Kriya Yoga by Baba Hairakhan, Babaji





The Himalayas have been a source of spiritual knowledge and inspiration since ancient times. It has been the abode or origin of numerous saints and mystics including the Great Buddha. Certainly if a divine location has to be chosen for that on the planet it has to be the Himalayas as the highest mountain chain of the world and also the most conducive to life and beauty. Earth is not paradise but bits of paradise lie scattered across the bosom of Mother Earth and some of these are in these sacred mountains.

In 1970, a youthful saint of around twenty, called Baba Hairakhan (also spelt Haidkhan) or Babaji lovingly by his disciples appeared in the Nainital District of Himalayas. He died in 1984 even as he had said while he lived that the body is meaningless and transient but the soul lives on. Through his public and early death, Baba Hairakhan also illustrated to his many disciples of Christian origin who had come to believe that Babaji would live forever in his present body that no physical body lives permanently. None has since the beginning of time. Many believe that he has appeared as a youthful saint in Central Himalayas since very ancient times repeatedly in new incarnations with different bodies. He himself mentioned some of these while he lived.

All are transient, but the soul survives and a soul dwelling in God may be called as a divine appearance or Avatar or Maha-Avatar in Himalayan parlance. It is something for disciples of Baba Hairakhan to  determine if Babaji was an Avatar or not but this author does believe that he was most certainly a divine appearance that has appeared repeatedly in the Himalayas since ancient times.

While Baba Hairakhan lived, he lovingly and joyously clarified certain myths about yoga that were spreading in the world. It was a time when there was a great interest in yoga in the developed West for while they had attained material prosperity, peace was still elusive. Certain popular sects were propagating myths about yoga and using his name perhaps for commercial reasons that were dispelled by Babaji who was not into accumulating wealth or publicity like many others spiritual teachers of modern times who try to make a business even out of spirituality.

Some popular myths that Babaji dispelled were, that a certain type of yoga (there are many such practices of spiritual development or different yoga) that was called Kriya yoga by some sects was neither due to Babaji nor the ancient Hindu Scripture – The Bhagvat Gita (also spelt Bhagvad Gita) and no yoga discipline should be a secret unless it is perhaps for making money as a business. In this respect it may be noted, although the Bhagvat Gita describes yoga such as karma yoga for all as well as well as the yoga of renunciation or sanyas yoga for advanced mystics. Nowhere in Bhagvat Gita is there a mention of kriya yoga.

The first recorded mention of Kriya Yoga seems to be in the highly regarded ancient text on yoga by Patanjali. Chapter 2 of his text begins with that description The Kriya Yoga as described by Patanjali is not the Kriya Yoga described or practiced by some modern sects and teachers. No part of Kriya Yoga has anything to do with breathing techniques. Those are other yoga techniques but not kriya yoga as per the original description as well as Baba Hairakhan. According to Patanjali, a seeker may take up breathing as a useful part of yoga but kriya yoga by itself if practiced well is sufficient to attain the highest possible state of evolution.

What was taught by Baba Hairakhan is not a secret and may be regarded as a modern version of Kriya Yoga as taught by Patanjali in his ancient and original text on Yoga. The essential elements of the Kriya Yoga as defined by Patanjali and also taught by Baba Hairakhan first require the prerequisites of Love, Truth and Simplicity termed yama by Patanjali. This was to be followed by selfless work and service, knowledge of self through prayer and chanting of holy mantras to focus the mind, loving and trusting God. The mantra that Babaji recommended most was – Om Namah Shivay.  He did say that this comes from his Hindu background and that others were free to choose any other sacred words they are familiar with from other religions if they like. That is Kriya Yoga by Babaji and also by Patanjali. It is as simple as that and no secret as far as Babaji was concerned.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

You shall find Bliss in Forests

Image
https://twitter.com/PardueSuzanne/status/839705079900962816 My mind can go in a thousand directions, But on this beautiful path, I walk in peace... - Thich Nhat Hanh Delightful are the forests where worldlings find no pleasure, there the passionless will rejoice for they seek no sensual pleasures Dhammapada ( Buddhist Scripture) Ch 7 vs 99 As worldly desires of one on spiritual paths reduce and things like ego, lust  greed, diminish then love of Mother Earth and Father Universe surfaces. This is similar to our remembering love of our earthly mother and father when we free ourselves from worldly concerns. Such a soul then craves for beautiful parts of Mother Earth such as forests, mountains, lakes and grasslands filled with wild flowers. Some then abandon worldly pursuits and head for forests and other places created by nature, not humans. The results of worldly pursuits are mixed - joy and sorrow; the results of spiritual pursuits are bliss in huge...
Read more

Love of God makes the journey easy

Image
N ot even the godly are perfect. It is too much to expect a human to be so. All of us have different strengths and weaknesses of different kinds, to different degrees that cause us to do good or bad things in our journey through life and lifetimes. Our good deeds bring us good result - peace and joy while bad ones bring sorrow and misery for all things have consequences. A lie can please one for moments but sustainable peace is found only in truth and how can there be happiness without peace? Human love can cause us brief suffering at times yet hate produces much misery when it returns for whatever we put into the world and universe around us comes back to us, good or bad, in due course, when it is time for harvest, the fruit or the thorns. When blinded by pride, desire or ignorance we do poor things that produce bad results later, they make our journey through life difficult. Yet when we place our love and trust in God, the journey through life becomes easier than...
Read more

Sustainable Celebration of Life

Image
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Children_playing_outdoors.jpg  Few disagree that Life must by full of happiness Life must be joy Life must be a celebration But then we have these thinkers and spiritualists who seem to come and throw a spanner in the works (that includes this blog) with a whole lot of other prescriptions such as, do the right thing; inculcate discipline, order and beauty; spend some time in service of others - humans, animals or nature, organize your time wisely, enhance love, truth and simplicity, trust in God and be grateful for what he provides and so on and on. Life is a school, a 24 X 7 boarding school. There are children at school who divide their time wisely between work and play. They take study hours seriously and even seem to enjoy those. Then there are others who would rather shirk that work and have fun. They get miserable when they fail in tests and when school years are over they have a miserable time later too. T...
Read more

The helping hand

Image
At any given time on our planet, some people are living in peace and comfort whereas there are some others who are undergoing deep suffering because of any one of numerous causes of suffering.   If one is in comfort, one may feel sorry for those suffering or ignore them and get on with one’s life. After all, no one person can help all the suffering people of the world. No one person can help all the suffering of the world but everyone can help some of them. The wise do that not just from compassion that follows the wise like a shadow but also from wisdom that unless they do that, they too shall become deserving of similar suffering some time in future.   The Universe makes a note of all deeds big or small.   Happiness comes to us easily when we add happiness in lives of others. Those who help others when they can, receive similar help when their time of help comes for life is ever changing. Those in comfort now may be in difficulty at another time and vic...
Read more

Your True Possession

Image
Dear friend, we all take pride in our possessions. If we have other achievements such as educational degrees, name, fame, power, privilege etc. we are deeply pleased with that too. In reality, none of these things belong to us. Everything including our bodies belongs to the universe and has been granted to us temporarily, for limited periods, by the grace of the Universe. Everything we have is a temporary gift from the universe to assist us in our own unique journeys from life to life. What truly belongs to us is our soul that is everlasting. The wise yogi realizing this evolves to superior states. Patanjali in his text on yoga has described this as an essential step for evolution of the soul, terming it in Sanskrit as - Aparigrah We tend to grow deeply attached to our possessions and if they are taken away we fret and get miserable. The wise person however moves on peacefully when the time for a gift to be withdrawn comes. The human body grows from a child to youth ...
Read more

Of gods, angels, kings and leaders

Image
The mystic yogi sat on a flat rock on the hillside. With years of practice, he knew now how to still his mind and body. Breathing with calm and uttering His name repeatedly, thinking of the infinite Lord alone he found his consciousness detaching from his body, submerging in an infinite sea of bliss, beauty and joy but a question arose in his mind, “Lord you are so beautiful, so full of joy. I feel my consciousness being pulled into your bosom, to become a part of you, to escape once and for all from endless cycles of joy and suffering but would that not be a selfish thing to do? I would find eternal bliss but there are so many others still suffering. Better it would be that I stay back and help them in whatever way I can.” The infinite Lord then answered in his heart, “Your compassion is admirable but how much can you do with this frail human body of yours? Come to the worlds of bright elevated beings known as angels, bodhisattvas, gods and a thousand other nam...
Read more

Secret of Happiness in Old Age

Image
https://pixabay.com/en/old-woman-pension-relax-old-rest-1886863/ He who is of a calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age - Plato When this frame of yours is weak and old When motion slow, even bending a chore Yet in moments that are quiet, full of peace If a river of joy runs through your heart It is a sign dear friend That time is not far for a bright new start When the Lord who made it all Who gave this clothing for your soul Shall take it away It is old and worn Your precious soul To make you whole Needs a bright new suit Given to you With a song and dance Cry out many, We would like that too How does one get that cool A deep sorrow weighs on my head A deep fear troubles my soul Is it hard work? Does one have to pray? Not at all dear friend It is as easy as a child’s play Just make this dear to your heart Love, truth and simplicity Gratitude for what the universe gave Not what you sought A l...
Read more

Our Eternal Mother and Father

Image
3 Both my father and mother are no more. When I was young, my mother was the world to me. She was a gentle and loving mother as good as any and if any mother has something of the divine in her, something of the mother Goddess, she had it. As I grew older, I continued to love her and be loved by her until she breathed her last some twenty years ago. Something else happened, as I grew older. I learnt that there is another mother, a more permanent one that was the mother of my mother as well and the mother of everyone else too. She is Mother Earth because all of us are born from her womb. Every part of our body is made from some part of her flesh and blood. And, this more eternal mother is incredibly beautiful too. Her vast forests, mountains, deserts, grasslands and oceans never cease to delight and charm us with their grandeur. She provides us with unlimited bounties, day after day, as long as we live and long after that for the rest of her children, all life that dwells u...
Read more

Encounters of a Mystic

Image
  Ashok in a mystic moment In some companion blog I have written a post – Encounter with a Himalayan Mystic – which describes my surprising encounter with Babaji Haidakhan in the early eighties when I was an Assistant Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi. That post has been a popular one (you can find it in the Life and spirituality blog by using the search tool) because such encounters are unusual and surprising for those still in the world of activity and ambition. Now, finding myself in the same shoes as that of a Himalayan Mystic, every now and then I have equally interesting encounters with those still in the world of activity. This post mentions a few. A friend that I had not met for decades recently chanced upon an image of mine in one of the traditional garbs of a Himalayan Baba and was quite shocked and wondered what had happened to me. He contacted me and enquired. I asked him if he had different dresses for a visit to a golf cou...
Read more

To be or not to be like a Sheep

Image
When humans walk on paths that many others do, they feel safe and secure. It is because of it that most do it. It is to be safe like sheep in a flock. They push and irritate each other at times, even quarrel and destroy each others peace. Nevertheless they are safe from the wolf and there is even that joy for five minutes when they mate. The odd sheep that leaves the flock may fall into a pit but a rare one may find that lovely pasture and garden with a kindly owner and end up in bliss or perhaps even show some of the others in the flock a new path towards abundance. Dear readers, it is so with humans too. Most stick to well charted paths in their journey through life but there are some rare ones who leave the flock and chart their own daring course. Like the sheep, some end up in trouble, in prisons, on homeless streets as beggars but a few, the likes of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Buddha or the saints lead humans to new levels of evolution. A human may leave the f...
Read more