are you there kriyabanseeking sir?
i feel it is best to do kriya reguraly without caring too much about spirituality or kriya itself. make it like brushing teeth. if you want the closest techqiues your best bet is still prolly ennio, or jc. or maybe goto india and find someone there. they use bregma as endpoint and i think lahiri probably used medulla.
To those who say the Guru is within or to let go of thinking/looking/asking for a Guru,
I would add the other side of the coin.
Consider that when we are sincerely praying, asking, looking, discussing Gurus, it may be
the Guru’s Grace - or call it Grace - working behind the scenes and drawing us to our outer
Guru.
I’m reminded of the story with numerous versions of the man who prays desperately to receive guidance from God.
He’s walking down the street wailing and distraught and a stranger pulls him back from the curb narrowly missing a car. Then he continues on and falls into a man hole. A construction worker lifts him out. And then he steps into a temple and overhears a conversation which answers some of his pestering questions. As he sits for meditation that night, he prays deeply for God’s guidance and God appears before him in a vision. He weeps to God that he has forsaken him. God replies I have not forsaken you. I pulled you back from the curb. I lifted you out of the man hole. And I answered some questions in the temple.
In a similar vein, we must have the discrimination/clarity to sense when effort should be joined with prayer and surrender. Our effort, for example to seek out a Guru, may well be part of the Divine will. And ultimately, what isn’t part of the Divine plan? If we are not the doer?
Hello all Divine Souls 
,
I understand your confusion. I have been there, too. Not knowing whether a living Master is needed or self-study would be sufficient was a p… In the a… It took some time to find it out.
Starting off with SRF in August 2013 - I thought the self-studied way would do it. But then I read Lahiri Mahasaya’s commentary on the Bhagavad Gita and was totally surprised to find out that Lahiri insists on a LIVING Master - who initiates you. I thought - well that’s interesting - and this gradually opened up a new understanding of the whole path for me. Again time passed - the dots started to connect - and after all this reading - all this time in a limbo state - clarity came down upon this bodymind - not from books but from own experience. If you like to know - please feel free to mail me and I’m happy to share the YouTube link freely with you.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
Matthew 7:7
the well is deep please lend me your bucket and rope . 
Hi LivingSpark,
is it very personal or can you share it with this forum? 
Thanks and happy practice!
Hi Holy,
Yeah please have it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDP4sCXARyE
Hope that helps
God bless you!
Hello perhaps the Kriyaban seeking has found?
As a person who has learned Kriya in person from more than one source including SRF this reply is for you mostly but everyone is welcome to see this point of view 
.
Concerning recommendations for Ennio and his friend Stevens maybe they are the same person who really knows? Ennio has his 2015 version of his online publication free to download, PDF, out and Stevens has the 5th ( latest revision for now) purchasable on Amazon if anyone is interested.
Both publications are interesting from a standpoint of what happens when former students become unhappy with whomever taught them and decide to start a crusade to find the holy Kriya grail, unfortunately in doing so they have even further contaminated the baseline of the techniques with there own personal touches as to how the techniques should be done.
This invalidates both publications legitimacy to learn techniques from as anything other than a curiosity in these times.
If a person does the research there is allot of very questionable behavior going on till this day, Shibendu asks his property be returned http://www.kriyayogalahiri.com/kriyayoga/antiques-of-lahiri-mahashaya.html
So why Kriya? I think allot of people read Autobiography of a Yogi and got hooked on the idea.
Lol I did.
It also took reading the Secrets of Wilder to understand and appreciate AYP in light of Kriya but unlike ABOAY book it is explained as fiction and the writer is here today.
Another big difference nothing questionable going on here, no secrecy, no power trips, no cults, no traveling abusive dispensaries of mumbo jumbo and Kriya techniques.
What is here is good community and powerful techniques and the founder who helps with senior AYP persons keep the baseline pure and intact, it can not be altered in this time because even misunderstandings of how to practice are able to be found here out in the open and misunderstandings corrected so there can never be the sad state of affairs plaguing Kriya.
Well at least not now anyway and I am sure when Kriya was new and only Lahiri Mahasaya was dispensing it, the baseline was correct but like a message repeated around a room……. time distorts.
It is thought the best anyone can do is work with the teachers one has today and not lament the teachers of yesteryear nor incorrectly honor where none is really diserved due to whatever clever turn of phrase or credentials of lineage.
AYP is here today, it is fresh, it is vibrant active and alive now. Who knows what the future will bring without Yogani? One thing is for certain with the way things are documented openly AYP can not and will not easily be mistaken or altered as secrecy and power has done with Kriya.
AYP is also working towards Certifying Teachers to make certain the baseline remains intact and those teaching are doing so correctly more on this at the AYP plus site.
Lastly concerning Gurunath I like his words they ring true.
Kriya has always been a Guru in the flesh relationship not in some other dimension of being tradition nor a hierarchy of helpers. The question is though does he really follow the Guru Disciple Relationship?
I have yet to meet one talking this way that does and the commercially available ones traveling and living as Swami’s do not.
It can not be seen how any of them can as they do give information but do not maintain a personal Guru relationship, heck one branch even points at a picture on the wall and the fellow teaching you will say I am not the guru he is the guru. Wow never even met the guy now he is the guru?
Wow how silly is it to speak of scripture the importance of the Guru disciple relationship and then go and blow it with such contradictory behavior? 
Sadly it has been my experience these types of setups are a 1 way direction money from the wallet flowing in the direction of the good talkers.
Sad to say the word Kriya lives on but it is thought there is no real way of learning and performing and living Kriya in these times, it is thought to be either a system that has passed or one that is in the hands of those who do not advertise openly and all that remains is what is seen today, not pretty.
Oh and when it comes to Stevens with his many revisions of research for sale on Amazon and Ennio with his Free stuff to download neither one of them are doing any harm really. Spiritual practices given incorrectly or read from words are self regulating, those that are not ready simply will not be able to do them, something will come up or the way will be too difficult .
Here in AYP if a practice like Samyama is premature you will overload and have to back off this is called the Self Pacing Principle. If you do too much Spinal Breathing the same, too much DM the same.
Dear Kriyaban seeking perhaps it is time to give AYP a try and discover for yourself?
Personally I do not think Kriya is possible anymore the Guru if there is one that is real already has his /her day to day students living the life with them the correct way and it is certain that Guru does not have organizations or huge buildings with people living in a commune, in fact he or she just might be an ordinary appearing person maybe the greeter at Walmart or maybe the person working on your car? Perhaps they will appear to have a kind of close circle friends that really like that person, or perhaps and older person appearing to be taking care of younger persons.
thankyou so hi
Hi LivingSpark,
thanks for the video. You could have directly mention Gurunath, he is not a stranger to the AYP forums I think Just look at the gurus section 
But not everyone feels attracted to a physical guru, mostly because the good experience has not happened. Other than that a living guru is only a +. One day when you are the guru, you will be in the same situation. You have endlessly good to share and some people will love your sharing and others will not even try of your taste. Everyone is attracted and pushed away in different ways, by that being placed to where they belong to.
@So-Hi, kriya is still alive, there are a lot of realized kriya yogis walking around, but from the SRF I have heard of none too. It is just the wort possible example, although Yogananda’s work does fruit through other kriya lineages and yogic systems including AYP thanks to his book. But I am with you in regards, that kriya is not for everyone. Initially it was intended to be practiced in continuously growing amounts and to finish the job sooner than later. But only few people feel attracted to hours long spiritual practices, although they would love the aftereffect as everyone would, other options must be there and they are increasing very much.
Independent of all, Happy now and happy practice friends
Hello Holy. In my opinion SRF is actually one of the safest best ways to learn, and it is a very thorough way for novices with Spiritual Practices, to develop.
In no way shape or form do I agree they are the worst examples there are far worse but there is no point in discussing who that may be.
It may be noted however that many people are unable to go further than where organizations are willing to teach, then you see a natural leaving take place but that depends on the individual.
In my case leaving it was because the devotional aspect was just not strong enough to stay and the practices of energization technique were not needed as the ability to direct life current in the body was natural, Haung Sau held absolutely no attraction and the , OM Meditation Technique was a sure way to developing too much inwardness and effected the interactions with daily living. Kriya Pranayama was fine so was Mahamudra, Jyoti Mudra was worthless.
So all in all just two practices were a fit, Mahamudra and Kriya Pranayama. The two however were not enough to make a fulfilling routine.
Had Paramahansa Yogananda been alive in the body sitting with me and I with him it is certain the Bhakti would have been of the charts and everything much different but that was not the case.
No living in person Guru.
When Initiation to the higher SRF Kriyas was granted they were better but still not balanced for this neurobiology.
In fact practicing Hours of Kriya Pranayama is very easy to get used to but even with the higher Kriyas the entire thing was incomplete.
In other lineages living in the Crown and every practice done from that standpoint not only incomplete but over the top, had to come back down. Oh the practices were just fine and could live like that no problem but there was allot of work still to do in purification and these techniques were rising above rather than working out.
Now Yogani however has discovered developed a completeness Kriya lacks.
One of the Keys which is no secret is the Deep Meditation technique, that one technique alone has done more for me than all the hours of Kriya Pranayama placing om in the Chakras or following different paths through different routes placing a mantra in each center OM NA MO BA GA BA TE VA SU DE VA YA and essentially causing prana to become still or neutralized.
At any rate could go on and on with what was discovered by the practice of other lineages but in the end not one of them was complete although many of them were quite different. Most of them focus on Pranayama to the exclusion of anything else.
Opinions differ but I have met other Kriyaban’s from different traditions and in all honesty have not met any that were really happy people.
In fact the ones met from 6 different lineages all tend to exhibit the following traits in part or in combination dogmatic, superstitious, unhappy, afraid to communicate, and also dominated either by whom they think is a Guru or the institution they are under. There are two that come to mind that completely bully those putting trust in them and exhibit the most awful behavior.
So yeah we disagree.
Hi SO-HI,
nothing to do if that is your experience. It only shows that different bodies need different practices. DM is a really nice technique, if it works for that body. For me it did work very nice the first year, after that it caused mostly suffering. Kriya under Gurunath was complete paradise for 6 years now and all of his students who (really) practice are absolutely joyed and blissed out people. Among the KYI groups, they were not as joyed out as the pranic pressure was missing somehow, but they were immensly loving and kind, more silent and peaceful in their expression but some of them in their experience were surely beyond duality. Prajnananda himself also had quite a good pranic joy output. Shibendu himself was very nice as a master and capable in putting you into enlightened mode for several hours in come and go. Among his students I had contact to many different ones. Most of them did not practice in great amounts, but there was one young boy, he was quite good into the game and expressed accordingly. All in all have not met too many, therefore I cannot speak for other more serious practitioners of that lineage. And quite some elite guys are close to becoming masters, especially under Gurunath’s students who I know personally.
Changes are unavoidable, whenever someone leaves the scene without another one being there to continue his position with at least the same degree of quality, means a realized and capable person, anything can happen very easily. The other interesting aspect is when more than one realized comes out of a system or lineage, automatically you will have some kind of a split, as realization can and does mostly express uniquely. Although masters will aknowledge their past, they will do partly or compeltely new things and due to their state and attraction, different follower groups will form. After some time, when these masters also pass, you will have several new systems and pathways that some how have their same routes but look and expres differently. And this is natural and we will also see what will happen with AYP in 50-100 years. When the first masters will come out, they will especially due to the openness express completely uniquely and differently. Their roots will be AYP but as each of them have some other influences from different sources, what the continuing sharing will be, we will only observe over time. If you look back at the very root, you can see one person and this one is kown as Shiva. All yoga goes back to him and ultimately the one practicing and creating every new system to adopt and refine to changing groups of people is also Shiva, the one Self that is you, me and everyone else.
In that sense whatever works for any particular body-mind,
important is to remember that different pathways and practices do not mean, that we can all come together and cooperate more intelligently to both do clean up the planetary mess and at the same time provide means for both body-mind transformation and self realization. The diversity is not a disadvantage, because if you only have one choice, you will either take it or leave it. If you have more choices, the chance is higher that you will pick up one of them instead of leaving it aside completely. For those breavehearts who want to figure it out all by themselves, they can try their own thing. The options are manifold, what is only missing is clarity about options and reported observations about causes and effects related to the options.
We have different options to buy a car and we know, Daimler will work, BMW will work, Audi will work, Ferrari will work. You can offer all cars in dependence to the unique needs and also attractions of people. Some still will prefer to not drive by themselves and just take a flight or a walk. Others may love more simple transportation means and take a bycycle. There is place for everything, only more clarity about the options are required in regards to spiritual topics, that is all. And I feel it will be our work to set this up for the coming generations.
Happy now and happy practice
Hello Holy,
There is so much in that message that is disagreed with that it is just best left said we disagree.
Will comment on two things though: Change is completly avoidable with todays communications and those yet to come. If things are hidden and kept secretive change will absolutly happen and you will get crusaders hell bent on pointing them out as is the case with Kriya today.
Concerning Shibendu, if you can give that person the title of Master then Yogani certainly qualifies as do certain senior AYP people like Christie for example no need for 50 to 100 years to pass.
Concerning Gurunath you have written allot of things. I have no personal experience of Gurunath or what he teaches other than your past writing and the utube videos.
In my opinion he is a very good speaker and says allot of good things, but what is his history that he should be considered anything other than a talented speaker and a utube personality?
Perhaps you could break down how things work with Gurunath?
For example did he initiate you one on one in person or does he do it in a crowded group setting of hundreds?
Did he teach you one on one in person?
Does he have subordinates like most Kriya Groups that ignore the Guru Chela relationship and teach in his name?
Does he uphold the Guru chela relationship or is it a more loose affair as is seen in other Kriya organizations?
From what has been observed he is likely unapproachable, likely has people initiate and teach other people in his name, probably has a surcharge for every additional technique and relies on the imagination of devotees to do the rest.
Would love to be wrong maybe you can cast some light on this?
Believe it or not from these questions and lack of agreement with you and most of your opinions, I do like this Gurunath personality seen on utube quite a bit and would like to discuss him more here.
Hi SO-HI,[quote]
In my opinion he is a very good speaker and says allot of good things, but what is his history that he should be considered anything other than a talented speaker and a utube personality?
Perhaps you could break down how things work with Gurunath?
[/quote]His history you can read in his book wings to freedom, but in short, this guy has practiced kriya for 50-60 years and in amounts ranging to 10+h per day. While he was 23 years old (or 27) he went into nirvikalpa samadhi by the grace of Babaji, which he explains in greater detail in some youtube vids and also in his second book “Babaji”. After that he practiced like hell, also met some great kriya yogis like Hariharananda and Satyananda. Independent of his history, after one weekend with him everyone clearly knows where he/she stands in his evolution and what is possible (and also how far advanced Gurunath is). Even among masters, there is obviously a huge difference in amount of energy and capability to guide, this one is surely very very capable in making the life of others smooth and joyful.[quote]
For example did he initiate you one on one in person or does he do it in a crowded group setting of hundreds?
[/quote]Group initiation with questions and answers (not like with Shibendu, where there are no questions and answers). He also answers questions of your thoughts and fulfills your wishes before you express them.[quote]
Does he have subordinates like most Kriya Groups that ignore the Guru Chela relationship and teach in his name?
[/quote]You can become a teacher, like our samadhi boy, but it is a long process and you must be seriuosly practicing kriya. There are some capable teachers and some I’d consider soso. The initiation with such a teacher is still graced by Gurunath and he starts interacting with you after that, so the initiation works.[quote]
From what has been observed he is likely unapproachable
[/quote]You can visit him in his ashram and stay there, practice and also come into contact with him one on one. But surely, the amount of time he will spend on you physically will always be limited, while unphysically he can be with you 24/7 and I have been witness to many people who have reported to me, that Gurunath starts to interact with them by visions, dreams and alsodirectly in the kriya session and when they do not practice, he makes them practice etc. All I have experienced myself, also was reported by others, so in parallely supporting the practitioners he is very very capable.
Few teachers like the samadhi boy also can support you through distance and give you the one or other boost, but the scale and range is very limited in comparison.[quote]
probably has a surcharge for every additional technique
[/quote]There were times where he was teaching Kriya Yoga basic and advanced, but since some years he is teaching all techniques and does not differentiate.
Among the kriya masters I have met (Shibendu, Mangalananda, Peterananda, Prajnananda, Atmavidyananda, Yogeshwarananda), Gurunath is quite a different league. It may also be due to his mentality, which is not shy and restrictive, but he just overflows the whole group openly and doesnot hold back in showing what he can do for you and is directly doing all with great intensity. There are even some students who are very much afraid of him, because his power is absolutely layed open. And although it is like that, you do not feel anythign wrong in it, there is no show or anything, just open and direct sharing of mass silence and mass bliss energy. I remember one workshop, where after shivapath (all mental activities dissolve and everyone enters into timeless bliss presence with an unknown intensity), Gurunath asked the group if some were afraid of what happened. And 2-3 people put their hands up and Gurunath invited all to the front to take their fear. One of these people was a man who is intensly into his thoughts and words, suddenly all he was holding to was blasted into nirvana The other woman was very old, over 70 years old and then seeing all the faces like Yukteswar and others in Gurunath coming and going, I can understand her reaction 
There are few satsangs he gives for free, especially in the US. Other than that most workshops do cost and quite a lot too. At least it is clear where the money flows, which is his ahsram and the children he feeds there.
Hope your questions are covered,
all love my friend! And happy practice
Thank you Holy no one can write as you have just done without having seen and done these things.
This is making a very interesting case for this teacher, you mention the workshops are expensive, is that because they are small group meetings which would make sense to cover such personalized attention or is it just huge gatherings and a huge bill to go with it?
Not sold on the idea of telepresence that is a bit out of my bailiwick but having been through enough odd stuff will not entirely discount it.
How large was the workshop you attended for his personal initiation, how many people?
I think there may be something to this Gurunath so encouraging you to write as you have time maybe take us all through the process for example. How does one learn from this person?
Write for the word at large a outline of how it all works.
Part one Read something about this Gurunath on the internet and decided to check him out.
Went to a convention center hundreds of people
Decided to take initiation and why…
Thank you.
I’m not sure if this is still a relevant topic to Kriyaban, but there’s now a published book by J.C. Stevens, who works with Lahiri Mahasaya’s family and the organization that publish’s Lahiri’s journals and commentaries on the Hindu religious scriptures. Anyways, his book is called “Kriya Secrets Revealed” and is available on Amazon. It’s an extraordinarily detailed work on all of the Kriya techniques of Lahiri Mahasaya. He also originally belonged to SRF, I believe. In any case, through all of his searching, he has worked with many Kriya practitioners who initiated others. Whether they were/are masters is something I can’t answer, but he could probably lead you in the right direction as well, if Ennio Nimis wasn’t able to.
In my personal opinion, after practicing many of the techniques of Lahiri Mahasaya consistently twice a day for nearly a year, AYP’s system was not only better, more efficient, and more effective, but significantly easier as well (and which is why I’ve come back). The Kriyas start simple, much like AYP and SRF, and become progressively more difficult and challenging to execute correctly. It ends up being very exhausting, though there are benefits, each kris being different. I think Lahiri Mahasaya said it best when he said, “Everything can be accomplished with the first kriya.”
Hi SuperTrouper,
the techniques of Stevens are quite different from Lahiri’s kriya and much more complicated too. And yes, the first kriya can be enough if you practice in good amounts. The higher kriyas add complexity, but also efficiency to speed up and refine the process for those willing to deepen the practice.
Hi just wanted to add Holy is correct the techniques of Stevens publication are different. The techniques published by Nimis are different also.
In the world today we find that there is a shortage of those who teach Spiritual Practices the way they started out, often they become modified.
Like with Yogani and AYP, it would appear one of the more closely protected lineages coming from Swami Pranabananda, AKA the saint with two bodies from Autobiography of a Yogi fame, have decided it would be better for the world and the people if the spiritual teachings were known in the original fashion they were taught.
Unlike the more open AYP system of practices this lineage still insists upon the necessity of Initiation.
When Yogani started with AYP over a decade ago it was pretty rare to find effective techniques openly discussed. Now it would appears others feel the same way and the work of AYP has helped to pave the way to this non secretive understanding.
Please see this link for Original Kriya. It is of a Kriya Guru in India that has decided to break the age old prohibition and silence surrounding Kriya.
http://originalkriya.com
Also, if you go to
http://www.kriyayogainfo.net/Eng_Downloads1.html
and click on “New: Document about Sri Sri Lahiri Mahasaya’s original Kriya Yoga” the author of the site gives a very good description of the theory and practice of this system.
Thanks for the link RSS!!