Swami Kriyananda in MumbaiRecently Swami Kriyananda gave two extraordinary talks on Kriya Yoga in Daily Life in Pune and Mumbai, India. You can listen to both talks on the Ananda website.

People who are interested in receiving initiation into Kriya are often interested in what Kriya will do to deepen their meditation, and what kind of spiritual experiences they can expect through Kriya practice. Meditation is typically made deeper through Kriya practice, and people do have various experiences as a result of Kriya.

But these experiences are different for each person, and don’t always come immediately. As Paramhansa Yogananda said:

“Do not be anxious if you don’t have meditative experiences. The path to God is not a circus! Don’t even be anxious about such fruits of meditation as inner joy and peace. Everything will come in God’s time.”

In thirty years of Kriya practice, and in observing thousands of Kriya Yogis, I’ve seen the most tangible result of Kriya practice to be the effect that it has on ‘Daily Life’. Long time practitioners of Kriya invariably become more bright, devotional, and clear-minded.

That is why Lahiri Mahasaya described Kriya “as a practical technique of liberation” — the technique itself is scientific and practical — and Kriya practice produces very real and practical results in people’s lives. I believe that much of the extraordinary success of Ananda communities all over the world is due to the practice of Kriya Yoga by Ananda members.

Kriya bears these practical ‘fruits’ because it gives one control over the life force, or pranayama. Daily finger exercises give the musician control over their fingers, so they can play complex and inspiring pieces of music. In the same way, daily Kriya practice gives the Kriya Yogi control over their inner life force, enabling them to deal with the complex world of business, relationships, emotions, etc.

Of course, Kriya does much more than that. Over time it gives the experience of bliss and divine realization. Those inner fruits, as Yogananda said, will come in God’s time.

As Yogananda promised in his Autobiography of a Yogi, regarding the state of samadhi, or cosmic consciousness:

“It comes with a natural inevitability to the sincere devotee.”

Listen to Swami Kriyananda speaking about Kriya Yoga in Daily Life.