Kriyananda who was in the city recently spoke to City Express about his journey as a saint, the Kriya Yoga and about the response for the practices of yoga in a country like USA. He has been working on movies Cities of Light, which has completed its filming stage and will be released in June 2013.
The saint who released Demystifying Patanjali on Saturday said that Patanjali is one of the great saints who showed a pathway to yoga and also described stages of Yoga and Samadhi.
Speaking about how he was allured to learn yoga in his early days, he explained, “I was seeking truth, but didn’t know the path to reach it. Moreover, I did not know that to seek truth, it is important to seek God. Then I came across the book ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ by Swami Yogananda. I went to meet the saint the very next day and I requested him to accept me as his disicple. He willingly accepted me as his disciple.” Kriya Yoga, a form of yoga, which was propagated by the Swami Yogananda is now widely practised all across the world especially in USA. When asked about the initial days of response from the public for Kriya Yoga, he said, “Many people believed that money and materialistic life gave them them happiness and joy. But today, they have realised that materialistic life is not the path of happiness but it is spirituality that gives happiness.” He also added that It is humanity, harmony and co-operation that Ananda Sangha preaches besides Kriya Yoga. When asked about Swami Kriyananda’s opinion about the Kriya Yoga, he said, “Kriya Yoga is nothing but the central of all techniques of yoga like Bhakti yoga, karma yoga, Jnana yoga and others. By performing Kriya Yoga one can raise their energy levels in spine.”However, Kriyananda says that everyone in this world seek happiness through money and power. “Happiness is within oneself and God is within us. Instead of seeking happiness around, one has to look into oneself for happiness.”