An Enlightened Himalayan Kriya Yoga Master Speaks: Yogiraj Siddhanath

For nearly 30 years, Yogiraj Siddhanath, affectionately called “Nath” by his students, has worked ceaselessly around the world to help evolve human consciousness. Those fortunate to have been in his presence know his rarity, for he is a Himalayan Master, a Yogic Avatar, a being for the ages. He himself prefers the title, “Servant of Humanity.”
This year, Yogiraj launched the much anticipated book,Yoga Patanjal, Yogiraj’s experiential revelation of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. In 2011, Yogiraj’s groundbreaking book , Babaji: The Lightning Standing Still, received the Most Influential Book of the New Millennium Award by the American Authors Association.
As part of his worldwide tour, all are invited to participate in hi event in Pasadena, CA August 11- 12; in Encinitas on September 2 and in Carlbad September 6-9. For more details, check Siddhanath.org/events and see end of article.
Here Yogiraj speaks of his work and how it and practicing Kriya Yoga can open us to the power of Kundalini, and more. (More at end).

The Life Connection: What is Kriya Yoga, and why should one do it?

Yogiraj Siddhanath: Kriya Yoga is an inner ascent through ever more refined, ever more expanded spheres of mind, to get to divine consciousness which lies at the core of your own being. Kriya Yoga is very scientific, and it depends upon the offering of two pranic currents, one into the other. The upward pranic current and the downward apanic current are offered one into the other. This is the sacred fire rite of the yogi. As the consciousness moves up and down the spine along with these currents, you burn your negative karma and evolve consciousness. Ultimately, you get to the state of self-realization. After you keep practicing Kriya Yoga, the grace of the divine Lord descends upon you. A transition takes place through the “stargate” of third eye. Once you penetrate this “stargate,” you shift from divine mind to divine consciousness. In other words, you shift from mind’s duality to the solitary singularity. It’s the alchemy of the mind. That is the purpose and goal of Kriya Yoga. If you want to know more about this transformative process, you can read my writings.

TLC: You teach Kundalini Kriya Yoga. Can you explain what Kundalini is, and how the Kriya Yoga awakens it?

YS: I’ve explained this many times. I would rather make you experience it, instead of explaining it. That’s the better way. So if you come to me for the Kundalini Kriya Yoga and Satsangs (question & answer session), I will give you an experience of the Kundalini (coiled serpent energy). How will you like that? Instead of explaining what a mango is, come to India during mango season and taste it. Basically Kundalini is the electromagnetic energy of the universe. After the building of the universe, there was excess energy and then ultimately nature, plants and animals. After that there still was extra, so they put some of the excess energy in the base of every spine of man as a reserve. So that is your spiritual heritage. It’s a psycho-spiritual heritage. It’s dynamic energy, which takes your soul to divine consciousness. Energy is Chit (absolute consciousness). When Kundalini is awakened, she burns the karma, which is surrounding the soul. The Kundalini is the mother (at the base chakra), the soul is the son, and the Chit is the father (at the crown chakra). Symbolically speaking, the mother raises up the son to the father.

TLC: Is daily meditation and/or prayer enough to achieve enlightenment or divine bliss? Does Kriya Yoga need to be part of a sincere seeker’s path to God?

YS: Firstly, Kriya Yoga is absolutely necessary in my opinion for the sincere seeker’s path to God because you put your full concentration on the Sushumanadi (psychic nerve current which runs the length of the spine). You’re traveling the airplane path, the supersonic path, the lightning path. It goes subtler and subtler. You’re preparing your body, mind and soul to be ready for God, to express cosmic consciousness.

YS: Refer to my YouTube video titled, “Living Master, Dead Letter.” It’s all given there.

TLC: Why is the grace of the Guru, also known as Gurukripa, necessary?

YS: The grace of God, people think is, “Hey, let’s have women, wine and laughter, and the Lord God the day after!” Sorry, he’s not going to come. Because God’s house (your body temple), has not been prepared. Where will he come? And you will say, “God where are you?” And God will say, “I am where I am. Don’t box me into that house. You haven’t created a house of love and care. You haven’t made your house a home.” You’ve made a house through Hatha yoga, but you haven’t made a house a home through Bhakti (devotion) and Kriya yoga.

TLC: How can I know that I am making spiritual progress?

YS: Not by information, not by intellectualizing. By knowing. By being the knower. By experiencing your self-realization, you can know.

TLC: It seems that all suffering distills to two fears: the fear of never attaining the fruits of a desire – and the fear of losing the fruits of our efforts to the impermanence of life. Is base duality at the core of all delusion?

YS: Yes, everything in a relative world, whether it be a person, place or thing, has to undergo change. Evanescence is the nature of Maya (delusion). Impermanence and change is the nature of duality. Therefore, we should go to something which is permanent and constant. When you invest in a bank, you don’t go to Sumatra or Japan by the seaside and invest in a bank because that’s where we have the maximum amount of tsunamis. In Sumatra, we have earthquakes. You don’t go to invest all your biscuits or gold in a place which will be drowned by the sea or swallowed up by the earth. No, you would go to a steady place, with a steady foundation like Switzerland. There we would put our money in a safe. Life itself is like a hurricane. You identify with this question because you think I have a fear of losing myself in the impermanence of life. Life itself is impermanence. Don’t identify yourself with your emotional body or with physical body or the circumstances surrounding it – which is also impermanent. Don’t identify yourself with anything in relativity, with any person, place or thing because it ultimately changes and perishes. Invest in something which is everlasting and permanent. It’s your divine indweller, the spirit of your soul. The answer lies within. The answer lies within!

TLC: Can you describe your own experience when your students begin to ripen in the long process of self-realization?

YS: So instead of describing how the Kundalini awakens and how you feel, I’ve found a better way. I give them three distinct graces of the SatGuru: Shaktipat, which is the transmission of Kundalini. I also breathe through their breath. This process is called Pranapat. Lastly, I give Shivapat, which is the transmission of Soul Consciousness. I make them discover and experience things for themselves. They feel the bliss. They feel the Kundalini stiffen their spine, and they go into super-conscious states of Samadhi (meditative absorption). So, it’s better than intellectually talking…it’s better to give them an experience. Your soul goes into a state of expanded ecstasy, and I make you feel that. Come and experience this for yourself. Discover this by practicing Kundalini Kriya Yoga. Get a taste of Samadhi. That’s the way I teach, through the giving of experience. But those who can’t give the experience, teach it. But those who can give it, they should give it freely.

TLC: As a true Satguru, you seem to prefer to ripen the samskars (latent tendencies) of your students with experience over the teaching of “dry” ethics. Can you explain the gnosis behind this profound happening?

YS: I teach through experience. Everyone will have the divine experience in a different light or with a different taste based on their past karma. When I give the Shivapat, a state of Samadhi that you all share with me, some see Moses, some see a big Shivaling, some see me totally disappear. It’s the same experience given by the same master to different people. Why is there a difference in experience? Because that same Kundalini energy affects people differently. Some people see nothing, but smell different things. Some people just sense a great power. Hence, they experience different states of the same Kundalini energy transmission.

TLC: Can a lover and admirer of the beauty that is Life also seek God? Or is this love and admiration a detriment to the search?

YS: Love can be experienced only after one has seen God in Savikalpa Samadhi. So that love you’re talking about is either lust or relative love. There is some agenda there. Agenda love. True love can only be experienced in a desireless state. True love is experienced after you go into Samadhi. The other love you’re talking about is material love, relative love, agenda love. He who is rested in humility and burning with love is already there. Love is Savikalpa Samadhi.

TLC: Why have you agreed to this role? Do you love us?

YS: I haven’t agreed or disagreed to this role. I am just the breeze. I am just the waterfall. You walk under the waterfall, and say, “Oh how nice! Your water is very refreshing.” I am not doing anything. I am just being a waterfall. A realized master just does what’s natural for him and millions benefit from that. My nature is love. People feel healed from just being around me. Their headaches go away. They are cured from their schizophrenia. So let me tell you, I say this with all humility because these are cultural shocks for the Western mind. I don’t want to appear to be a pompous person trained to do something special. I do this with all humility. This is a very important point to know that many times the healings that I do – actually people come and tell me – I am not even aware that I have healed the person. I’m happy I’m not aware because this helps me to subdue and keep my ego at zero. I am not more; I am not less. I am just who I am. I am not aware of that healing process, and I just walk on. Is that not better? The moment one becomes aware, that is ego. I just radiate love without awareness.

As part of his worldwide tour, all are invited to share in his Samadhi at his Experiential Satsang & Kriya Yoga Empowerment workshops in Pasadena, CA on August 11 & 12th. Yogiraj will also give an Experiential Satsang in Encinitas, CA on September 2. From September 6-9, join Yogiraj on a transformative inner journey and retreat in the great vortex of spiritual energy embedded deep in the off-shore ocean in Carlsbad, CA. For more details, check Siddhanath.org/events. More information on back page of this issue.