I am now a meditation teacher.’ But I do!”
— D.R., California
“The instructors really enjoy what they teach. They are also so devoted, inspirational, but also very professional.”
I don’t know how many times people have come to me commiserating over thwarted good intentions of meditation or some other aspect of their own spiritual practice, only to have fallen short in their discipline in some way.
When I offer support I have been met on more than one occasion with, “Oh but it’s alright for you. You’re disciplined. You’ve got this… you can do that”!
I remember reading of Yogananda speaking with one of his devotees who, in a similar circumstance said to him, “Oh, but it’s alright for you, Sir, you’re a Master”.
Yogananda’s stern retort bellowed, “And what do you think MADE me a master?”
How do these people think I became disciplined? Sheer will, hard work, and determination, until it is not perceived as hard work any more.
Making statements like the examples above are actually just a ‘cop out’. Anyone making such a claim is really denying responsibility for their own actions, or inaction, justifying to their reason/ego that they are somehow not to blame for the inadequacy.
“It’s not my fault I’m not as good as you… you’re better equipped than I…I’ll get there…eventually… I’ll try harder…I will, but…”
All humans are equally equipped with the same fundamental: divinity. There is no favouritism in Creation. No human has an advantage over another. We just think they have. Our true natures are disciplined and perfectly attuned to the Divine already. It is only maya’s (creation) cunning veil of illusion that leads us to believe our bad, undisciplined habits are inherent in our nature. They are not, but we have nurtured these habits for such an inconceivably long time that they are deeply embedded in our subconscious.
We have to UNLEARN all that we think we are and remember our true nature. If we feel inadequate before one who is perceived as an advanced devotee just know that we too have exactly the same potential as they. An important note here is that only a true master would know how advanced a particular devotee is anyway. Outward appearances of great discipline do not necessarily mirror spiritual advancement.
I view the disciplines of Yoga as an essential investment in the bank of Self realization and actually look forward to and carry out my practice in joy consciousness of self-offering. It is then not perceived as a chore but appreciated as a delightful privilege, of having been given the grace of this sacred knowledge of the ancient practice of Yoga in this life.
There is no way of putting this but bluntly. Spiritual advancement is dependent on 3 things, neutralization of karma (past and present), divine grace and OUR OWN EFFORT. Master taught that the disciple has to put in 25% of the effort required to attain liberation in this life. Guru will provide a further 25% and the remaining 50% will be given as God’s grace, via the guru. But the 25% that must come from each one of us must be 110% of what we think we are capable of. We must always go that bit more and push our self-fabricated boundaries. Each week we can aspire to sit that bit longer and go that bit deeper into our practice. We won’t get anywhere by being passive; for waiting for Realization to come to us. God helps him who helps himself!
We owe it to ourselves to take ownership of the fact that it is our own effort that is lacking, not the grace that is assuredly ours if sincere and consistent in our endeavours. Our technique may not be as good as we would like, but don’t think that qualifies us to lay blame elsewhere and give up. If we are truly sincere then we must carry on as best we can, all the while praying for the guidance and strength to improve. If we are falling short in some way and are looking for an excuse to divert away from our goal we must look to ourselves and answer these two questions honestly, “Just how badly do I want Realization?” And, “How much am I willing to change in pursuit of that goal?”
If we offer our practice up to God, by acknowledging Him as the Doer in all things, we can let go of any expectations of a desired outcome, leaving it to Him to sort out. What a huge burden taken immediately from our shoulders, but we must never become complacent or smug in our expectations of faith. We need to regularly turn up, offer ourselves in habitual devotional practice, and wait as children who have complete and utter trust they will receive what they need from a loving parent. The child doesn’t know what it needs, but it knows the parent does.
Nayaswami Kriyananda often quotes the invaluable and beautiful words from a passage of Sir Edwin Arnold’s translation of ‘The Song Celestial’. “But if, in this, thy faint heart fails, bring Me thy failure!” As long as our perceived failures are given to Him, then we transmute our perceived failure into ‘not yet succeeded’.
We can be ever heartened knowing that by sincere and uninterrupted efforts, we WILL be noticed by the Guru and help WILL be forthcoming, however badly we think our practice. Nayaswami Kriyananda speaks of a disciple who, try as he might, was not practicing Kriya correctly. Swamiji, not feeling comfortable in telling the disciple directly of his shortcomings, took it to Master who smiled. He knew of the problem and of the unerring devotion of the disciple in question and told Swamiji that he was doing the kriyas for him…
I Will…
O Lord, my heart’s love I will give unto Thee,
My ardent desire is my soul to be free.
I will move mountains, and rivers will ford,
For my soul to unite in One Gracious Accord.
But I’ll just wait a bit, for time is aplenty,
It’s alright for others, but I’m not quite ready.
“All in good time, Thou wilt come when Thou’st meant”,
I won’t put myself out…
Though perhaps during Lent.
To Thee I do chatter, my thought Thou’st behold,
So no need to work on this burdensome load,
Smug in the knowledge that some day I’ll find
That place I much read of, that Kingdom sublime.
Lord I’ll try harder, but I’m sure I’ll be given
All that required to succeed in my mission.
I won’t have to do much, sure faith is enough
To carry me through when the going gets tough.
But I promise I’ll sit more than minimum dues,
I will eat healthier food and this weight I will lose,
I will make it my business not to pry ‘to affairs
That do not concern me; I’ll keep to my prayers.
I will look unto heaven, the moon and the stars
And longingly wish for a place in Thine arms.
I’ll no longer be passive; I will act for the Good,
I will strive so much harder than I thought that I should.
I’ll no longer expect Thy gifts, undeserved,
And wonder why progress decidedly turbid.
My world will transform with the happiness I’ll get,
When I go that bit further…
I will… but not yet!
The city of Frederick reclines in the rolling hills of central Maryland as it has since before the days of the Civil War. It is from this charming, quiet city that I began my adventure to the woods of northern Massachusetts for my first Kriya initiation.This journey starts, as many Ananda journeys have started, with a reading of Autobiography of a Yogi. This book was the very first book I downloaded into one of the very first Amazon Kindle e-readers available to the general public. The reading of this amazing book led to an email acquaintance with Nayaswami Devarshi in the Ananda Kriya ministry.
What followed over the next year were lots of questions, Energization Exercises, meditations, chanting, more questions, lots of reading, a Discipleship ceremony, and finally: approval to participate in the Ananda Kriya initiation to be held at the Rolling Ridge Retreat Center in North Andover, MA in early May of 2010.
In the spirit of Autobiography of a Yogi, and with the understanding that I may never journey to the Himalayas, I decided to make this trip an adventure and chose a challenging, road-less-travelled path to the Rolling Ridge Retreat Center at North Andover.
Retreat grounds
The Retreat sits on 38 acres of wooded land, and serves as a religious retreat and conference center for people seeking to renew their faith in a quiet, elegant monastic setting.
Could there be a better place to host a Kriya initiation retreat?
I arrived early to the event and was able to set my bag down and explore the grounds before the day’s first activities began.
Late April covers Rolling Ridge with a lush spring quilt of leaves, grass, pine cones, and moss. The curious explorer, if he looks long enough, will find an old stonework fountain, walking trails to the lake, a peace pole, and a ‘meditative labyrinth’ with which to walk through.
Wooded paths
As serene as the grounds may be; however, the real showcase of the estate are the main houses where we eat, sleep, and commune. After a half century of religious retreats the energy of the campus is reflective, restorative, meditative, and timeless.
I imagine that if I listened long enough I would hear a quite voice on the wind saying, “I have something for you, something that your Father left for you in my care. Safe it has been waiting until you were ready. I am filled with happiness to finally share it with you.”
The other Ananda guests soon began to arrive, and we busied ourselves with registration details and checking in to our rooms. The men were on the top floor, in rooms hidden by all the nooks and crannies a proud New England estate could provide. From below us on the main floor I hear ringing bells. The time for sightseeing has come to an end. The Kriya retreat is officially under way!
Afternoon sadhana (spiritual practice) brought everybody to the main courtyard where, as a group, we practiced our Energization Exercises and yoga.
Exercising in the courtyard
Balancing on one foot with arms and legs in all different directions is hard enough and the challenge of cobblestones in the courtyard made windmills out of a few of us. After yoga we filed back into the building and into the temple room for chanting and meditation.
During this time I saw Nayaswamis Jaya and Sadhana Devi, long-time Ananda ministers who lead the retreat, for the first time. What a wonderful couple. I was unable to make an introduction as the group broke off for our first dinner; however, I was fortunate enough to sit next to Jaya at the dinner table.
Humorously, after a couple of false starts in our conversation he was able to gauge the depth of my exposure to Ananda. To his amusement, he spent several patient minutes explaining to me the proper way to pronounce the names of our Gurus that I had been reading about over the last year.
After dinner we returned to the temple and the company of many, many Ananda friends. Over the remainder of the evening I met people from Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, North Carolina, Oregon, and California.
I spent quality time with one of them late into the evening, learning about how Ananda meditation groups come together. And then, unrelated to anything we were discussing, he said, “God is the joy we experience in meditation.”
That was odd. Late at night and alone in the dining hall, he dropped this profound statement, then moved on to another topic without even a break in cadence.
Rolling with it, I rolled the sentence over and over again in my head and wondered how a year’s worth of study and meditation could be compressed into a single phrase and still have room to stretch in my mind. This must be the Ananda way.
The next morning started with a group meditation at 5:30 am, and I have to say that I wasn’t expecting anything quite so early. In no mood to miss anything this weekend, I made the extra effort and was “awake and ready.”
Breakfast was waiting for us after several hours of meditation, exercises, yoga, and chanting, and there were many healthy appetites to attend to. After breakfast and an hour of free time we gathered again in the temple room for a class on Kriya Yoga.
Nayaswami Jaya gave the best introduction to Kriya I have ever heard. I find yoga a difficult topic to introduce to new people, there are so many ideas wrapped in so many new vocabulary words that it is easy to get lost, and lose the attention of those I am speaking with.
As Jaya spoke, simply but with eloquence, he said, “Yoga is the science of happiness.”
There, it happened again! Right in the middle of Jaya’s talk, another profound sentence of great weight and simplicity. I am beginning to wonder if Ananda brings something to yoga, and not the other way around.
If all of the words from Yogananda’s and Kriyananda’s books that are shelved in my brain fell out, leaving only “God is the joy we experience in meditation,” and “Yoga is the science of happiness,” I would be understood by all.
After the Kriya class and a short meditation we gathered in the lunch room for the final meal before the Kriya initiation.
What can I say about Kriya initiation that hasn’t been said or experienced by thousands before me?
Figuratively, I felt a lifetime of experiences recede into a column of light and grace.
Ananda Kriyabans
I learned a new way to meditate and I learned a new way to learn. Bigger than our gathering, bigger than Ananda, bigger than Kriya, the Creator was at Rolling Ridge Retreat that day. Of course He is always there, yet on this day He let the clouds roll back and we glimpsed the Light of the Sun.
Silence followed us into dinner after our Kriya initiation. We ate, we reflected, we retired to our beds.
The next day started with the sound of a strolling kirtan (devotional chanting) greeting us with a 6:30 wake-up call. The new Kriyabans (Kriya Yoga initiates) gathered for a review of all we had learned the night before, followed by breakfast.
Next came the Purification Ceremony (part of the weekly Ananda Sunday Service) and the Service. It was wonderful, there were so many happy people there, and blessings flew back and forth throughout. I cannot say too much good about how well Ananda can sing. The choir during the Sunday service was perfect, and for all the claims I heard about not practicing enough, I am not sure how much better they could have been.
The weekend was coming to a close and I made my preparations to return to my home in Frederick. I met so many good people on this weekend retreat; I don’t know how to acknowledge them all.
If any of you are reading this, thank you, thank you, and thank you again. It was a great pleasure to meet all of you. I look forward to meeting all of you again soon. I want to extend a special thank you to Nayaswamis Jaya and Sadhana Devi for their dedication to this work and participation in this event.
I also must extend an equally special thank you to Tracy Anderson who hosted a flawless retreat.
This article covers a technique, Khechari Mudra, that is one of the most unusual in yoga and therefore a bit too strange for some people. I’m posting it here because there is quite a lot of confusion around this technique, and what Paramhansa Yogananda taught about it.
Khechari Mudra (also spelled Khecari or Kechari) is an ancient yoga technique that is used in the practice of Kriya Yoga as taught by Yogananda and his lineage of Kriya gurus. It has also been practiced by yogis and meditators for perhaps thousands of years, due to its wonderful benefits.
Yogananda privately recommended Khechari Mudra to some of his disciples, but only occasionally mentioned it publicly. He explained that he was teaching in a country where yoga was already strange enough — without also telling people about a yoga technique where the tongue is turned upward and placed into the nasal cavity, above the soft palate!
It’s important to remember that techniques alone can’t give one enlightenment or liberation. Yogananda said about Kriya Yoga:
Kriya plus devotion works like mathematics. It cannot fail.
Right attitude, devotion, and attunement to the Guru are more important than an over-reliance on exotic techniques such as Khechari Mudra. However, Khechari can be an aid to deeper meditation when done with the right attitude.
Yogananda didn’t fully describe the technique in his writings and lectures — it is explained in The Art and Science of Raja Yoga, by Swami Kriyananda.
In the ninety years since Yogananda began teaching in the West, unusual yoga practices, such as Khechari Mudra, have become more well known. Many people are confused about whether Yogananda even recommended Khechari. In fact, Yogananda both wrote and spoke about Khechari Mudra.
Yogananda wrote about Khechari in an early version of his home study course, published in 1926. The “little tongue” that he mentions below is the uvula, the soft tissue that hangs from the roof of the mouth, at the back of the throat:
This Kundalini moving brainwards, and helped by the union of nerves in the tip of the tongue and the “little tongue,” and certain centers in the nasal cavity, brings about the secretion of a fluid with union of the Life Energy and Cosmic Energy.
This secretion of nectar and union of energies do not involve any loss, but mean immense spiritual realization.
He also gave a similar explanation once to Swami Kriyananda:
Sex seems pleasant to you now, but when you discover the joy of real inner union, you will see how much more wonderful that is.
This union can be achieved physically also, by what is known in yoga as kechari mudra—touching the tip of the tongue to nerves in the nasal passage, or to the uvula at the back of the mouth.
—Conversations with Yogananda by Swami Kriyananda
In an early article Yogananda described one of the benefits of practicing Khechari Mudra:
It draws energy from the cerebrum and medulla by connecting the tip of the big tongue with the little tongue (uvula).
He gave a more esoteric explanation in a lecture in India during his visit there in 1935-6:
While practicing Kriya… a divine nectar-like current flows from the sahasrara (chakra, or spinal center, at the top of the head).
Through the performance of Kechari Mudra, touching the tip of the tongue to the uvula, or “little tongue,” (or placing it in the nasal cavity behind the uvula), that divine life-current draws the prana from the senses into the spine and draws it up through the chakras to Vaishnavara (Universal Spirit), uniting the consciousness with spirit.
The entire body is thereby spiritualized and energized. As a result, a perceptible glow may emanate from the body. —Mejda: The Family and the Early Life of Paramahansa Yogananda by Sananda Lal Ghosh, pp. 279-28
As you can see in Yogananda’s lectures and writings, he described the different stages of Khechari: first touching the tongue to the uvula, or “little tongue” at the back of the mouth, and then placing the tongue into the nasal cavity above the soft palate.
In The Art and Science of Raja Yoga, Swami Kriyananda gives a more complete explanation of Khechari:
Kechari Mudra, “the tongue-swallowing” technique that I taught in Step Five, creates a cycle of energy in the head that generates enough magnetism to draw great amounts of energy from the universe around you.
This energy is actually experienced in the mouth as a slightly sweet, and very pleasant, taste that has been described (accurately, in my experience) as resembling a mixture of ghee (clarified butter) and honey.
This is what is known in various mystical writings as “the nectar of the gods.”
Kriyananda goes on to explain:
The positive and negative energies in the tongue and nasal passages (or uvula), when joined together, create a cycle of energy in the head which, instead of allowing the energy to flow outward to the body, generates a magnetic field that draws energy upward from the body and from the base of the spine to the brain.
It is said that the tongue turns back of itself in samadhi. The assumption of this mudra helps to hasten the advent of deep spiritual states of consciousness.
The difficulty for most people is that the frenulum, the membrane under the tongue, isn’t flexible enough to allow the tongue to reach so far back and up. Over time the frenulum can be gently stretched to enable one to practice Khechari Mudra.
Yogananda was extremely vocal with his disciples that under no circumstance should one try to cut the frenulum, as some unscientific and ill-advised “teachers” recommended.
It is possibly out of such concern that certain teachers in Yogananda’s lineage are afraid of discussing Khechari Mudra. But there are some very simple exercises which enable one to gently stretch the frenulum and tongue enough to practice Khechari.
How did Yogananda recommend adding the practice of Khechari to one’s meditation and Kriya practice? Gradually, as Swami Kriyananda has explained:
He (Yogananda) didn’t talk about (kechari) much, but when he found somebody who could do it, he was very glad and urged them to do it.
One time he said to Dr. Lewis, “You’re not doing Kriya right.”
And doctor said, “What do you mean, sir?”
And Master said, “You should be doing kechari mudra.”
After Doctor told me, I asked Master, “Should I be doing kechari while practicing Kriya?” And he said, “Not yet.”
He didn’t emphasize this a lot. I think it was because he was teaching thousands and thousands of people in America who weren’t ready for this kind of thing. All Master did was bring people into the technique step-by-step rather than giving them everything all at once.
Khechari Mudra clearly isn’t for everyone — but it is extremely helpful for all meditation practices, including Kriya Yoga. And again, right attitude, devotion, and attunement to the Guru are more important than technique alone.
I’ve been practicing Kriya and meditation with Khechari for about thirty years. Because of the wonderful benefits it has for meditation, I would suggest that all Kriya Yogis, and any serious meditator, at least consider learning Khechari Mudra.
