Thursday 18 February 2016

KRIYA HATHA YOGA

Maha Avatar Babaji by Bala Chandran Gunasekaran

Album:Om Kriya Babaji Bhakti Manjari
Singers:Bhavani Ramamoorthy - Srivarshini
Year:2009

Listen to more songs at http://www.saavn.com/s/album/tamil/Om-Kriya-Babaji-Bhakti-Manjari-2009/LQiNt,e,Dno_

Siddha Heartbeat carried a post on Kriya Hatha Yoga some time back at http://agathiyarvanam.blogspot.my/2015/09/introduction-to-traditional.html by Sri Gowri R.Varadhan. 

Gowri wrote in that piece:
Babaji’s Kriya Yoga, as mentioned before, is a special form of Raja Yoga. It also includes aspects of other forms of yoga such as devotion as in bhakti, discipline of action as in Karma Yoga and focus on being with the Self/pure awareness as in Gnana. 
It is a scientific art of perfect God -Truth union and self-realization. 
It is an ancient form of practice preached to Arjuna by Lord Krishna and was lost over time. 
In the late 19th century, Mahavatar Babaji revived it as a synthesis of Patanjali`s yoga sutras and the practice of Kundalini yoga by the yoga Siddhars. Thus, he cleverly combined both the aspects of consciousness (Shiva) as in Patanjali`s Sutras and that of energy (Shakti) as in the practice of siddhas.
The word `Kriya` comes from the root word ‘kri’ meaning action. In this context, ‘Kriya’ refers to action with awareness. It is emphasized that all the practices in Babaji’s Kriya Yoga are performed with utmost awareness. 
The sadhana of BKY is a collection of 144 exercises and spiritual practices for Self realization and transformation in all of our five bodies: physical, vital, mental, intellectual and spiritual. 
Kriya Yoga is a 5 phased integral approach to attain God-realization. Each of them addresses one or more of the koshas. Koshas are the 5 sheaths or bodies of our existence. It is best explained in Vivekachoodamani written by Adi Shankara. 
Kriya Hatha Yoga: includes asanas, bandahs, and mudras, psycho-physical gestures, all of which bring about greater health, peace and the awakening the nadis or the energy channels, the chakras. 
Babaji has selected a particularly effective series of 18 postures, which are taught in stages and in pairs. 
The first objective of Kriya Hatha Yoga is deep physical and mental relaxation. The variety of asana grants flexibility, lightness and buoyancy in the body relieving us of many disorders. The practice of the 18 asana series awakens the energy centers along the spine and kundalini, our potential power and consciousness.
What Gowri shared theoretically in the post is now been put into practice, thanks to Gowri's ever willingness to spread the knowledge he had with members of Agathiyar Vanam Malaysia (AVM). We at AVM have been blessed to have Sri Gowri R Varadhan teach us a supreme form of Yoga given by the Siddhas over the ages. Gowri who is on a stint in Malaysia agreed to guide us into this extremely wonderful practice. He has been holding weekly classes for aspiring seekers of Yoga on the request of some AVM members.



While running us through these poses he shared the profound experiences that his guru Durga Ahlund attained while practicing these postures. 

When Durga Ahlund, from whom Gowri R Varadhan learnt these postures, was introduced to these practice, she found them extremely energizing opening her up to further deep and powerful devotion, as she writes in her blog.
When I was first introduced to the 18 asana series of Babaji s Kriya Yoga, I found them to be enormously energizing. As I began to work with them daily, I realized how they increased my physical health and reduced body fat, strengthened the nervous system, brought about more and more equanimity and mental clarity. But, the benefits did not stop with that –they continued to widen and strengthened my inner sense of strength, joy, fortitude, resilience and persistence and opened me to deep and powerful devotion.
She writes further of its benefits,
I feel that it is the 18 posture series alone, if done as a ritual of worship in about two hours, which takes me into higher realms of consciousness. In addition I feel the practice strengthens the very cells of my physical body. I come out of the practice feeling renewed, joyful and younger!
She applauds each pose,
The Tamil Siddhas have told us that “the human body is the mystic center, the sacred passage to the ultimate reality and that liberation is available only within it.” To meditate on the Self, to worship the Self, begins the practice of Yoga. This first posture, Kriya Asanan Vanekom orients the entire being to the worship of the Divine and to the recognition that the body is a “temple” worthy of Infinite care. It begins our practice as a ritual of worship.

We are “offering” our head to the Guru, our supreme source of inner guidance and wisdom, whose center is in the sahasrara, the crown chakra. We are offering our separate will to Divine Will. With our head towards the ground and our feet upwards and our hands and palms together reaching above the head, we attempt to enter the zone of the Guru, the zone of Love. Remaining in the pose we can experience that quality. This pose is symbolic of Samadhi. In this posture it is possible for the prana vayu to settle within the head, which means that there is an equal pressure from head to foot and we rest in a state of utter tranquility.
She writes about the benefits of these practice at http://seekingtheself.com/?p=1370

Continue reading her blog at http://seekingtheself.com/?p=449

Siddha Vaithiyar Bhani, himself a student of Yogi Ramaiyah, explains the numerous benefits attained through practicing these poses at https://m.facebook.com/notes/vaithiyar-bhani/babajis-kriya-hatha-yoga-18-asanas-of-relaxation-rejuvenation-part-1/406097597550/

Bhani has provided an extensive list of remedies for common ailments at https://www.facebook.com/Vaithiyar-Bhani-88367577913/notes, (http://vaithiyarbhani.com/)








For a list of all the 18 asanas see http://18kriyapostures.blogspot.my/2011/07/babaji-18-kriya-postures.html.

When Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal gave us a set of asanas to be practiced, Agathiyar told me in my Nadi reading later, that it was something to be treasured. Similarly Agathiyar mentions about the classes held by Gowri in Malaysia in a Jeeva Nadi reading at Kallar ashram recently.


Gowri was a student of Marshall Govindan Satchidananda and Durga Ahlund when he was serving in Canada. Learn more about Babaji and Kriya Hatha Yoga at http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x62ijl_who-is-babaji_news, 


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