My Experience with Kriya

A veteran, Kriya Yoga practitioner, and currently under the refuge of Master Per Harald Wibe. Master Per is from Norway and is a Self-Realized person. He is the infinite ocean of silence and space. Describing Guru or explaining divine experiences is beyond the capabilities of words. Mind is a temporary and limited entity that is beyond its capability to describe Guru and divine experiences as well. He does not believe in delivering discourse but always insists on practicing Kriya. I am grateful to the Almighty to have Mr. Wibe as my Guru in my life. He accepted me as his disciple and initiated me into Kriya Yoga. He does not like to be called as Master or Guru. He clarifies that he is also like us. He is of the view that the difference we have is the level of our learning. “I am, a little bit above your level” that is all he says.

Intense kriya practice has revealed who am I. Swami Paramahansa Yogananda said, ” When your consciousness penetrates spiritual eye, you realize yourself as the soul”.  My master also said the same thing in other words,” when silence penetrates the consciousness, we experience who we are and are guided by the true Master, the Self”. I could glimpse and differentiate, What is my Body and Being. “I am” feeling, a presence of mine, is the essence of my transformation. The intense practice of Kriya reminds you that you are a limited physical body but an infinite spirit. That is what you are.

Now I believe that the world is a family. Universality has taken over individuality. Looking after the interests of others is my priority now. Feeling of compassion is deeply rooted inside me. Kriya practice teaches you how to be at ease when there is a disturbance in your life and it is a tool that supports you in moving on to your journey. Kriya practice is silence and presence of the mind and when your mind is silent and present, you are in deep Kriya practice. When you follow this path, various negative energies come to stop you. On the other hand, positive energies also come your way to support you. So one need not worry.

There are lots of experiences that I encountered during the past years but did not want to reveal all of them. To have mystic experiences is not my objective. They may deviate you from your objective. But to share with good intentions to someone who needs the motivation to follow this path, I think there is no harm in it. With this positive intention, an insight giving birth thrived with an intense longing to disseminate to seekers what Kriya has blessed me with and the experiences I had after practicing Kriya. However, I am describing those divine experiences with utmost care which may prove to be the motivation for other seekers.

On the day of my initiation, a mystic event happened. Just after the initiation ceremony, all disciples were directed to Mahavatar Babaji cave for meditating inside the cave. I and my friend Mr.Ajay Kumar Gupta reached the cave site quite early. We both wanted to meditate together inside the cave before the arrival of other brother’s disciples. When we are done, I requested my friend to take my photograph in meditating posture inside the cave for retreat memory. I handed over my cell phone to Mr. Gupta. There was nobody present inside the cave except me and my friend. I was sitting inside the cave in a meditative posture and Mr. Gupta was at the entrance of the cave. He took one photograph of me and I also went out of the cave.

By that time rest of the disciples arrived at the cave site. The purpose of the visit was to witness the holy cave where Mahavatar Babaji initiated Lahiri Mahashaya into Kriya Yoga. After paying homage to the cave site, we all returned to the camp location. The retreat ended with nostalgic memories. We departed to our respective native places.

One day at my native place I was refreshing retreat memories. When I was going through the photos, I saw an image of very young lad, having a beard on his face, wearing a black robe seating behind my back in a meditative posture. Who was he? When the photograph was clicked, I am sure there was nobody except me inside the cave at that time. But he was not visible to my eyes. What do I understand from this mystery?  What is the hidden message in the mystery? After six months when we again assembled for the next retreat at Aurobindo Ashram located in Uttarakhand, I showed this photograph to my Master but he hesitatingly said, “Babaji does not want popularity”. But it was not the end of my curiosity. Who was he and what was his intention to manifest himself sitting behind me? I did not clarify it from the Master anymore. What it was, let it be as it is. I guess He may be Master, Lahiri Mahashaya, or Mahavatar Babaji. What difference does it makes to me. Who is He, would be anyone from my kriya lineage.

One night before going to sleep I took a resolve that I would know who he was, sitting behind me inside the cave. So I behold the third eye and asked the question. After this, I penetrated the third eye and a white tiny star opened and an image of someone of thumb size emerged and just suddenly an image of an ear was visible. I could not understand what it was indicating. Yesterday I got an opportunity to meet the master. I was telling him about my book. He read few lines and commented that, don’t include things in your book that you hear from the people. The contents of the book should be pure and yours. Three years back the ambiguity that was puzzling me became clear today when I met Master. He said don’t listen to people and mystery of the ear is resolved. He said you experience yourself.

Mahavatar Babaji initiated Lahiri Mahashaya into Kriya Yoga in this cave and later, Lahiri Mahasaya transferred this knowledge to his disciple Sri Yukteswar Giri and then Sri Yukteswar Giri passed on this knowledge to many disciples and one of his main disciple was Swami Paramahansa Yogananda. My Guru, Master Per Harald Wibe is from the same lineage of which I also got initiated into Kriya Yoga by him. The presence of “That”, supports my master’s statement when he said to feel Baba Ji’s presence while meditating inside the cave.

I continued practice kriya. Sometimes it was intense, and sometimes below average. One night I was sleeping deeply, and suddenly I regain consciousness. I see all sorts of colors emerging from my third eye. It was a new thing that I never witnessed in my life earlier. I turned my body position from the right side to the left side. It was something similar to a pomegranate that may have emitted various colours of light during Deepawali celebrations. After this, I saw Babaji’s black-and-white image on the forehead and soon after it has replaced now by three connected faces which I perceive as Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesh. Soon after this, a chain of unknown faces emerging one by one and kept on emerging for quite a long time. I was the only witness watching with utmost curiosity. Old faces were replacing new faces. I don’t remember when I slipped into a deep sleep. I got up in the morning as fresh as I did not wake a little during the night. I shared this experience with my wife. She was stunned to hear this.

Before this incident one more event I witnessed in a dream. I was not bothered as lots of things happen in the dream. But now it is pertinent to tell that it was connected to my Kriya practice. A black colour object was trying to scare me. Its size and form were very peculiar. I was frightened of that object. To come out of the fear, I suddenly seated in cross leg posture and started Kriya practicing resulting in the disappearance of that object. And I took a long breath to become normal.

It is an incidence of another night. I was sleeping and suddenly, my spine started vibrating. I lost control over my ligaments. By the time soothing vibrations spread in the entire body. Suddenly a thought on its own emerges that I may be entering into a trance. So, I requested that I am not prepared tonight for this divine happening. Since my wife is not aware of these things If I entered a trance then there is no security, I will come out of it in the morning and if my wife saw me in the condition of trance, she might make a scene that would be embarrassing. So, I avoided this opportunity to enter a state of trance.

One day after having lunch, I went to the bedroom for a nap. I concentrated on the third eye. A tiny white star appeared. I keep on gazing at it with concentration. Suddenly it opened and took the form of a cashew nut shape and in a few moments, I began to see that I am in the womb. I saw the progressive developed states of my foetus. And at the last of it, I saw my childhood image. By this time, I got habituated to see such scenes / divine happenings that are not possible to see by an earthly man.

Another night I was at Gurugram with my daughter. Similar to the above divine experience, I was sleeping, I mean my body and mind were sleeping but I had awareness. Suddenly, I left my body leaving on the bed and took flight into the void with jet speed. I was not scared at all, but rather enjoying this divine flight. After roaming in the space, I came back to the body again. Now such experiences were very normal to me.

I saw saint Kabir and Guru Nanak, mother Radha. Before going to bed I used to say internally that tonight I would prefer to see so and so and to my surprise, I used to see them. It was happening on my will.

One night, the moment I lay in bed I thought that Lahiri Mahashaya recalled his Guru Mahavatar Babaji merely to prove his friends that, he has the power to call his Guru. I read this in one of the famous books of Swami Paramhamsa Yogananda. “Autobiography of a Yogi” I had a mischievous thought that if Lahiri Mahashaya can call his Guru, I too can call him. It was not a mature idea for a novice like me. With this thought, I slipped into a deep sleep. To my surprise, some powerful energy lifted my heavy bed and left it freely on the floor. I got a massive jerk. With this happening body parts lost my control but I was not scare of it. My eyes were closed and the bedroom was engulfed in darkness.

Nothing was visible inside the room. I felt with closed eyes that the ceiling fan was not revolving properly. I was feeling that some energy was regulating the fan speed. I felt the presence of someone none-other than Babaji. I was trying to call but was unable to call. I wanted to get up but my ligaments were not in my control. I wanted to say Babaji to hold my hand, “I will not allow you to go”. I was sure that Babaji or whosoever he was, annoyed with my childish demand. That is why he gave me a jerk. I could perceive that possibly my body was not able to withstand that power. So that energy reacted that way. I felt guilty for this and took a resolve not to repeat it in the future. In the morning I shared this incident with my wife. She warned me not to repeat such demands in the future.

Great persistence is rewarded by extraordinary rewards. Enlightenment is not an achievement. It is an event and bound to happen on its own naturally if one practices Kriya. When you feel that I am not the body, mind, this, and that, then you realize what you are. Once you realize this fact of life, you are a Self-Realized person. A Self-realized person experiences that whatever you are experiencing is happening inside not outside. He stops thinking in terms of poor- rich, literate, illiterate, good and bad, small and big, you treat them equally. People categorize the world into high and low, heaven and hell, and God and the devil. Regular Kriya practice will burn this duality.

When your body, mind, and life energy are not aligned, unpleasantness in your life is for sure. Kriya practice will align the mis-alignment of your life energy, body, and mind and creates perfect harmony in them. That ensures your progress. Mind gathers information through the five senses of perception and five organs of action where consciousness is the vehicle of observation, attention, and reason. It consists of the mind (manas), intellect (buddhi), and ego (ahamkara).

Kriya practice expands your consciousness up to the extent that your feeling of individuality takes the form of universality. Your ego dissolves, and you stop thinking of individuality and always think in terms of universality.

Everything that happens and you see them happening, happens on the surface of consciousness which always remains with the soul and knows everything about the individual soul. It maintains a record of all the thoughts, happenings, and actions of the present and past lives of the individual soul. When the mind becomes free of fluctuation, then it helps the individual soul to form part of the universal Soul. When the mind’s restraints are ended, this state of mind is called becoming Antarmukhi (One who is seeing inside not outside anymore). I constantly hear celestial music and OM sound (cosmic motor vibrations) which keeps reminding me that I am it’s source and I am not a limited physical body but an infinite spirit. I hear the sound of water as a stream of water flows nearby.

Composing Hindi poetry of course is the by-product of contemplative meditation. I tried my best to describe divine experiences but words have limitations to describe them. However, I composed the article which you are going through now and was guided by my ‘Self’ otherwise I do not retain these skills to describe.

I am currently staying in Gurgaon, Haryana with my family and accomplishing kriya practice as a novice. I am focused to dive deep into the infinite ocean of silence and space. I want to draw other seekers to this path so they too can reveal their truth.