At St Heliers Church and Community Centre, Auckland on March 31 at 6 pm
Venkat Raman
Auckland, March 26, 2023
Paramahamsa Prajnanananda, Spiritual Leader of Kriya Yoga International and Swami Prabuddhananda Giri and Yogacharya Vishaal Kishore will participate in public discourse on Kriya Yoga in Auckland this weekend.
The New Zealand Chapter of Kriya Yoga International has organised the event at 6 pm at St Heliers Church and Community Centre located at 100 Saint Heliers Bay Road, St Heliers.
The three masters are expected to explain the nuances of Kriya Yoga and the Science of Breath and the Path to Freedom in their hour-along public appearance.
Based on experience, the forthcoming event should draw a large audience.
It was Prajnanananda who initiated Prabuddhananda and Vishaal respectively into Monasticism in 2012 and Kriya Yoga in 2006.
Prajnanananda has been described as a God-realised Yogi in the unbroken lineage of Kriya Masters in India and his pre-monastic life.
He was previously an academic, employed as a Professor of Economics. His teachings are non-sectarian and harmoniously blend the great teachings of the Orient and the Occident.
Born as Triloki Dash in the village of Pattamundai in Odisha, Prajnanananda was raised in a pious and spiritual atmosphere and began searching for a spiritual mentor in early childhood. In 1980, while still a student in college, he met his Guru Paramahamsa Hariharananda, who initiated him into Kriya Yoga. Unlike his peers, Triloki spent much of his time in prayer and meditation. He frequently retreated to the solitude of remote Himalayan caves to be in the company of sages and saints seeking ultimate Truth. He kept up a rigorous spiritual practice under the tutelage of his Guru while working as a Professor of Economics at Ravenshaw College in Cuttack.
In 1999, he became the third Indian monk, following Swami Vivekananda and Sri Ravi Shankar to address the Parliament of World Religions.
As the President of Prajnana Mission, he has undertaken projects that promote spiritual education, social and health services, and philanthropic works around the world. He established Hariharananda Balashram, a residential school for poor and orphan children in Arua near Pattamundai. Following his master’s vision, Prajnanananda created an Ashram, called, Hariharananda Gurukulum at Balighai in Odisha.
The following are from our archives:
About Kriya Yoga
Yoga symbolises the union of the Individual Self with the Universal Self.
Brought to the West by Paramahamsa Yogananda’s spiritual classic, “Autobiography of a Yogi,” Kriya Yoga is an ancient and scientific system of meditation to achieve this union. Regular practice of Kriya Yoga leads to improved health, peace and overall well-being. It also deepens one’s spiritual awareness and connection with all beings in the universe.
Kriya Yoga has been described by its practitioners as the ancient Yoga system revived in modern times by Mahavatar Babaji through his disciple Lahiri Mahasaya (1861).
According to Paramahamsa Yogananda, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali contain a description of Kriya Yoga – “Liberation can be attained by that pranayama which is accomplished by disjoining the course of inspiration and expiration.”
The Yoga System
The Kriya yoga system consists of a number of levels of Pranayama, Mantra and Mudra, based on the techniques intended to rapidly accelerate spiritual development and engender a profound state of tranquility and God-Communion.
Yogananda attributes his description of Kriya Yoga to his lineage of gurus, Yukteswar Giri, Lahiri Mahasaya, and Mahavatar Babaji.
The latter is reported to have introduced the concept as essentially identical to the Raja Yoga of Patanjali and the concept of Yoga as described in the Bhagavad Gita.
Traditionally exclusive
Kriya Yoga, as taught by Lahiri Mahasaya, is traditionally exclusively learned via the Guru-disciple relationship and the initiation consists of a secret ceremony.
As Yogananda describes Kriya Yoga, “The Kriya Yogi mentally directs his life energy to revolve, upward and downward, around the six spinal centres (medullary, cervical, dorsal, lumbar, sacral, and coccygeal plexuses) which correspond to the twelve astral signs of the zodiac, the symbolic Cosmic Man. One half-minute of revolution of energy around the sensitive spinal cord of man effects subtle progress in his evolution; that half-minute of Kriya equals one year of natural spiritual unfoldment.”
