(his role as a composer is one of the less known
aspects of his career). The Ananda movement has
also established a center in Assisi, Italy.
Further reading: Swami Kriyananda, The Essence of
the Bhagavad Gita (Nevada City, Calif.: Crystal Clarity,
2006); J. Donald Walters, The Art and Science of Raja
Yoga (Nevada City, Calif.: Crystal Clarity, 2002); ———
, Cooperative Communities: How to Start Them and Why
(Nevada City, Calif.: Ananda, 1968); ———, Crises in
Modern Thought (Nevada City, Calif.: Ananda, 1972); —
——, The Path: Autobiography of a Western Yogi (Nevada
City, Calif.: Ananda, 1977); Ted A. Nordquist, Ananda
Cooperative Village: A Study in the Beliefs, Values, and
Attitudes of a New Age Religious Community. Religion-
historiska Institutionen Monograph Series (Uppsala,
Sweden: Uppsala University, 1978).
kriya yoga
The “yoga of ritual action,” kriya yoga is con-
trasted with jnana (learning) YOGA and equated
with KARMA (action) yoga in the Trishikhi-Brah-
mana Upanishad. The practice of kriya yoga
involves concentrating the mind upon a particular
object that transmutes energy and experience.
Kriya yoga is said to obliterate the subliminal
activators (SAMSKARAS) through asceticism (TA PA S),
study (svadhyaya), and devotion to God.
Kriya yoga is based on specific breathing pat-
terns. Through PRANAYAMA (disciplined breath-
ing) the devotee’s focus leaves ordinary reality
as it begins to climb in order to merge with the
divine. It is important that the practitioner leave
thoughts of mundane reality behind because
such thoughts interfere with the ability to focus
concentration on the other-worldly. This abil-
ity to turn inward to receive spiritual energy
is believed to lead the disciple to God realiza-
tion. As each CHAKRA (invisible energy wheel)
is opened through MEDITATION, the KUNDALINI
energy is released to travel from the base of
the spine, where it is coiled in latency, through
the glands of the body to release the energy of
transformation. The culmination of the process
occurs when the crown chakra is energized and
opened to receive energy from the divine. The
process of kriya yoga transmutes the life force
or energy that connects the physical body and
the subtle anatomy described in the Hindu
scriptures.
In the last century, BABAJI, LAHIRI Mayasaya,
Sri YUKESWAR, and Paramahansa YOGANANDA have
been responsible for a renewed interest in kriya
yoga.Further reading: Georg Feuerstein, Encyclopedic Dic-
tionary of Yoga (New York: Paragon House, 1990).Kriya Yoga Centers
The Kriya Yoga Centers are a set of related
ashrams founded by Swami Hariharananda Giri
(1907–2002), a god-brother to Swami Paramah-
ansa YOGANANDA. Both swamis learned KRIYA YOGA
under the tutelage of Sri YUKTESWAR (1855–1936),
who made his home in Puri, Orissa, and who built
an ASHRAM (religious community) there in 1906.
Yukteswar passed his lineage to Yogananda, who
left India and took the concepts of kriya yoga to
the United States. In India, the lineage passed first
to Sreemat Swami Satyananda and then in 1970
to Swami Hariharananda Giri. Hariharananda was
chosen from among the members and disciples
who had remained close to the ashram through
the years.
Born Rabindranath Bhattacharya in Habibpur,
West Bengal, on May 27, 1907, Hariharananda
took initiation in the path of JNANA yoga from Sri
Bijaykrishna Chattopadhyaya. In 1932, he met Sri
Yukteswar, who initiated him into kriya yoga and
gave him charge of the ashram in Puri. In 1935,
Swami Yogananda gave him a second initiation
into kriya yoga. In 1938 he renounced the world
and spent 12 years in seclusion in Puri. In 1949,
he had a vision of the eternal yogi BABAJI, who
prophesied that he would spread the message
of kriya yoga to the world. In 1951, YoganandaK 248 kriya yoga