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Bindu No. 14

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    For those who are think-ing of becoming yogateachers, there are manyways and offers avail-able today. What shouldone look for in the yogamarketplace? Theoffers range from oneweekend, four weeks,

    education in accordancewith the minimum Euro-pean standard of theyoga unions of about650 teaching units (of45 minutes), to the morecomprehensive and pro-

    found studies of yogaschools, yoga collegesand yoga universities.

    Obviously, we cannot reallyteach yoga when we have onlylearned it from books. We may get arst introduction that way, but then

    must come a deeper exploration into thisuniversal and many faceted teaching.At that point we must look for a quali-ed yoga teacher, who can contributeto our physical and mental health,and make our life more spiritual.

    As yoga has become moremechanical and fashionable, we often

    meet yoga as something merelytechnical, reduced to a number

    of exercises thrown in with nounderstanding of their use, or howeach step is built on the previous oneand forms a holistic teaching.

    Therefore, it is important to realizewhat you are looking for, and whatyou are willing to give to acheive it:Set your goal and pursue it when youhave a clear purpose. Yoga teaching istoo often limited to lets work-outtogether and have a nice cup of tea

    afterwards ...this is nice, but for those,who wish and long for a deeper insight,

    it is just the rst step tobe carried on from there.

    People usually see them-selves in the image givento them by the surroundings,and they strive to adaptto this image. But livingon such a concept probablyfeels rather empty. In oursociety there is a risk, a

    tendency, to emphasizeliving the outer life, gettinghooked on power, therebyneglecting or totally ignoringthe ability to livefrom theinside.

    To draw on the teachings ofyoga, in order to eventually

    become a yoga teacher -moving to higher levels ofunderstanding and expertise -takes commitment and

    perseverance. If you are luckyenough to nd a teacher that

    you correspond with it becomeseasier, but learning to emphasize the

    inner work is not without effort.As yoga teachers or yoga teacheraspirants there is an important choiceto be made, the choice betweenimagination and reality - this should

    be based on the insight that if wedo not really live ourown lives, butrather after other peoples opinions

    and concepts, we live in an illusion.Should we live on adoring others,

    Yoga teacher job or vocation?By Dr. Daya Mullins, European College of Yoga and Therapy, Germany

    1968, Paramahansa Satyananda taught us personally in alldisciplines. Ability and wisdom is passed on through direct humancontact, through living together and guidance, this is a genuine

    tradition. (Swami Janakananda)

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    or should we nd our individual innerpath, exploring who we really areand enriching our lives? Making thischoice in favour ofbeing, and actingupon it can be a self-initiation to the path

    of yoga.We can nd a teacherthat we are delightedwith, but the task wereceive in yoga is tolive fully and adapt tothe reality of our ownlife. A serious teacher

    will challenge us, thatis in the very natureof things, how elsecan the student learnto bridge the oftenlimited ways ofthinking and reacting?However, the studentwill have a feeling

    of being understoodand supported by theteacher. Should that not be the case,it may be time to look for a bettersuited teacher.

    So clearly, as yoga practitionerswishing to become yoga teachers wehave the task of nding out wherewe stand, where we want to goandhow. If there is a serious interest,there has to be the correspondingcommitment and a decision to makea prolonged effort in a long-termtraining plus a daily individual

    practice. Four years of study tobecome a yoga teacher can here

    be seen as a necessary minimum,although the task is a lifelong one.

    You can nd authentic teachers, butyou must look carefully. Take time toget a sense of the teacher that youare drawn to, how he/she works, and

    Transformation is better than indoctrination. 1968, Swamijiinstructs us in intestinal cleansing. (Swami Janakananda)

    how you feel in his/her presence. Thesurroundings have a big inuence onthe individual. They can bring out the

    best in us or strong negative sides inour character, so we should think ofthe seriousness and commitment ofthe fellow students.

    There are many supercial offersof yoga today, and some teach ayoga that has not reached the inneryoga, but has remained in the outerglamour. That is inconsistent with thespirit of yoga, which offers a teachingso profound that it can only really

    be revealed and understood through

    skilful and attentive application overa long time.

    ContentsMost of the stress we 4generate ourselves...Yoga helps against diseases created byblockages in the coronary arteries of theheart. An interview with professor LarryScherwitz, leader of the Institute for pre-ventive medicine in Sausalito, California.

    Kriya Yoga 8On initiating and being initiated intoadvanced Kriya Yogaby Swami JanakanandaMaybe one might learn a simple version

    of Kriya Yoga over a weekend, but thegreat Tantric Kriya Yoga demands more- both of the teacher and of the student.

    Swami Janakananda 5in Europe and AustraliaLectures, Satsangs, Seminars andRetreats with Swami Janakananda.

    Yoga shop with books, CDs, etc.

    Intensive retreats 7H Course Centre in the south ofSweden offers the ideal conditions tounwind, go deeper and discover yourown potential with the help of the out-standing methods taught there. Courseprogramme for the coming year.

    The pictures on page 13, 15 and 19 arefrom Mithila, an area in Bihar in India,where particularly the women decoratethe walls of the houses. The pictures arenot superficial ornaments, their origin isthe strong primitive source of folk art,where also, in ancient times, the tantricyantras have their origin. This art is called

    Madhubani after a village in the area. Seelist of illustrations on page 26.

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    There is a worldwide interestin the treatment results from

    the San Francisco LifestyleHeart Trial especially regard-ing the long term results in thetreaty Lifestyle Changes andcoronary heart diseases. Pro-fessor Thomas Schmidt fromthe medical college in Hanover

    and Professor Larry Scherwitz,director of the Institute of pre-ventive medicine in Sausalito,California, discuss this at aseminar at the AHG-clinic atSchweriner See in Germany.

    Schmidt: What reactions have you

    had on the results youve achieved?Scherwitz: More than 350 hospitalshave contacted our institute and shownan interest. The press has been enthu-siastic with articles in the newspapersand editorials in journals. Patientshave come from all over the USA to

    participate in our programmes, so wehave been full up with more than 400

    patients a year. We have also trainedthe staff at 12 hospitals in the use ofthis programme - so now heart patientsare being treated all across the USA.

    Has there been an interest fromother countries than the USA?Yes, we have conducted eight research

    studies, four in the USA, two in Ger-many, one in Holland, and one in India.

    Why such an international interest?Well, the interest is there because theprogramme works. When patientsfollow this they lose weight, their

    blood pressure can come down, theirchest pain diminishes in a short time,usually within two weeks, theirexercise capacity increases, theirhostility is reduced, their depression

    seems to abate, and, as our results inthe San Fransisco trial indicate: thearteries tend to open up with intense

    practice of this programme.Additionally, in the States, and

    perhaps in Europe as well, there is a

    movement to nd new methods thatt in with conventional treatment.What is new in this context, isthat it empowers the patients to dosomething for themselves.

    This is a pretty comprehensivechange in life style, how have youmanaged to get the patients to

    continue even after ve years?We developed some routines thatturned out to be an appropriate wayto treat heart disease.

    Our staff was also followingthe programme with the diet, yoga

    Most of the stress we generate ourselves...

    Among many publications written by Larry Scherwitz and his colleagues, e.g. Dean Ornish, we havechosen to refer to one which this discussion is based on: Can Intensive Lifestyle Changes ReverseCoronary Heart Disease Without Lipid-Lowering Drugs? Five Year Followup of the Lifestyle Heart Trial,

    Journal of the American Medical Association 280, No. 23, 1998. Authors: Ornish D, Scherwitz L,Billing J, Gould L, Merritt T, Sparler S, Armstrong W, Ports T, Kirkeeide R, Hogeboom C, Brand R.

    Professor Larry Scherwitz relates that the use of yoga, relaxationand meditation is effective in the rehabilitation of heart patients.

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    exercises and the meditation. Theywere enthusiastic about it.

    We co-operated with physicianswho referred patients to us.

    When we asked the patients:How can you follow this?, theydanswer: We help each other. Wemake a close bond together. Sharingexperiences and opening up to oneanother on an emotional level itseemed to help them to feel likea team following a programme.By practicing the programme theyhelped their fellow patients to dothe same. We think this opening of

    the emotional heart helped open thevessels. It seems that the patientswho were most affectionate to oneanother had the greatest opening ofthe vessels.

    Do you think that the method ofrehabilitation used in San Franciscocan be successfully adapted to the

    conditions in Germany?Theoretically, Germany has a better

    potential for doing this programmethan any country in the world. Youhave the infrastructure for therehabilitation programme, you havean insurance network that can pay forit, you have an abundance of heart

    patients, so theoretically it can workbetter here than anywhere. Thechallenges are the resistance to it.The idea that patients cant do this, orthe ignorance about what this is. Thefact that many of the doctors andnurses dont have any trainingthemselves in this means that theydon't really understand it. So there is

    some resistance that we need toovercome.

    I think that if we had a gooddemonstration study here, and good

    publicity for the results, then morepeople would be open to thisapproach.

    At the cardiac rehabilitation clinicAHG in Wlitzsee in Berlin, preven-tive methods as you describe, suchas stress management, antidotaltreatment for smokers, physicalexercise and a diet programme are

    given as components in a three-weekrehabilitation programme. Whichintensity should these preventive

    measures have to achieve a lastingeffect on the patients?Stress management is veryimportant.

    We nd that the stress-management with the useof yoga is one of the most

    powerful components toachieve a reversal of theblockages in the coronaryarteries.

    If patients just exercise a little,follow a low fat diet and taketheir medication, they still get a

    progression of the disease over a ve

    year period.But if they do all of these things,

    and also do an hour of yoga daily,they can stop the disease from

    progressing. And if they do more, ifthey do an hour and a half of yoga,and follow the diet and exercise andcome to the groups, they can actually

    reverse the blockages so that thearteries open up. But the programme

    must be intensive for them to get areversal of the heart disease.

    In your study stress managementmeans traditional yoga programmes.

    Is that right?There are ve components: There isstretching ...

    That is yoga asanas?Yes, yoga asanas. Theres breathingtechniques, theres deep relaxation,theres meditation and visualization.And all ve together make a handthat can grab the stress and reduce

    it. We have shown in study afterstudy that the more they practisethe yoga exercises, the lower thecholesterol goes, independent of diet.The hostility diminishes too, andthe exercise tolerance increases, evenwhen the exercise level is keptthe same, but with more yoga.So there's both psychological and

    physical benets from the yoga - plusthe opening of the arteries.

    The capacity of the heart to pump bloodincreased by more than 6% in the trialgroup after one months intensive workwith the Lifestyle Heart Trial programme(dark grey column).

    During the same period of time the controlgroup became 2% worse (light grey column).

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    How much yoga do your patients doevery day?Out of the eight studies weve done,

    the German patients have done themost yoga. They did 110 minutes ofyoga a day. Even three months afterthey were ready at the clinicthey werestill doing this much yoga every day.

    So they liked yoga?They liked it very much, and theyfollowed it very well. And these

    people were working. They weredriving to work and so forth. Theyhad managed to work this in to theirlife style, they made a change.

    So yoga training should be themain component in a rehabilitation

    programme for cardiac patients?

    We've never seen a patient get areversal of disease who didnt do

    yoga. So our results suggest that its acritical component to getting reversal.It is not easy to reverse this disease.

    Its like a freight train that just keepsgoing, and when a truck comes acrossthe intersection it has to stop and it'svery hard to stop it. And then to backthe train up is even harder. So theyoga is a very important thing forstopping the train, and for getting itto back up.

    Which of the various componentsis the most important one, if youcannot do everything?Ive very seldom done a presentationwhen I wasnt asked this question,and I usually answer with anotherquestion: How many legs does adog have? Normally four: There

    are four components: Diet, exercise,stress management [yoga, breathing

    exercises, relaxation and meditation]and group support. Which of theselegs is most important for a dog to

    be able to run? Theyre all necessary,they all work together.

    The stress management helps thegroup support become deeper. Whenthings are a little tense in the groupwe sit back and do a little breathing.So the stress management helps thegroup, the diet helps the exercise. Allthe legs need to run together to stopthis train.

    Yoga has an age old tradition, but

    today it is often used in a supercialway, and sometimes people call them-

    selves yoga teachers who have nothad a proper and thorough training.

    Do you think that it is important thatpeople that teach these yoga andmeditation techniques really knowwhat they are doing?The training for the yoga teacher is

    very important. We have found inteaching the 12 hospital groups that itdoesn't work so well to take a nurseand teach her yoga for six weeks, andthen have her to be the yoga teacher.It's better to take a yoga teacher whohas been practising for 20 years andteach him or her some medicine -about the heart and how to take careof patients.

    So its not simply a little trainingthats important. The transformationof who one is, that one knowsoneself, is something one achievesthrough many years of work withoneself - that one has peace andcondence and inner enthusiasm

    motivates the patients to use yogatoo. So it's very critical.

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    I wouldn't want a yoga teacher tohave less training than a physician, ora surgeon. Our experience is that weneed dedicated yoga teachers who've

    been doing this for a long time.

    Is the programme cheaper than thetraditional way of treating heart

    patients?I think this has to be answered inthe long term. We've done a short-term study of three years with 477

    patients in eight treatment centres inthe United States. We found that ifa patient is facing a bypass surgery

    or an angioplasty and chooses todo our programme instead, 90% ofthe patients appear to be able toavoid having the operation, in thatshort period. We don't know yetwhat would happen after another veyears. So it saves money for those

    patients who are about to incur amajor expense. We don't know yet if

    patients are stable, or whether it willsave money in the long run.

    So the answer is a partial answer.We have had patients who were on

    the transplant list to get a new heart,which is an extremely expensive pro-cedure. They have gotten off that listand have become so much better thatthey do not need a new heart, andthat's very cost effective.

    How could the best possible treatmentfor these patients be developed in thefuture?I think that science needs to go handin hand with the health policy aswell as with publicity. In terms ofthe science, we have shown that thevessel appears to open, but we do

    not know what has happened to theactual structure of the blockage, andthe consistency of the scar tissue. Forexample, the intercellular cholesterol,is it leached out? What happens to thecalcium deposit? What happens to thebrous cap? We need to know whatshappening when people get reversal.

    We need to do further research

    where we get patients to do theprogramme intensively, and to haveexaminations before and after on thevessel structure. This is also a part of

    the scientic work.In terms of public policy, it is

    important that patients can choose whatapproach they want to take. Thereshould be a well-trained staff availablethat can recommend the programmethrough their own practice as well asthrough other patients.

    The cause of heart disease shouldbe considered. Its not simply a list ofrisk factors. It appears to have some-thing to do with fulllment and withlove and connectedness, and there-fore the spirit must be taken moreinto consideration. I would like to

    hear the word spirituality used morein this context. We don't use thatword anymore, but that sense of

    being connected, and that we're allpart of the living process is I thinkimportant to engender in the healingof heart disease.

    One has to consider very carefully

    where the source of stress comes from.I think that the perception that stressis on the outside, that it comes fromwork, and that if you stop work thestress will go away. But there'sanother way to look at it. Most of thestress we generate ourselves. I mean,in this country and in the UnitedStates and in other Western Europeancountries we have enough to eat, wehave shelter, but we generate our ownstress from the inside.

    So advice about this needs to comefrom a deep understanding of the

    person you are dealing with, and howthat person interacts in the world- and from where this person gets

    a sense of being needed and offulllment.

    Here is a group ofpatients doing yoga,

    shown on a slide duringone of Professor LarryScherwitzes lectures. Asone can see it is yogabased on the classicalyoga asanas. The poseon this picture isshoulderstand.

    The somewhat poor qualityof the pictures in this article is

    due to the fact that the seminarwas documented on videotape.

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    Oninitiating and being initiated into advanced Kriya Yoga,by Swami Janakananda

    As breath turns from down to up,and again as breath curves fromup to down - through both theseturns, realise.

    Or, when breath is all up andstopped of itself, or all down andstopped - in such universal pause,

    ones small self vanishes.(Vigyana Bhairava Tantra)

    The Greenhouse, the Process and the Ritual

    In a way Kriya yoga is like music; it is not enough to have an instrumentin your hand, you must also wish to play and when you have learnt to

    play, the art is to play so well that it satises yourself and others - youmay later become a master.

    The two rst conditions are made possible during the initiation, thelast with use.

    Kriya means process, a process that primarily cleanses and

    strengthens creating lightness of body and clarity of mind. This is thebase, from here you go on.

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    IntroductionIn order for the student to be ableto use Kriya Yoga independently afterthe initiation, rst the teacher must

    be able to lead him or her throughanother form of experience than that

    of just instructing a few methods.During the initiation the student isnot left alone, neither with soaringexpectations nor with ideas of whatis, or is not, possible.

    The initiation must ensure that youexperience the methods in the most

    profound manner and that you canutilize those kriyas that give strength

    and openness, to tackle what youmeet on the way.

    To become one with yourself, andto be able to communicate withothers from your self, this is animportant result of an initiation.

    The course must be arrangedand must proceed in such a waythat guide and aspirant can traveltogether through states and dimensi-ons, meet and come to terms withinhibitions, fear and frustration andachieve insight and knowledge.

    Then you can progress with whatwe call spiritual development.Actually, this is not really develop-ment, rather an insight about or a

    discovery of dormant possibilities,which already exist and which areawakened and made conscious duringthe process a transformation ofthe state you already know intosomething deeper and greater.

    So the aim is not to create asupercial euphoric excitement or toget a hasty technical knowledge of afew exercises, it is to have time toreach the essence of life itself.

    yoga means, not this realization,but the means by which it is attained.Yoga is thus a term for those

    physical and psychical processes,which are used to discover mansinner essence, which is the Supreme.

    It is thus not a result,but theprocess,method, or

    practice,by which thisresult isattained.

    (Sir JohnWoodroffe,The Serpent

    Power, aboutLaya-Krama

    Yoga, which alsoincludesKriyaYoga.)

    To receivea pearl

    Kriya Yogais not taught

    from a book.Kriya Yogais not learntfrom a book.

    Kriya Yoga is experiencedin an exactand at the same time artistic way,side by side with other methods thathelp to keep the mind open and the

    process going.

    not to be cast before swineIf you want success, use KriyaYoga, I once heard ParamahansaSatyananda say.

    I almost started to laugh; itsounded just like a commercial forhair pomade from the fties.

    Dedicated to Paramhansa Satyananda see the ill.(1968) and to those who wish to live up to the teaching

    he gave us personally in his tantric meditation period inthe sixties and the early seventies.

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    Today, more than 30 years later, Ihave to agree with Swami Satyananda,the statement is not an empty one. But:

    You cannot force another person tobe happy. (Swami Yogananda)

    To get the full benet from KriyaYoga you must have purpose in lifeand a sense of what you want to dowith yourself.It is true that an important part ofKriya Yoga is the depth you achieve,

    but if you do not take initiatives andlead an active life, you will have noidea of what to do with the increased

    energy and inspiration, which youalso get from this practice.

    Why an initiation, couldntyou just?

    The rst impulse to write about thedemands that must be made on theteaching of Kriya Yoga I got in 1990,

    on my rst trip to Australia and NewZealand. There I met people whohad learnt Kriya Yoga in a way notconsistent with what I had learnt,used, and experienced as a teacher.

    These people had had effects whichwere not the ones intended and somehad lost the desire to use what theyhad learnt; therefore they came on my

    course with questions which mademe examine what had happened.

    There had been no mention of a realinitiation. It had been a question oftechnical instructions within a super-cial teaching with no check made tosee if even the most fundamentalkriyas had been properly carried out.

    Further, the learning of the kriyas hadbeen split up into several courses, so

    that the students came home after therst course with an incomplete pictureof the process. Several people hadnot nished the course.

    The students had been given noknowledge of the individual kriyasand their function relative to the largercontext. Nor had they experienced usingthe programme of kriyas on their own.

    It must have been like readingnotes to a composition in severalsessions, without knowing how to

    play the music and without being ableto experience the whole.

    In different places in Europe, also,people have asked me what to do withvarious experiences, or told me that,considering what they had learnt,they hadnt got what they expected.

    This could of course be due tohigh expectations. However, I allowmyself to doubt this, the effect ofKriya Yoga cannot be mistaken, if

    learnt properly. It could thereforedepend on the teacher not having thenecessary knowledge about this dyna-mic meditation, and not having taughtit on the basis of personal use andexperience. Or the person concernedhasnt had the time or the courage togive the students the possibility to gothrough a thorough and deep-going

    process the teaching has not takenplace under the right circumstances. Here, of course, I am referring tothe advancedTantric Kriya Yoga,which contains more than twentyeffective kriyas.

    Before the initiation itself the student

    should be prepared body and mind,with a warm-up that lasts at least a

    week (on a one-month course) and thisis on the condition that the studenthas participated on courses beforeand learnt to use the preparatoryexercises at home. On a three-monthcourse the warm-up lasts ve weeks.

    When the initiation is nally under

    way, it is vital that you have timeto deal with everything that happensalong the way. Together with thestudent the teacher must be ableto live through a process, whereexperiences and energy are used insuch a way that you really experiencethe essence of Kriya Yoga.

    By going all the way, witha carefully planned process, nosubconscious eruptions (in thewords of Swami Satyananda) willoccur later on, when the student usesthe meditation at home.

    Having said this, I must add that toa great extent it naturally depends onyou both when you prepare yourself

    before the initiation, during the expe-rience of the actual process and laterwhen using Kriya Yoga on your own.

    During this course you have taughtme to appreciate Kriya Yoga moreand more as a ritual. That is, I have

    started to understand the benet ofconstantly interrupting my present

    state, with a bend of the head or byshifting position between two kriyas,or whatever else we do during the

    process. I trust, or rather I feel stronglythat the geniuses who invented KriyaYoga, have known how to trigger mymind in the right way. The best I cando is to take it easy and follow the

    method, and experience the kriya Iam doing, before I go on to the next.

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    This is, for me, a new attitude,which has changed my relation to theindividual kriyas instead of strai-ning, I allow myself to let go. Theeffect of this is still more harmoniousthan that which I have experiencedbefore. (Gunnar, a Swedish studentwho has used Kriya Yoga for sometime and is now back at H to expe-rience yet another Kriya Yoga course.)

    Oh Swamiji, I saw all these wonder-ful colours, said June Jackson(psychologist from Australia) on acourse in India in 1973.

    Swami Satyananda answered:

    Was that what you were supposed tobe doing? And he continued:Remember, two thirds of your mindon the technique, one third on theexperiences.

    All that glitters is not gold

    In the last few years the concept

    of Kriya Yoga has been devalued, ifthe words are meant to signify themeditation practise that Swami Yoga-nanda rst introduced in the west,and which Swami Satyananda thenshowed us in its full potency.

    I wrote my rst article about KriyaYoga in Bindu 1994. At the time littlemention was made of it and not much

    teaching was going on elsewhere.I had then been teaching advancedKriya Yoga for twenty-three years.

    Shortly thereafter the word becamefashionable, and you heard Kriya Yogatalked about everywhere. People whodidnt know about the original KriyaYoga got the idea to call other sorts of

    yoga Kriya Yoga. All of a sudden youcould learn Kriya Yoga over a weekend.

    The advanced Tantric Kriya Yogashould not be mistaken for the kriyayoga that you can learn over a week-end or in a week, nor with the physicalcleansing processesHatha Yoga KriyaorShat Karma, which are a part ofthe preparations for the initiation.

    In Yoga Sutra you can alsoread about Kriya Yoga, but thereit is about something completelydifferent, namely the attitudes and

    disciplines in Raja Yoga, whichPatanjali represents, not at all about

    the meditations and practises, whichthe Tantric Kriya Yoga consists of.

    3 steps of Tantric Kriya Yoga:

    Beginners Kriya Yogaconsists ofve small kriyas. In our school we

    call this variation Source of Energy.Originally it was called the little

    Ajapa Japa orVishuddhi Shuddhi -now it is called weekend Kriya Yoga

    by some, though not by us.Vishuddhi Shuddhi means that

    which cleanses Vishuddhi Chakra,the throat chakra or the purication

    chakra, but it doesnt only includeVishuddhi. The psychic cleansingreferred to here is part of the

    preparations necessary to learn theactual Kriya Yoga.

    We teach this beginner methodboth at our city schools and onweekend courses. On our retreats atH International Course Centre in

    Sweden it is taught as a preparationfor theAjapa Japa, see below.About the effects see Bindu no 2.A complete instruction of this

    method is found in my book, Yoga,Tantra and Meditation in Daily Life,chapter 11 page 114-115.

    Intermediate Kriya Yoga consists

    of nine kriyas and is calledAjapaJapa in our tradition. This is taughton our 10- and 14-day courses.

    The nameAjapa Japa was originallyused for the fth step inJapa- orMantraYoga. It described a spontaneousrepetition or experience of the mantra.

    Later the nameAjapa Japa came

    to describe a simple meditation whereyou synchronise breath and mantra.

    People attend university for years to getan education, which they can use for

    only a few decades of their lives howmany spend just a few weeks or monthson their spiritual growth, a growth thatis important for their whole life andmore? (Swami Satyananda)

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    Ajapa Japa, in relation to the TantricKriya Yoga, is a meditation consistingof nine different kriyas or processes,among them a special breath, amantra and the use of the ows ofvital energy in relation to the chakrasor psychic centres of the body.

    Place your whole attention in thenerve, delicate as the lotus thread, inthe center of your spinal column. In

    such be transformed. (Vigyana Bhairava Tantra)

    Ajapa Japa is a necessary part of thepreparations for Kriya Yoga.

    Swami Yogananda often just gaveparts of this meditation to hisstudents in America.

    The psychic breath

    One of the basic components of thesemeditations is the psychic breath. It

    has many names: Ujjayi Pranayama,Kriya Kundalini Pranayama orthebreath of the psychic heat.

    The importance of correct instructionStraining, faulty sound or none atall, no pauses after the in- orout breath, can give incorrect andunintentional results, similar to for

    instance hyperventilation.It is therefore important that the

    teacher knows this breath from his orher own practise and can instruct andcorrect the student with condence.

    I unfortunately have heard of oneincident in India where an Australianwoman was assigned to instruct this

    breath to a group of people. It wasdone in such a gross and supercial

    way that one doubts whether theinstructor had personal knowledge ofthis wonderful instrument. We receiveda student from the above-mentionedcourse in India at H Course Centre.When we checked his psychic breathwe didnt recognise it - he didnt reallyknow, either, what it was supposed to

    be good for.When the psychic breath is

    performed in the correct manner itcan strengthen the energy eld of the

    body, normalise the blood pressure,remove depression and give rise to astable meditative state.

    Advanced Kriya Yoga andthose who teach

    Until a few generations ago Kriya Yogawas a practice only for Swamis, itwas our practice, Swamiji said to meone day. It was not revealed to others.

    In our time, Swami Yogananda and

    Swami Satyananda, among others,have decided to pass it on and traina few swamis to teach it. So, apartfrom this background, what can youexpect of a teacher?

    Well, apart from purely artisticabilities and the thoroughness of acraftsman, my view is that you cannotteach this unless you have personally

    sought the deep and the profoundthrough this Tantric meditation.

    The person who has not sought thisyoga, and really used it - no matter howgreat an authority he or she may havein the eyes of the world, or in the eyesof the students - knows nothing about it.

    Ignorance gives rise to preconcep-tions, and that in turn gives rise tofear - fear of the unknown. Fear limits

    the way yoga is taught and stopspeople discovering this spiritual gold.

    As a teacher one must have learntthis directly from ones teacher, thenhave independently delved into it,have a full-time training of manyyears and a long experience as a yogaand meditation teacher. These must

    be the real conditions, not whichclub you belong to or whom you arecurrently worshipping.

    No matter how well an ever so secretprocess is described by one who haslearnt the descriptionby heart, but who

    doesnt know the effect of the deeperprocesses on him- or herself, it cannever be fully revealed. Even if writtendown in the smallest detail, or taughton the basis of something learned byheart - without the initiation, beingdirectly guided, as an unbroken sequencewhere all conditions, preparationsand the attitude of the participants are

    correct - you cannot speak of aninitiation into Kriya Yoga.

    The signicance of the guidancefor two of the ner Kriyas isdescribed by Swami Yogananda in

    Autobiography of a Yogi: Sri Yukteswar chose the followingmorning to grant me Kriya Yoga

    initiation. The technique I hadalready received from two disciplesof Lahiri Mahasaya Father andmy tutor, Swami Kebalananda. ButMaster possessed a transforming

    power; at his touch a great lightbroke upon my being, like the gloryof countless suns blazing together. A

    ood of ineffable bliss overwhelmedmy heart to an innermost core.

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    Before the actual initiation even begins,with all that it entails, those who wishto participate have to be preparedwhere the initiation is to take place.This means going through an intestinal

    cleansing, unwinding, getting used toparticipate in the training anddeepening ones meditation.

    When the initiation is underway

    various other meditation methods, yogaexercises, dance and music etc. supportthe sequence, keeping the body suppleand the mind open. It must all continueundisturbed by outer inuences and dis-

    tractions - under ashram conditionsaccording to Swami Satyananda.The aspirants are living where this

    is taking place, and do not leave

    during the whole process. Also, thepeople working behind the coursewith cooking, administration or asassistant teachers, must have personalknowledge about and experience of

    Kriya Yoga - so that they know whatis going on in the meditation roomand during the process as a whole.

    This is not just a question of a giverand a receiver, but one of interplay

    between everyone participating in theprocess as a whole.

    For the participant it is important

    not to let the desire to understand -like a good little schoolboy or school-girl - block the ability to experience.He or she must, in other words,

    be prepared to participate whole-heartedly and with commitment. If there is only one person in theaudience who openly experiences the

    play, the evening will be a success,

    says the Danish actor Ove Sprogabout an evening at the theatre.This seems to be a law of nature,which applies to all forms of humanexpression and interaction. Opennessis inspiring and contagious.

    Also, the teacher must be preparedto give himself. He must experiencehimself as a medium who, on his own

    body and in his own mind, meets andovercomes hindrances and to a certainextent shares experiences with thestudents.

    Therefore the teacher is vulnerable.Like a snail retracting its feelers at theslightest touch, or a mimosa quicklyclosing its blossom it doesnt takemuch to kill the creativity needed tomake apparent the secrets of meditation.

    Training and celebration - confrontation and insight - harmony and strength

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    4

    Just a little distrust, insensitivity orindifference, expressed through mis-understanding or lack of awareness,can be enough. To be sure, many agenuine teacher has stopped teachingthe real yoga methods prematurely others havent dared step out of thesheltering role of guru and enter intothe fellowship of the process, which isneeded for an initiation to happen.

    Yet the Tantric rituals are full ofpower and strength, which both guideand aspirant benet from.

    With an effective method of meditationand good guidance measurements have

    shown that the brain frequency of thosealready in a relaxed state inuencesthe rest of the group so that they canreach the same state more easily.

    In the body there are the SupremeSiva-Shakti who pervade all things. Inthe body is Prakriti-Shakti [Natures

    power] and all Her products. In factthe body is a vast magazine of Power(Shakti). The object of the Tantrikrituals is to raise these various formsof power to their full expression. Thisis the work of Sadhana. (Sir JohnWoodroffe The Serpent Power)

    What is the purpose of a ritual?

    Is it to revive or reinstate a system of

    belief with outer signs and gestures?Is it done to hold on to a powerstructure or ensure a hereditaryauthority? Is it to work people up toeuphoric states or personality worship,so the participants can surrender theirindependence and responsibility?

    No! It is a process where youremain in contact with or rediscoveryour innermost nature, your creativity

    and source of energy and fullment.Maybe you wish to overcome what

    stops you from living in accordancewith your innermost sense of purpose.

    The ritual is there in order to lightthe light of consciousness over andover again, so that it can burn highabove the theorising and know-allattitude of the limited mind, and offeryou the possibility to experience.

    To make the light ow and let thepurifying ame ofSushumnaburnclearly - what else could be the purpose?

    A process, a ritual or a cycle, created

    by a composition of certain yoga- andmeditation methods, must followdenite laws in just the same way ascomposed music. The methods worktogether and strengthen and deepeneach others effect.

    It doesnt matter whether music isbased on notes written down or onimprovisation, you have to get in

    touch with its essence. That is thebasis - but it is the musicians abilityto communicate and the openness ofthe participants, which makes themusic come alive and turns it into anenriching experience.

    If you leave the concert you hearno music, and if one or more of thespectators were to demand, on grounds

    of principle or for any other reason,that something else should be playedor that it should be played differently,or with another beginning, because theyalready know some of the openingstanzas, or because they want whattheyre used to, or that they wouldlike to relate to the piece of music ina theoretical way instead of listening- then it would be impossible to get

    the creating and experiencing processgoing. Then the whole thing woulddie in a repetitive and mechanical

    performance. Everything would be leftto chance, instead of taken along a pathtowards a result to a heightenedexperience, or spoken in terms of yoga:a stable altered state of consciousness.

    Like much music, the sequence ofthe various kriyas has a certain regu-larity and a certain order: beginning,intermediate parts, climax and release.The initiation into the advancedKriya Yoga should not be broken upinto fragments, any more than a piece

    of music. Then the basic experienceof the whole would be lost and thebenecial and reciprocal effect thekriyas have on each other when

    performed together would be lost.

    Consider your essence as light raysrising from center to center up thevertebrae, and so rises livingness in

    you. (Vigyana Bhairava Tantra)

    Why a guide

    Dont leave them alone, SwamiSatyananda said to me one day, whenwe were talking about teaching. Whathe was expressing wasnt just thatI should give my students thorough

    instructions in the method.During the learning process a

    training takes place,where theteacher disturbs the students, whenthey forget themselves. This bringsthem back to the meditation.

    When the training is over it is themethod itself that holds your attentionor makes you return when youreabout to lose yourself in other things.

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    5

    What I am speaking of here is aprinciple in Tantra. The mind must beengaged all the time by that which hasan effect. The method should be socomprehensive that it cannot possiblybe done automatically in this way thestream of thoughts are broken without

    effort. This occurs in all Tantric rituals,both the sexual and the more advancedones like Kriya Yoga.

    In certain Zen monasteries one ofthe monks goes behind the others whilethey are meditating. When one of theparticipants changes position and leansslightly forward, it is a sign that he islost in thoughts. The person is politely

    contacted, and then receives a goodsmack over the shoulders with a atstick. It then takes a while before heforgets himself in thoughts again.

    An essential condition

    A basic part of the training is themeditationInner Silence (AntarMauna), which is practised in asequence of seven steps. It is essentialwhen learning Kriya Yoga.

    Inner Silence is also part of thewarm-up just before and during theinitiation. A daily guidance or practiseof Inner Silence gives you, amongother things, an ability not to be carriedaway by all that ows through the mindin the form of thoughts, moods,emotions and states. The use of thismeditation helps you not to forgetyourself. It strengthens the ability tolive a tolerant and independent life inrelation to the conceptions, fantasiesand ideas that might cross your path.

    The various other daily routines, karmayoga, yes even jokes and teasing, can

    to a very high degree help to liberate

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    6

    a person from years of neuroses andfrustrations.

    In the daily life of the small ashramthat Swami Satyananda was runningin the sixties you got left in peacewhen you were present and aware.- But the moment you had landed in a

    self-centred, euphoric or overenthusiasticstate or in role playing, thinking thatyou were something other than your-self - for instance that you were aboveit all, even though it was obvious toeveryone that you werent - then itwas almost as if the whole situationwas staged, just so that you could see

    your state. You werent criticised, butthe experience made you realise...

    During the meditation it may happenthat you forget yourself in daydreamsor worries maybe you react or sitand think enthusiastically about whatyou are doing - instead of doingit. Then an innocent question from

    the teacher during the guidance helpsyou return to the practise, to theexperience of whats happening.

    Many have a guru at a distance, whothey meet on festive occasions, orwho they dont meet at all, just dreamabout, but this has nothing to do witha direct guidance in daily training.

    Of course, one can imagine any-thing; often people sit at home withtheir yoga and become learnedand oversensitive on the basis of their

    books and dreams. Or they go theother way and become very physical,thinking that exaggerated gymnasticsand suppleness is the only solution,even though it makes no difference.

    An introvert, self-obsessed or

    conceited stance probably constitutesone of the most difcult hindrancesto achieve an open state, an expandedawareness and a sensitive and respect-ful attitude to yourself and life. Thisis why we use the Tantric techniques.

    Knowingor guessing?When you express an opinion or a

    judgement over others. When youinterpret what other people say, yourteacher for instance. Do you know it,or are you guessing?

    In Patanjalis Yoga Sutras varioushindrances for self-realisation are

    mentioned. One of them ismisunderstanding. That the studentsquickly interprets the instructions ofthe teacher after their own thinking,so as to avoid giving up ingrainedideas. This gives no insight, but stopsyou from taking in something useful.

    The circulation of the lightAfter the circulation in conformitywith the law, there is a turn upwardtowards heaven when the breath isdrawn in.

    When the breath ows out energy isdirected towards the earth.One time-period consists of sixintervals (hou).

    In two intervals one gathers Moni.The great Tao comes forth from thecentre. Do not seek the primordial

    seed outside!(Hiu Ming Ching - Secret of the

    golden ower)

    In the Chinese bookSecret of theGolden Flowerwe nd traces of what

    Tantra is based on:

    Keep to that which works and do notdeviate into conceptions.

    You are warned from entering thecave of fantasy. Instead you shouldstay in the space of energy and letenergy and breath unite in the areaof the elixirAmrit, nectar, ambrosia...

    this is the right space. In the cave offantasy, on the other hand, you openup to the world of demons...

    During the meditation, themeditator should possess a kind ofconscious intuition, so he or she canfeel energy and breath uniting in thesphere of nectar a warm release

    belonging to the true light, light as amist, is beginning to stir.

    In contrast to our way of thinking,there is no category or word in

    Aboriginal languages for anintermediate position between the

    super-reality of the archetypalDreamtime epoch and the actual

    physical world. There is no wordor concept for ction, fantasy, or

    personal imagination somethingthat does not occur or is not

    perceived is a lie, pure and simple.(Voices of the rst day. Awakening

    in the Aboriginal Dreamtime byRobert Lawlor)

    What is here is there. What is nothere is nowhere. (Visyasara Tantra)So what do you prefer: To dream ofall the possibilities of existence, or tolive in accordance with your energyand your breath? If your actionsresult from this, you dont need anyfantasies. You will be able tosee whatlife really has to offer!

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    7

    Yoga, breathing exercisesand relaxation are part of theprocess

    The inner experience is intensiedduring the learning of Kriya Yoga -this can give vivid memories, insights

    and aha-experiences, but it can alsomake you aware of moods and states,which before have been more or lesssubconscious.

    Beside the actual Kriya Yoga,many other ingredients play a partin the process. A particular methodor meditation is applied just whenit is needed, to catch and release astate, to inspire through experience -and to lead the process in the desireddirection. Its the whole context thathelps keep the concentration on trackand maintain awareness.

    Therefore we proceed, alongsidelearning the Kriya Yoga, with

    physical exercises (asana) and

    breathing exercises. This furtherensures that the ows of energyare kept pure, thus counteracting

    blockages, both physical and mental.Meditative song and dance one or

    two evenings a week are not just abreak in the routines, they also helpkeep the process going and the mindopen and receptive. During the dance

    you become part of a group in apositive sense, not left alone withfantasies and worries, and you trainthe ability to let go.

    In a canoe, if you are inattentiveand wrapped up in yourself you maycapsize, so you cant forget yourselfthere either.

    Even going for a horse ride canplay a part. Its pretty difcult to

    be introvert when you are sitting onanother being or taking care of it. Thehorse wishes, or rather demands yourattention, that you are present andgive contact while riding and beingtogether with it. If you are not, youwill certainly be made aware of it. If

    you treat a living being mechanicallyor as something insensitive, youdepreciate it, and what joy does thatgive either of you?

    Besides, this applies also to thepeople aroundyou. It is good bothfor them and for you if you dare give

    proper contact and dont just talk

    yourself out of it.Working within a xed frameworkturned out to be much stronger thanwhen I just let everything drift. The

    setting was: the same place, and thedaily practice of the techniques. The

    setting gave stability, security, limits;so my doubt, confusion, hesitation or

    fear could no longer stop me fromacting. (Synne)

    Ashram conditions in the

    greenhouse during the retreat

    The dietIn the sheltered milieuof the ashram,unnecessary stimulus of the nervous

    system doesnt excite the mind.During the initiation the diet, afterthe intestinal cleansing and on therest of course, means that you donttake any stimulants neither blacktea, coffee, chocolate, alcohol norstronger substances, such as forinstance narcotics or anti-depressants.All these are prohibited to keep thestate during the initiation sensitive,

    clear and stable, and to makethe nervous system strong andindependent of stimulants.

    Strong spices are not part ofthe diet either. When the sensitivityincreases there is a risk that they bindenergy in the intestines and stomacharea, thereby inuencing the moodand the psychic state. So the foodneither irritates the nervous systemnor the stomach.

    Mass media and environmentLiving on other peoples fantasies

    by habitually consuming news and

    entertainment in the media, can limityour drive and independence, and thiscreates fear. When looking at theTV-screen you do not experience thatyou are in charge of your own life,and you lose the ability to remainyourself.

    Instead of identifying with theworries of the media, during the

    retreat you can take a break from allthis to be together with yourself andother real people.

    I can compare a stay at Hwith the pyramids we have at thecourse centre and at the school inCopenhagen. They rest the senses.A tank, 2,40 x 2,40 m, is built intosuch a pyramid. It is lled with about

    one foot of salt water that makes yourbody oat. The pyramid is isolatedfrom sound, and when the door isclosed it is dark. The salt water hasthe bodys surface temperature, andthe air is silently renewed. So you arenot being exposed to any inuencesor variations of temperature or air,and the salt water to a certain degreemakes you feel weightless.

    h i h id f di i h

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    8

    When you oat in the pyramid forabout an hour, completely still with noouter inuences, the mind calms down.When the senses are permitted to restno new thoughts are created and theones already in the mind are thoughtthrough. This corresponds with the

    yoga method called pratyahara,which is used in the relaxation Yoga

    Nidra and in part ofInner Silence.Afterwards you nd yourself in astate of peace and clarity.

    The effect of a sadhana course orretreat in an ashram therefore has aneffect similar to the one you get inthe pyramid. Without any inuencefrom the restless entertainment ofthe media, telephones and theenvironment at home, you not onlygive the mind, but the wholeorganism such a holiday that youachieve the peace needed to gothrough the initiation and trainingyou have come for. The mind can now

    digest and free itself of old patterns,and this deepens the learning.Thats why the learning of

    advanced Kriya Yoga must take placeunder conditions such as we havecreated at H.

    If you were to teach Kriya Yogain a town, you would, for example,

    have no guarantee that people wouldreally use the complementing yoga

    programmes and the Inner Silencemeditation. Together, these keep the

    body and mind free from blockages,till the Kriya Yoga starts to work.The state during the initiation must

    be balanced, pure and subtle, bothmentally and physically. This isachieved through the diet and the

    conditions, where you are nottempted to consume anything elsethan the diet. In a town you areexposed to all sorts of differentstimuli and inuences.

    There are examples from suchteaching in cities in Europe. I have

    had second-hand information that thishas given bad and unwanted results.

    The ritual is not an escape fromsomething, but a search for theoriginal, re-establishing the contactwith the inner source, thespontaneous and the ability to be.

    Like a tender plant about to growstrong, while the process is taking

    place it needs a sheltering green-house. Not just any institution, butan ashram prepared for this particular

    purpose, and in accordance with this:

    At rst there is Tao, the natural, the

    spontaneous, the unfeigned...when Tao is lost, there is power.When power is lost there is charityWhen charity is lost, there is justice.When justice is lost, there is formalism.When formalism is lost there is

    chaos...So:

    Give up holiness, renounce

    thoughtfulness, and the people willlive in peace and happiness; giveup charity, renounce justice, andthe people will return to lial loveand fatherly tenderness; give upcleverness, let go of prot, andthieves and robbers will not exist.

    (Two quotations from Tao TeChing by Lao Tse; based on atranslation by ge Delbanco.)

    TantraTantra starts fromthe healthy andoriginal.

    Too much thinking here on thisearth originates in the unhealthyhuman being, and in suffering and

    miserable humanity. This applies tomedical care, where patients are oftenheld in a subordinate and dependentrole, which demands care. Theyhave no say against the doctorsomnipotence about their state, andthey are not taught to participateactively in the healing process.

    Within psychoanalysis, differentforms of healing, art, philosophy,religion, yes, even within someschools of yoga, the human being isseen as fundamentally suffering.

    In this way a false identity iscreated and held on to by us humans,a warped picture of our true nature.When we are to be healed, the work

    is therefore the same as in politicswhen you have a faulty body of laws,which you keep patching up a lawsystem, which claims, that all peopleare criminals until proven otherwise.

    Mans innermost essence ishealthy, strong, sound and radiant.Such a perception of ourselves must

    be the basis of all help we give

    each other or each individual giveshim/herself. Now and then, when weforget ourselves and hold on to a falseidentity, then we only need to realiseour true nature to be able to moveon even though sometimes this iseasier said than done.

    True initiation (and the healing thatoften follows as a side effect), givesyou an experience, where you see

    lf ll t

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    yourself as you really are - you returnto yourself.

    This is where the teacher must beable to take you through the crisisthat follows from letting go of falseand self-effacing concepts - andthrough experience and insight show

    you that states are not everlasting andall-important. You learn how to avoidlosing yourself, in what you are not.

    The methods of Tantra and theknowledge you receive can be used to

    bring forth the person in you that goesto meet life and that is strong enoughto be true to his own nature.

    I discovered what it is to be alive bybeing it, not by living on dreams andideals. The methods helped me, andI removed all manner of excuses andfear that I had built up around me,hindrances standing in the way of me

    being the one I really am - and thusbeing something for others.

    Kriya Yoga is a rite, a ceremony, amethod, a sadhana. It is a methodof rening ones forces so that theindividual awareness can penetratethe depth of ones nature.

    (Swami Satyananda)

    Tantra is more than sexual rituals

    There are Tantric rituals that, taken inall, can last a whole day and night, yes,even longer. The sexual rituals are mostwidely known. Kriya Yoga has a struc-ture, which can be compared with thesequence and arrangement of the sexualrituals, but it is deeper reaching with along-lasting effect. The Kriya Yogaritual demands its preparation, itswarming-up, and during the actual

    process its various kriyas some warm up and preparation and is fol It is vitally important that the initia

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    0

    process it s various kriyas - someensure a harmonious process, othersne tune the mind or purify theenergy and strengthen the awareness.It all nally culminates in the deepkriyas, the nest of meditations.

    During the end of the sixties when

    Paramhansa Satyananda was teachingthe great Tantric Kriya Yoga himself,the whole thing was accomplished asone long initiation. The result wasthat we learnt a Tantric ritual con-sisting of more than 20 kriyas. Thesecret of learning and practising thekriyas in this way is more than justthe learning of a few exercises, it istransforming and energy-giving.

    We moved through all ourdimensions, from the physical, viathe mental, emotional, the energydimension (with ows of prana or lifeenergy), the psychic (including thechakras), the astral and the causal, to

    pure consciousness.

    The actual initiation in Kriya Yoga,apart from the preparation that takesplace immediately before, should beat least 21 days. Therefore the wholething: warm-up, initiation, and a fewdays to come out of the silence atthe end, should last at least a month.Read about Cycles and Sadhana in

    Bindu no.10.

    It cant be done in shorter time!Longer, certainly. The longer timethere is to learn the Kriya Yoga, thedeeper you can go, the more you candiscover about yourself and the pos-sibilities to be found in Kriya Yoga;and the greater the inner purication.On the annual Three-Month Course theactual Kriya Yoga initiation lasts at least33 days. It takes place after a ve-week

    warm-up and preparation, and is fol-lowed by three weeks to digest every-thing - and additionally to deepen andexplore other methods, which you atthis point are open to benet from.

    The other Kriya course I teach lastsa month. It therefore requires that at

    least one course has been completedbefore that in which the aspirant isprepared with yoga and meditation,the seven steps of Inner Silence andthe nine steps of Ajapa Japa, methodsthat he or she then use at home duringthe period before the initiation inKriya Yoga.

    Any teacher who doesnt have thetime to pace the course in such away that things are allowed to fallinto place and be experienced in anunbroken sequence of events, andnot in several short periods, should,for this reason alone, refrain fromteaching Kriya Yoga.

    A student in New Zealand showed

    me clearly what happens when some-body teaches Kriya Yoga withouthaving a proper relation to it. Thatteacher must have had some sort ofsequence to start off from, and musthave then decided to teach my studentthe rst 10 kriyas on the list. Thishappened to result in Tadan Kriyanishing the sequence, being last on

    this arbitrary list. So the student cameto me and said that he felt restlessor uneasy in the body after nishingthis programme. It is obvious to onewho knows that you cannot end withTadan Kriya. Tadan must be followed

    by kriyas that rene the relativelygross, but desired, effect, and thereaf-ter by meditative kriyas, that integrateand harmonise the increased energy.

    It is vitally important that the initia-tion consists of all the kriyas, both thegross, the intermediate and the ne,so that the student is not sent homewith an incomplete experience of asequence, and so that he or she cannish in a harmonious way every time.

    A process of initiation must

    reach further than inhibi-

    tions, limitations and habits

    A process in the Tantric meaning ofthe word is a cycle with a beginning,a sequence that develops andchanges, and a conclusion - it issomething you live through.

    During the initiation, the processshould bring the aspirant further thanhe or she was when it started.If you dont reach beyond formerlimitations, it is not an initiation. Thiswe can understand from the nameKriya, which in this context doesnt

    just mean action, that is, a decisioncarried out in life, but inner dynamics- a process where something happens- a transformation of concepts andstates.

    The Kriya Yoga sequence is sucha Tantric process: every meditationmethod, every kriya which it contains

    plays a part, and the different kriyas

    supplement each other - just likeeverything else happening on thecourse. Every part of the process

    prepares for the next and opens thedoor to go further. In this way asensitivity and an ability to go deepis gradually built up, so that you can

    pick up and use the ner keys tothe dimensions of your being at theend of the sequence.

    The process doesnt only function Grotowski and his company were gave us all an experience of release

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    The process doesn t only functionbecause of the exercises you do, butalso because you are doing somethingdifferent than usual free from habits,routines and thought patterns aboutwhat is possible and not possible.

    The very fact that you let go of

    that which weighs you down andhides the view, is perhaps the mostimportant thing about the initiation.

    But nobody can force you. Yes,the process helps you, with all themethods it contains, particularly thekriyas, the experience of the teacherand the attitude of the participants. Itis up to you, however, to be open tothe possibilities, and use them, whichmost people succeed in doing.

    Grotowski

    Let me give an example from acompletely different context:

    When I was in my twenties, I

    worked with various types of theatre.Through pantomime I learnt to have anunceremonious, robust and practicalrelation to the classical yoga poses(headstand, shoulderstand, ploughetc), as artists in the Chinese andIndian traditions have used them.

    Then I continued to explore both whatyoga, and the theatre could give me.

    My meeting with two EasternEuropean theatre people taught methat a sequence might carry youfurther than what you expect fromyourself. I metJerzy Grotowski fromPoland and his assistant and leadingactorRyszard Cieslakfrom Czechos-lovakia. (See the bookTowards a

    Poor Theatreby Grotowski, publis-hed in English by The Odin Theatre.)

    Grotowski and his company wereinvited to Denmark by Studenterscenen,which I was a part of, and by The OdinTheatre, which is world famous todayfor its unique performances and its wayof training actors. The Italian IugenioBarba, a former student of Grotowski,

    founded The Odin Theatre. It is housedin the town of Holstebro in Denmark.

    The training which we underwentwith Grotowski and Cieslak oftenstarted with a gentle warm-up, where wefollowed Cieslak and did all exercisesand improvisations in a sequence. Hestarted with both static exercises anddynamic sequences, which we couldeasily imitate. The whole thing soondeveloped to increasingly demandingmovements and physical expressions.

    The tempo also escalated, so therewas no time to think of your ownlimitations. Either you joined in,

    performing more and more fantasticexercises, or stepped aside. None of

    the participants had any possibilityof impeding the sequence for theothers, neither by holding back nor

    by starting to theorise!Those who succeeded - and by this

    I dont just mean that we could followCieslak in the physical exercises, ofwhich some were yoga exercises, butalso stand facing him in strong confron-

    tations with emotions laid bare - hadreached genuine, deep and uninhibitedexpressions, and on the physical planefor instance the tiger jump and theywere not trained gymnasts oracrobats, they were ordinary actors,directors and other theatre people.

    That we disregarded our limitations regardless of how far the individualcould follow Cieslak on the course

    gave us all an experience of releasethat I, at least, have beneted fromlater. The meeting with Grotowskiand Cieslak became an initiation,which showed me that you can exceedlimits whether they are created byyour own or other peoples concepts.

    We have done it since the

    beginning of time

    In the dancing that is part of therituals and initiations of indigenous

    people, we nd the same pattern aswith Grotowski.

    Also here you warm up, rst with

    slow rhythms and movements thenthe dance reaches a climax, where youattain a tirelessness and everythinggoes faster and faster. The body isliberated and takes control so that themind forgets all wishes ofachievement and grace. It is here thatthe participants experience a state of

    consciousness, which is necessary toreceive the initiation, and expand theperception of reality the personsconcerned have had so far.

    Be prepared, be prepared to changepaths. We are our actions. Life lets youchoose and explain what is what. Goaway from us Esu, go away, you rogue,sothe song goes during the dance.

    (Birgit kesson The mask of thespring water, about dance in Africa).

    Esu confuses, he is our mistakes,but also makes us aware, so that wecan let them go.

    The initiations of the indigenouspeople take place several timesduring a lifetime; rst the transition

    from child to youth, then between

    youth and maturity and then in the Letting go of that which You have now lived through most

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    youth and maturity, and then, in themiddle of life, and at the end, towardsan ever greater knowledge. Every

    phase of life needs its introductionand its release from old limitations.

    The process in the Tantric ritualWell, yoga and the various Tantricrituals might not deal with tiger

    jumps, but the purpose is the same to get you to be yourself behind allconcepts and self-deception, behindall the complexes which bind us todisease and suffering.

    We take away from the actor thatwhich shuts him off, but we donot teach him how to create forexample how to play Hamlet, in whatconsists the tragic gesture, how toact a farce for it is precisely inthis how that the seeds of banalityand of the clichs that defy creation

    are planted. (Jerzy GrotowskiTowards a Poor Theatre).In Tantra you dont learn to

    behave, like so many holy yogis(excuse the irony) demand fromtheir followers. You must takeresponsibility for that yourself. Butyou nd your own ability to formyour life in an independent and

    mature way.Kriya Yoga is probably the most

    thorough of all Tantric processes, butlike several of the other advancedrituals, they are obviously not suitedto everybody. In the same way, noteveryone should teach them - onlythose who are able and want to liveup to the conditions ofKriya Yogadiksha the initiation of Kriya Yoga.

    Letting go of that which

    stands in the way

    Giving up an involved state is like dying and being born anew, freer than before.

    When an Aboriginal boy was to beinitiated in Australia it was with the

    sure conviction that he was really goingto die and be reborn during the ritual.The whole ritual was built up in sucha way that those not yet initiatedexpected nothing else. The wholetribe (the already initiated) playedalong in this act, to maintain the illu-sion or the anticipation and thereforethe intensity of the experience, which

    turns out to be an incredibly effectiveway of imparting knowledge.Initiations into different phases of

    life can also happen in our culture, insecrecy. It is as if life itself helps us, sud-denly we face the possibility to meet thechallenges and have the experiences weneed, or we get the chance to meet the

    person or persons who can help us on.

    Do not stop, when you feel pain. Staywith it until you have lived it throughor overcome it. (Ramamurti Mishra)

    Releasing a tension or an involvedstate is like walking up a steep hill,you dont want to, and you think of anyother place that you would rather be

    but once you get over the top, and startgoing down-hill, you think: was that all?

    A preliminary conclusion

    A cycle must be completed, thesequence lived through and thewholeness experienced. Thefundamental inhibitions that isolate

    and obstruct the view are dropped.

    You have now lived through mostof a course. You have gone all theway. You have taken part in thecleansing processes, practised the

    physical exercises, experienced andlearnt the whole cycle of kriyas in the

    Kriya Yoga, together with the various

    other meditations and processes, andeverything has constituted a whole -an interplay.

    This totality has given you a stableeffect and purication, which is notonly physical. When you come homewith the result of this puricationand hopefully also with some insight,and relate it to daily life, you willexperience a difference compared tothe state you were in before you cameon the course.

    You sense that what you have now,both effects and tools, are tangible,and you also know that you haventbeen here to get lost in unreal statesor dreams about distant ideals, nor

    have you been here to learn to idolizesomeone. No, there has not been thepossibility for such excuses or mistakes.The conditions, the guidance and the

    structure of activities, exercises andmeditations have made sure of this.Mind you, you were prepared for itand participated actively .

    You now have an understanding of

    an initiation - and can see what itwould have meant had you not hadthe possibility of living through acomplete process, but stoppedhalfway. This would be like theSorcerers Apprentice, not having

    gone the whole way himself, and notbeing capable of imparting thecomplete experience to anyone else.

    Without going through the whole

    process, we might not be able to might encounter in the future. This understanding and awareness in the

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    process, we might not be able touproot the illusions that fascinate andinvolve us. In that case there would

    still be room for mistakes.You now have the condence to use

    this - thats what you are discoveringduring these last weeks of the course.

    And without this insight, what wouldhappen to overview and motivation -it would be easy to become involvedagain and lose the clarity that youare beginning to stabilise...

    All the techniques and facilities thatyou have had at your disposal hereon the course, and the conditions that

    you have followed, for instance thoseconnected with the silence, have made

    you unable to hypnotise yourselvesinto something else. Each of you hasremained what you are - yourself - atthe same time independent and partof the reality we have in common.

    When we lose our roots and our

    connection to tradition, both in ourown culture and in relation to themethods we use, we fumble in thedark. We become consumers andinventors. We think that we can buyeverything, satisfying ourselves bystudying it out of curiosity andwith no commitment. We expect tohave things changed or redone, if we

    dont understand it or like it. Everythingbecomes distorted this way. Both the

    psyche and nature will be destroyed.You cant do this with life anddenitely not with its deeper sides.

    The process in the complete cycleof initiation has protected you. It has

    shown how you can remain in contactwith yourself and in balance, no

    matter what outer conditions you

    might encounter in the future. Thisgoes for rituals of initiation everywhereon earth, at least those dealing withaltered states of consciousness, andthis happens especially in indigenous

    societies and in the original Tantrictradition. You become initiated to be

    able to live with a greater

    understanding and awareness in thelife-phase that ensues.

    (From a talk at the end of a Three-month course at H Course Centre)

    Om Tat Sat

    To be continued in a following edition.

    SwamiSatyanandaunder the bigmango treein the ashram

    garden, 1969

    Yoga Nidra

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    Yoga Nidra is much more than a deep relaxation;it is a total experience that touches and awakensall parts of your being. (Swami Janakananda)

    Two relaxation methods rom Nyasa Tantra, 20 minutes and 45 minutes.Swami Janakananda guides you through a complete relaxation o body andmind. He also makes use o the tantric mantras and visual symbols to awakenand harmonise the chakras. As a background he has choosen sounds romnature and invited the Indian musician Roop Verma to contribute with the music.

    Roop Verma, on citar and Swara Mandala harp, has here as the frstmusician in our time recorded the ancient music symbols o the chakras.

    Written and said about Yoga Nidra:

    I remain very impressed with the CD. I get a lot of solicitations and often donot respond to them because the quality is not always that good. This CD is

    more than the exception to the rule, hence my enthusiasm. I enjoy it not onlybecause it was produced with quality, but because I can tell from the instruc-tions and the voice guiding it that wisdom and experience, combined with a

    gentle strength and power, are leading the deep relaxation methods, throughSwami Janakananda.

    (Lisa McColley Anderson, Spirit Links, USA)

    This tape is a hit, if you can talkabout hits within relaxation.

    (A. Thomson, therapist and NewAge bookseller in UK)

    by Amazon.com

    ExperienceYoga NidraDeep relaxation on CD or tape

    guided by Swami JanakanandaAlso available in German, Swedish and Danish. With the CD/tape there is a 20-page booklet.

    CD ISBN 9163094886, tape ISBN 9163094924 .

    The tape is one of the most inspiringI have heard for a long time. It is a

    multidimensional work of art of a naturethat is rarely seen.(Michael Lammgrd,musician and therapist, Sweden)After a number of years of having a

    stressed life with a job that almostruined my ability to live in the present,

    Im now happy to face each new dayagain, not worrying unnecessarily abouttomorrow. I have learnt to laugh again. I

    think its fantastic.(E. Berg, Ludvika, Sweden)

    Yoga Nidra is different fromanything I have heard before...I feel refreshed and revitalisedafter the practice, and I know I

    will continue with it.(Nils-Olo Jacobsen in the

    magazine Skaren, Sweden)

    4

    Swami Janakananda in Europe Swami Janakananda

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    No. 13: Why hold your breath?Plenty o oxygen during Nadi Shodana.Breathe through your nose! An EEG study othe brain during Nadi Shodana.On the path to a greater Awareness.No. 12: Yoga or mouse arms. Mapping thebrains activity ater Kriya Yoga. On Sadhana,cycles in healing and learning and what itmeans to be silent during the initiation intoKriya Yoga.No. 11: The relaxed state and science.Pictures o the brainss activity during YogaNidra. Tantra and Yoga Nidra.

    Read Bindu- Back issues are still available

    No. 6: The twilight hour - did we have a livingmeditation tradition in the North? AboutR.Y.E. (Research on Yoga in Education).Shoulderstand.No. 5: Kriya Yoga II. Psychic energy. Sixyears o scientifc research on the 3-MonthsCourses. The Pyramid.No. 4: Kriya Yoga I. The eect o yoga on thefner energy. The Source o Energy - a Tantricmeditation.No. 3: On the ability to experience.Headstand. Neti - Nose Cleansing.

    No. 10: Nada Yoga, meditation on the innersounds. Vibrations create orms. Song anddance. The Bumble bee.

    No. 9: Instructor or Guide? Yoga or the Back.About the yoga teacher education at theScandinavian Yoga and Meditation School.

    No. 8: On the Tantric meditation AntarMauna (Inner Silence). The Lotus Pose.Intestinal cleansing. (Out o print).

    No. 7: Silver Jubilee issue! Kriya Yoga III.Yoga or pregnant women. Savasana.

    Read more about Bindu on the internet: www.scand-yoga.org/english/bindu

    Lecture (Oct. 16.)

    in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Lecture (Oct. 17) in Montevideo,Uruguay, arranged by the SatyanandaNiketan, Instituto Uruguayo de Yoga. 10-day retreat outside Montevideobeginning on Oct. 19.The teaching on the 10 day retreat willbe similar to the 10-14 days retreats atH Course Centre in Sweden, see p. 27.

    For more inormation please contact:Janardhana: [email protected].

    Swami Janakananda in Europe...

    ...and in South America

    Satsang (Nov. 7) in Copenhagen, Denmark.

    Satsang (Nov. 11) in Hanover, Germany. 3 week meditation course(Nov. 14 - 29) in Stockholm, Sweden.

    Satsang (Nov. 27) in Stockholm, Sweden. 2 week residential yoga teacher seminarin December at H Course Centre. 14-days Christmas retreat(Dec. 19 - Jan. 1) at H Course Centre.

    3 week meditation course(Jan. 7 - 22) in Copenhagen, Denmark. Satsang (Feb. 26) in Copenhagen, Denmark.

    The annual 3-Months Sadhana Retreat

    (Jan. 23 - April 20) at H Course Centre. Seminar (June 14 - 16) at the YogaTherapy Centre in London, England.More ino: [email protected]

    Jwas born in Denmark. He ounded theScandinavian Yoga and MeditationSchool in 1970, one o the mostadvanced and well-establishedschools in the West. His book Yoga,Tantra and Meditation in Daily Life(available rom Samuel Weiser, USA)has been translated into ninelanguages.

    Swami Janakananda is a master oKriya Yoga and other tantricmeditations - and a great source oinspiration, giving modern man theopportunity to practise deep reaching

    yoga in his every day lie. He is apopular lecturer at international yogaconventions.

    In his teaching Swami Janakanandamakes use o the situation here andnow - o you, just the way you are,not demanding that something frstmust be dierent. From here themeditation grows, the room you are

    sitting in, your body and senses...

    5

    SubscriptionYoga shop

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    H Course Center, 340 13 Hamneda, Sweden Tel. +46 372 55063Fax. +46 372 55036 Email: [email protected]

    SubscriptionYou are welcome to support us, sowe can continue to publish Bindu.Pay 45 SEKfor one issue or 80 SEK

    for 2 issues + 40 SEKpostage(payment, see below). Further

    contributions are also welcome.

    In my opinion this is one of the bestyoga books available at the moment.

    (Spectrum, British Wheel o Yoga)

    The book:Yoga, Tantra and Meditation

    in Daily Lifeby Swami Janakananda(Weiser, USAISBN: 0877287686) (EditionsSatyanandashram, France ISBN: 2.905892-06-04)235 SEK (postage included)Also available in French, German,Swedish and Danish.See p. 25.

    The CD: Experience Yoga Nidra200 SEK (postage included). See p. 24.

    The tape: Experience Yoga Nidra155 SEK (postage included). See p. 24.

    The periodical: BinduBackissues: no. 3-7, 9-13,45 SEK each (postage included). Fiveissues or more: 30 SEK each (postageincluded). See p. 25.

    Nose cleansing potwith instruction brochure:

    Joghus, (short spout) blue, yellow,red. 250 SEK (postage included)

    Yoga shop

    Publisher: Bindu, H Course Center, 340 13 Hamneda, Sweden. Circulation: 8.000 in English (also printed in German, Swedish and Danish). Print: Ljungby Grafiska.Layout: Robert Nilsson & Swami Janakananda. Translation: Jnana Shakti. Pictures: frontpage: photo by Coneyl Jay and Omkarananda, manipulation by Bjarke; back, p.8, 9, 11, 23 (manipulated by): Swami Janakananda; p. 2, 3 Knud Hvidberg, Denmark; p. 4, 6, 7 from videorecording of the interview; p. 13, 15, 19 Madhubani art, India;p. 20, 21 drawings by Sohan Qadri, India; p. 27 Stefan Nilsson, Sweden. Copyright 2001 Bindu and Scandinavian Yoga and Meditation School. All rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publishers.

    You can order the items on internet: www.scand-yoga.org/english/shop, or just send your order and money to:Scandinavian Yoga and Meditation School, H Course Center, 340 13 Hamneda, Sweden. We accept payment in Swedish

    Crowns (SEK) by international money order or to our postal giro account 73 86 03 - 0 in Sweden. Or an international bankcheque (ree o charge at our end). NB Euro-cheques are not accepted any more in Swedish Banks!

    Sweden Vstmannagatan 62, 113 25 Stockholm, tel. +46-8321218, ax. +46-8314406, email: [email protected] Idrottsvgen 13,445 55 Surte, Gothenburg, tel. +46-31241294, email: [email protected] Hyby grindvg 85, 230 41 Klgerup, Malm/Lund,tel. +46 40481008 / +46 736260849, email: [email protected] Denmark Kbmagergade 65, 1150 Copenhagen, tel. +45 33 14 11 40, ax.

    +45 33 14 14 34, email: [email protected] Vestergade 45, 8000 rhus C, tel. +45 86 19 40 33, email: [email protected] Kongensgade 12 B, 3000 Elsinore, tel. +45 49 21 20 68, email: [email protected] Norway Postboks 3, Holten, 5326 Ask, Bergen,tel. +47-56143310, ax. +47-56149738, email: [email protected] Finland Pohjoiskaari 21 A 4, 00200 Helsinki, tel. +358-98703071 /+358-405811382, email: [email protected] Sukula, 30100 Forssa, tel. +358-34350599, email: [email protected] Sextrostr. 3, 30169 Hanover, tel. +49-5118039941 ax. +49-5118039942, email: [email protected] 46, rue de Metz, 31000 Toulouse, tel. +33 561251769, email: [email protected] in Australia Robyn Taylor, Concept Training, PO Box 89, Mackay Q4740, tel. +61 749 531 594, e-mail: [email protected]

    www.scand-yoga.org

    The brochure (free): about the retreatsat H International Course Center. Seenext page.

    Hopi Ear Candles: made o 100% beeswax and cotton; cleanses the ears.80 SEK (postage included)

    Krutis, (long spout)blue, green, white,sand. 370 SEK(postage included)

    6

    H Course Center in South Sweden

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    7

    The retreats at H Course Center insouthern Sweden, are more than justholiday courses with a little yogaand meditation.

    Here you go through a process,which, with the aid of methods ofgenius from the tradition of yoga andtantra raises you to a level whereyou experience greater presence and

    increased energy - which you can afterwards maintain with a regular practice at home.The aim of the courses at H is for you to go deep and

    become one with yourself - they give you the strength togo in the directionyou want.

    H Course Center is about a 3 hours drive north fromCopenhagen, Denmark. If you come with Ryan AirfromGreat Britain or Ireland, the airport of Malm in Sweden is2 hours away. Get the brochure about H Course Center.It describes our unique courses - where you for a periodof time can withdraw to gain perspective in surroundingsof natural beauty.

    H Course Center in South SwedenDo you want to go deeper, do you want to learn more about yoga, tantra and meditation?

    www.scand-yoga.org/english/haa tel. 0046 372 55063

    The 3-Months Course 2002Jan. 23 - April 20 21600/18000 SEK* Swami Janakananda & Sta et.al.

    Kriya Yoga Course 2002

    July 20 - Aug. 18 9450/7500 SEK*Swami Janakananda et.al.

    10- and 14-days retreatsOct. 10 - 20 2001 5100/3800 SEK*Dec. 19 - Jan. 1 5800 SEK*

    Swami Janakananda et.al.Jan. 2 - 12 2002 5100/3800 SEK*May 16 - 26 5250/3900 SEK*May 26 - June 8 5550/4200 SEK*

    June 9 - 22 5550/4200 SEK*June 23 - July 6 5950/4800 SEK*July 7 - 20 5950 SEK*Sept. 1 - 14 5550/4200 SEK*

    Read more about the retreats atH Course Center, and check outthe price in your own currency oninternet, see above.

    *1000 SEK = ca.105 = ca. 65 =ca. 95 $ = ca. 149 CAD = ca. 183 AUD

    (exchange rate rom Sep. 1st).

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