The Kriya as taught by Sri Mukherjee has been the best discovery in the

field of Kriya since my initiation into Kriya in 1975 (I practiced the

preliminary techniques of my lineage since 1973.)
I have talked with Sri Mukherjee through Skype. He is a nice person,
very likeable and open hearted. He is well-intentioned. He told me a thing
that nobody had ever told: ''I don't want to leave this body allowing that
this original Kriya dies with me.'' He really wants to do something
practical in this direction.
At the present moment he asked me (and to my friend S. B. also) to
communicate his First Kriya to every sincerely interested person.
This communication can happen verbally but also through written material
posted on my web site. He has not asked me (as others did) to erase from
my book all the different Kriya techniques I learned in the past from other
teachers. Although he said they are not original Kriya, they represent my
past, my toilsome search and should remain. I think that this kind of
respect is rare.
You will find in this document the First Kriya techniques my friend
S.B. helped me. The explanation you find here cannot substitute the
process of formal initiation (Dikhsa). It is only a communication of
technical details.
People who receive this holy technique of Original First Kriya can
practice it while waiting for the opportunity of being formally initiated.
This gracious permission by Sri Mukherjee, as you can understand,
puts him in a peculiar position, different from all the other Kriya teachers.
As you see, no other teacher has ever showed a similar ''openness'', getting
rid of the taboo of secrecy.
My friend S.B. is much more than me in contact with him and has
dared to face him with all possible questions: he always replies, he is
always open and cheerful about our interest in Kriya.

About receiving Diksha from a person who really has the realization,
ability to give it, Sree Mukherjee desires that each person understands the
following concept:

''Importance of Diksha/Initiation

The Kriyas we discuss hold no power without an initiation. Spiritual

practice without initiation gives joy to mind for a little while and then the
experience settles down you can test it yourself. After experiencing joy
for some time you will see that things will not make progress; sad but this
is the reason why many people fail horribly on a spiritual path. Reading
different techniques online or in a book they attempt to practice it
wholeheartedly, which results into nothing but increased confusion and
frustration.
The technique is just like a blue print of a building and initiation is the
foundation of that building; you may have the best blue print/design but
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without strong and good foundation the building wont be stable for
long..
This way if you do not have the genuine initiation, you would not progress
very much but if you have the right initiation you will see that your
practice will deepen with time..

And always remember: Initiation is a very secret affair between a guru and
a disciple, its a matter between two souls, and initiations are never done in
group, public and over a distance using internet! At the time of initiation
only two people are present in the room, no fancy decorations are needed
either... What is needed is a pure heart with desire to receive an initiation,
your meditation seat and right attitude.'' (Sri Rangin Mukherjee)

HOW TO PRACTICE KRIYA PRANAYAMA

Introduction

Basic tenet of Kriya Yoga:

Sushumna is very subtle, you can enter Sushumna only by behaving with
extreme delicacy. The secret to enter it is that during Kriya Pranayama your
inner gaze and all your attention are fixed in the central point of the
spiritual eye between your eyebrows and not in any other place! This point
is Kutastha. Put your whole attention there, there should be no strain on the
eyes. Everything stays natural.
Now we are going to introduce you to the Kriya Pranayama and
explain how to proceed in the practice of 108 breaths in a nonstop session.

How to practice:
By keeping both the shoulders in a natural position, by expanding the chest
a little bit, by bringing the back in a straight position, by lowering gently
the chin, by mentally gazing between the two eyebrows, the position
becomes steady effortlessly. Kriya Pranayama starts and goes ahead with
natural breathing.
While breathing in this natural way, you mentally chant Om six
times in Kutastha during inhalation and six times during exhalation. This
will seem to you not a correct way of practicing Kriya, but please practice
this way, this is what Lahiri Mahasaya and Swami Pranabananda Giri
instructed
If your breath is shorter, accept this situation without trying, with
uneasiness, to lengthen your breath. A longer breath will appear
spontaneously in time. What matters is to stay focused at Kutastha with the
mental chant of Om. You can keep the tip of the tongue touching the palate
(baby Kechari) or practice the real Kechari (in this lineage of Kriya, perfect
Kechari is not required.)
Knocking with Om at Kutastha will give you the power to enter the
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very subtle channel of Sushumna and to mentally touch the central point of
each Chakra a deed that happens only by keeping the concentration, on
Kutastha.

At a certain point you feel the spine and the Chakras. Now you realize that
the mental chants of Oms in Kutastha are happening in the center of each
Chakra too. The six Oms, while inhaling, reverberate in the six Chakras
from down to top: Muladhara, Swadhisthana, Manipura, Anahata,
Vishuddha, Ajna. The six Oms, while exhaling, reverberate in the six
Chakras from top to down: Ajna, Vishuddha...(it takes time reaching this
stage.)
But remember your attention is always at the central point of the spiritual
eye. If your focus is diverted from Kutastha, all the magic of this process is
lost. It is Kutastha that gives you the power to feel the central point of each
Chakra.

And then at a certain moment you will feel that the veil of darkness fades
away and you witness the brilliance of the Divine Light in the center of
which lies the entry point of Sushumna. After entering the Sushumna you
have to use force on Pranayama.

Kriya becomes extremely enjoyable. The length of each breath increases.

With such instruction complete your 108 Kriya breaths. Don't overstep the
prescribed number: 108.

Note
If you utilize the force on breath since the beginning of your Kriya
Pranayama, the energy will not enter the subtle channel of Sushumna, it
will flow outside, making the procedure tamasic, therefore producing only
stress.

Routine
108 Kriya breaths [Time required: from 40 to 50 minutes]
After that, practice Yoni Mudra (only once in 24 hours), minimum 3 Maha
Mudra and then remain calm, focused on Kutastha. This final part, where
you simple enjoy the peace and the bliss originating from the practice of
Kriya is called Paravastha. Paravastha means: ''The state after the action of
Kriya.''

No other technique is necessary now.

In the First Kriya we have only four techniques (Kriya Pranayama, Yoni
Mudra and Maha Mudra and Paravastha {meditation.}) Those who
brought Kriya in the west, due to lack of knowledge, changed it and added
a lot of other techniques to make it appear more complicated. More
''show'' and less results! Instead of practicing so many unimportant

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 techniques, it is recommended to work for a very important goal: to make
the breath more and more subtle and to fix Prana into Ajna Chakra
(Kutastha).

To practice Kriya twice a day with 108 Kriya breaths is the basis: the
results will be fantastic. People who are occupied with the duties of life
may practice only once, either in the morning or at night. By all means: go
ahead very calmly, enjoy the practice at a fixed time every day. You must
enjoy the practice: you must feel that your body and mind need this
practice as a thirsty man needs pure water.

Further instructions (How to improve the quality of Kriya Pranayama) will

be added in time.

Global vision of the Swami-Pranabananda-lineage Kriya Yoga as

explained by Sri Rangin Mukherjee

First Kriya
The technique of Kriya Pranayama (the main technique of the first level of
Kriya Yoga) is practiced to enter Sushumna. The first stage of Kriya is
between the time from getting the Kriya Diksha and the time you are able
to enter Sushumna. In order to enter it, you need to make the breath
extremely subtle.
Many try to raise the Prana in Sushumna with force, in a coarse way.
In this situation, it does not move upwards but is dispersed and burned in
the body; indeed, it may create diseases because initially the Nadis are
partially blocked.

While the first instruction is to make the breath extremely subtle by

keeping the breath natural, without applying force, the second instruction is
the main characteristic of this lineage of Kriya. It consist in the fact that all
the attention is always in Kutastha. You start your Kriya Pranayama session
with a normal breath that doesn't require effort therefore you don't make
any sound in the throat and you mentally chant Om six times in the
central point of Kutastha during inhalation and the same number during
exhalation. The reason of this is that the sixth Chakra Ajna governs
everything: it gives you an alignment with all the Chakras. The center of
the disk of Kutastha (the so-called Spiritual Eye) is also aligned to the
center of each Chakra. When, while inhaling and exhaling, you mentally
chant Om the prescribed number or times in the central point of Kutastha,
this subtle action happens also in each Chakra automatically even if you
are not aware of this fact.

When you start the practice of Kriya, the Nadis are partially blocked and
the Prana has difficulty to flow. The practice of Pranayama puts in motion a
process of purification of the body. All the channels are going to be
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cleaned. When they are cleaned the body becomes full of Prana. In this
condition it is natural to achieve the breathless state and bring forth it for
hours. In this state the breath is so subtle that doesn't go out through the
nostrils. Your gross breath is turned into life energy (Prana.) In the
breathless state you go very deep inside.

Before considering the Higher Kriyas, it is important to explain that they

are all connected together and are originated by a good execution of the
First. No Higher Kriya is introduced as ''another'' technique or rather
something intrinsically different that requires tortuous explanations. For
example, the Second Kriya that we are going to consider now, is the result
of the deep practice of the First Kriya.

Second Kriya
To draw near the dimension of the Second Kriya, the practice of the First
Kriya has to be established in exactly 108 Kriya Pranayama (no more, no
less) twice a day. Those who cannot find the time for two sessions, because
of difficult schedule or day routine one session is a must.

When with the basic procedure of Kriya Pranayama, you have obtained a
subtle breath, you start to realize that your Prana and attention will start to
flow into Sushumna, this reveals to you the nature of the Chakras. The
particular energy of each one of them starts to awaken and the Chakras
become active. In Kutastha the light of the Chakras start to appear. The
attention should never come down to the physical location of the Chakras.
[The 12 syllables Mantra (Om Na Mo...) is not necessary; a perfect Kechari
Mudra is not required.]

The Pranayama related to the Second Kriya is called Kathor Pranayama.

You have to pierce each Chakra, one after the other. In order to do so, you
have to apply a certain degree of pressure on the Prana. You must bring
Prana and breathe aloft through mental strength. The Second Kriya is, by
definition, the Kriya of strength. During this effort, the pressure on Prana
spontaneously comes. Permeated with joy, you feel that the force of Prana
opens the knots and pierce each Chakra.
Almost all Kriya schools teach that the Second Kriya is the technique of
Thokar (psycho physical method to open the knot of the heart.) There are
many variations of Thokar taught by different schools but all require
physical movements. In our Kriya lineage we were taught that in order to
open a knot (not only the heart knot), there is no need of physical
movements. The knots are bundles of Nadis that are unfastened by the
breath of the Second Kriya. The breath becomes like an arrow that
unfastens the knots and pierces the center of each Chakra in Sushumna
making the physical Thokar procedure unnecessary. [However the practice
of Thokar is entirely different matter. ]

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In this way of breathing we pull the first Chakra up to the second, then the
second up to the third and so on.... The practitioner learns to bring the
element earth to the element water; water to fire; fire to air; air to ether;
ether to five senses; five senses to subtle energies; subtle energies to Ego;
Ego to Maha-Tattva and Matattattva to Soul.

Now let us describe the deepest experience induced by the Second Kriya.
The experience starts when you feel the intuition to stop at each Chakra for
a longer time in order to absorb its meaning and tune with its Tattwa. [The
Tattwas are the five elements: earth, water, fire, air, ether.]
The path you follow from Muladhara to Medulla is the route where
the various aspects of the divinity are revealed. We get the Darshana
(vision) of the various divinities that preside (control) over each Chakra.
Obviously we see what our religious formation conditions us to see. Those
who are free from conditioning will tune with the abstract nature of the
Tattwas.
What a kriyaban seeks is the ''realization'' of the meaning of each
Tattwa. The true wisdom, the truthful vision is born from that. Each deity
or Tattwa will bestow upon us a particular benediction or ''power.'' This
means that we could develop a particular power or Siddhi.

We must reply ''No'' to each one and ask only for benedictions. They exert
a great force of attraction. We must go beyond any temptation of
developing powers. The mind that has renounced completely to the
association with the five Chakras becomes steady in one pointed
concentration and dwells in its natural state. The downward pull becomes
powerless and the Prana is collected at the point between the eyebrows
(Bhrumadhya.) Through discipline, the in-breath and the out-breath has
being moved from the Muladhara Chakra in gradual steps to Ajna. The
door of Kutastha becomes visible. When this happens, one is ready for the
Third Kriya.

Third Kriya
When you have completed the work in the first five Chakras you have only
one work to do: knocking at the door of Kutastha. The Third Kriya consists
of a deep concentration in the Kutastha while making there an intense Japa
of Om.
In the correspondence of Lahiri Mahasaya we find a hint to this Japa:
''Japa 432.'' Actually, the number of Oms is revealed when you reach this
stage. You will be able to mentally chant this number of Oms during ''one
single breath.'' What this means is revealed by divinely guided intuition.
One day, by the grace of God the Kutastha will get pierced and you
will drown in the "lake of Bindu". All perceptions then cease and the ''time
of times'' of your life happens: the entrance in Sahasrara.

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Fourth Kriya
As soon as the Prana Kriya ends, the action-less Sahasrara meditation
starts. You are beyond the Chakras, beyond the mind. In Sahasrara you
don't need to work on Prana. Here the Kriya of meditation starts; sage
Patanjali calls it Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi. If we consider only the
definition that Sage Patanjali gives of these states, we won't understand
how high this state is. Indeed we are not taking into account a pure mental
procedure.

Let us consider the following scheme:

First Kriya Breath its subtle form is Prana

Second Kriya Prana its subtle form is Mind
Third Kriya Mind its subtle form is Pure awareness (Jivatma)
Fourth Kriya Pure awareness (Jivatma) its subtle form is Absolute
eternal awareness (Paramatma)

The First Kriya starts with the breath and then develops with the subtle
form of breath which is pure Prana. In the Second Kriya we employ Prana
and its subtle form which is Mind. The subtle form of the Mind (Pure
awareness Jivatman) is employed during Third Kriya (only the subtle
form of the Mind can open the door of Kutastha.)
When the Soul merges with the Absolute eternal awareness, the lofty
state of contemplation is revealed. Practically speaking, in the Fourth Kriya
the Jiva is absorbed in the pure perception of the divine Sound and Light

In the previous Kriyas, the ''observer'' is in Medulla, the focus of attention

is in Kutastha. In this Fourth Kriya the position is reversed. The ''observer''
is in Kutastha, and the focus of attention is at the back of the head. For this
reason it is said that while the previous Kriyas are Kriyas of the East, this
Kriya is a Kriya of the West.