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Kriya Blog #4 - Sanskrit Origins & Its Place in Yogic Text, Classical Yoga & Ayurveda

Section 4

Shat Kriyā and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika

The Shat Kriyā’s are considered to be of great importance in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika.  These techniques are said to be important to gain perfection (siddhi).  They are preliminary steps to prepare the body for deeper practices.

Kriyā yuktasya siddhiḥ syāda kriyasya kathaṁ bhavet|
Na śāstrapāṭhamātreṇa yoga siddhiḥ prajāyate||65||
 

Perfection (siddhiḥ) comes to the person who is deeply occupied in the action (kriyā) of practice. How might that perfection spring up to someone who does not practice kriya (cleansing actions)? Perfection (siddhiḥ) in Yoga does not emanate by simply studying shastra (scriptures).

Chapter 2 Veres 65 Hatha Yoga Pradikpika   

The Hatha Yoga Pradipika goes on to explains Kriyā as a cleansing action.  The Kriyā’s are used as preparation for deeper sadhana and preparation for Raja Yoga and awakening Kundalini. 

The one...

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Kriya Blog #1 - Sanskrit Origins & Its Place in Yogic Text, Classical Yoga & Ayurveda

 Introduction

I first experienced Yoga practices using the word Kirya when my Mom brought me to a Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan class in 1997.  As a teenager I was taken by the story around the practice and the high I got from the powerful breath work.  I continued with this practice for the next 13 years until 2010.  At times I practiced for minimum of 3 hours a day, doing early morning sadhana singing with my friends in Sikh Dharma and enjoying the ups and downs of being involved with many of the traveling musicians in the 3HO community.  Community life was rich and a wonderful yet challenging time of my life.

Back in 2001 while sick with lyme disease, I laid in bed and went on a mystical journey reading Yogananda’s classic work Autobiography of a Yogi.  Up to that time I had exclusively been following Yogi Bhajan’s view on Kriya.  Reading Yogananda’s amazing book, which brought up Kriya Yoga often, made me very...

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