Footsteps to Freedom Four Spiritual Masters of Kriya Yoga and a Beginner [Paperback]

The yoga teacher is Prakash Shankar Vyas, known to students and disciples as ‘Guruji’. At first glance, he looks perfectly ordinary and seems to live a normal life. But Wyder’s curiosity is aroused when she learns that Guruji is authorised to teach a scientific meditation technique known as Kriya Yoga.

Wyder has heard that there are many branches of yoga, but Kriya promises to be the tree itself; its roots holding the answers to the fundamental issues of existence, whilst ultimately leading man back to his spiritual origin. The method could only be passed personally and in confidence from master to disciple.

Three generations of spiritual masters grace the wall of the yoga studio. An awe-inspiring portrait of the renowned Lahiri Mahasaya, and two smaller photographs of his son, Tinkari Lahiri, and grandson, Satya Charan Lahiri. The young traveller learns that the latter was Guruji’s teacher, and that each of the masters in the Lahiri lineage lived as ordinary householders in Varanasi, whilst possessing unimaginable powers as authorities of Kriya Yoga.

Despite their control over nature, even over death itself, they would only exercise yogic power when necessity demanded it. They helped the needy and healed the sick and dying, but they never performed miracles for the sake of either fame or money. Instead, their interest lay in the development and progression of each individual disciple who was committed to practice. They initiated true seekers of every caste and creed, giving them the key to inner peace, wisdom and freedom.

Wyder is taken aback that a genuine path could exist, whereby even a beginner might follow in the footsteps of the saints, masters and yogis. Due to some of her religious convictions, even a small knowledge of the lifestyle and miracles of these masters raises a multitude of issues.

The original plan to travel the world loses its gloss. There is evidently far more to Guruji than meets the eye, and Wyder bombards him with questions during yoga lessons. She stumbles across some startling revelations, and finds logical and scientifically provable answers to the most fundamental spiritual questions about the existence of God and the deeper meaning of life.

Before Wyder is initiated, Guruji emphasises that Kriya Yoga is no path to be undertaken lightly. She has to learn that success in this field, as in any other, will be achieved through love, dedication, courage and extraordinary discipline. These are the footsteps which lead to freedom. There is no glamour and there are few sensational experiences. But even at the beginning, there is increased self-awareness, a peace as never experienced before, and an inner light. Gradually, she begins to understand Guruji’s words to her when she first asked for initiation:

"If I give you Kriya, I am giving you everything..."

Why FOOTSTEPS TO FREEDOM will appeal to
anyone interested in spirituality, religion or yoga:

The SECRETS of the yogic masters are revealed and explained in easy-to-understand language

Lively discussions and stories on a range of SPIRITUAL TOPICS of interdenominational appeal are paced throughout the book

The BEGINNER’S PERSPECTIVE is explored, as the first footsteps are taken into the spiritual masters’ world – no prior knowledge of yoga or meditation is assumed on the part of the reader

It is the ONLY book containing the true life-stories of ALL THREE MASTERS in Lahiri Mahasaya’s lineage

Accurate technical and scientific details are given on the ORIGINAL Kriya Yoga*

* Kriya Yoga reached the West in the 1940s with the publication of "Autobiography of a Yogi", by Paramahansa Yogananda. As a result, Lahiri Mahasaya soon became a household name in yoga circles as the father of Kriya, whilst organisations and ashrams, societies and self-elected gurus sprung up world-wide, all purporting to teach the original method.

However, Lahiri Mahasaya’s grandson Satya Charan Lahiri observed as early as the 1950s that Kriya Yoga had been altered beyond recognition in the West. The source of the practice, Lahiri Mahasaya, had become a secondary figure, and the principles he deemed inseparable from Kriya Yoga had been forgotten. Most of the books on Kriya Yoga, including the most famous amongst them, contained fabricated accounts and exaggerations.

Since Satya Charan Lahiri passed the authority to initiate the meditation technique out of the family to his most advanced disciple Prakash Shankar Vyas (Guruji) in 1985, Kriya practitioners visiting Varanasi from the West have heightened Guruji’s own awareness of changes and omissions to Kriya. Regrettably, he says, these people have received an incomplete technique: despite sincere efforts, they are trying to unlock a door without having the right key.

In FOOTSTEPS TO FREEDOM, a chapter is dedicated to the ORIGINAL Kriya Yoga in which questions are answered such as:

· What is Kriya Yoga?
· What does initiation involve?
· Why can this yogic method not be learned from a book alone?
· What are the benefits of Kriya Yoga?
· What is the connection between respiration and mind?
· Why is Kriya Yoga referred to as a scientific technique?
· How exactly has Kriya Yoga been altered since it arrived in the West?
· How can I recognise the original method and principles of Kriya?
PLUS: Yogic terms are explained including:

· PRANA AND PRANAYAMA (Cosmic Energy and how we can tap into it ourselves)
· THE CHAKRAS (the seven energy centres in the human body located at points along the spine)
· KUNDALINI (the dormant, latent power in man which lies coiled up at the root chakra)
· KUTASTHA (also referred to as ‘The Third Eye" or "The Spiritual Eye")
· SHUSHUMNA (for yogis, the key to rendering external breathing unnecessary – victory over death itself)
· SAMADHI (otherwise referred to as ‘super-consciousness’) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

FOOTSTEPS TO FREEDOM is different because it deals with the whole story of yoga. Whilst it clarifies the origin and purpose of Hatha and other branches of yoga, it is concerned primarily with its spiritual and mystical aspect.

AT A TIME when many are propagating a changed method of the much sought- after scientific technique, this book returns to the source and principles of Kriya Yoga. It explains why seekers should be wary of claims that five to ten minutes of meditation a day can lead to self-realisation and ultimate freedom; or that a few months will suffice in order to unlock the chakras and raise the kundalini. The original Kriya Yoga as given by Lahiri Mahasaya is no ‘quick fix’, and in FOOTSTEPS TO FREEDOM the concept ‘yoga meditation’ is lent a clear and honest perspective once more.

THE SIGNIFICANCE of FOOTSTEPS TO FREEDOM cannot be over-emphasised, and particularly its role to prevent the scientific, and therefore unchangeable method of Kriya Yoga from becoming lost to mankind once more. The possibility of this happening is very real, and yet the consequences of its loss are unimaginable.

Packed with truth and authority,
for those who dare to go deeper,
this book has the power to touch the soul.

KRIYA SOURCE PUBLISHING January 2004 --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.