A Brief History Of Kriyayog

The mystic and liberating Yoga technique was almost extinct in the medieval period, when the world was under the influence of religious fanatics and nobody was mature enough to accept the truth. Even Galileo was prosecuted for stating the truth as it was. Later when the time changed and became somewhat more favorable for discussing the truths of life and nature, the general consciousness of mankind begin to develop and there was a general awakening for realizing the hidden and invisible facts of life which science began to discover, then, in 1868, the great Yogi guru, whom we know by the name "Babaji", again introduced this mystic Yogic art to the society through his disciple Shyamacharan Lahiri.

The day Babaji initiated Shyamacharan Lahiri and sent him back to the society, from that very day all true seekers of truth found the means to realize the truth of life and death and beyond. Shyamacharan Lahiri demonstrated most of the results of this mystic Yogic art by putting his own example. All his life, he indicated the Yogic way to true seekers and introduced them to the different stages of this mystic Yogic art. After his demise, some lines of his disciples have maintained the practice of this mystic Yogic art.

Among the famous traditions, the tradition of Shri Yukteshwar Giri, disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya, became world famous through his able disciple Paramhans Yogananda. Paramhans Yogananda graced the Father of Indian Nation - Mahatma Gandhi with Kriya yoga diksha, who initiated the entire human race onto the path of non-violence in the blood-soaked century.

Tradition (Guru lineage) of Shri Bhupendranath Sanyal, disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya did astounding work in India, which was later carried on by Shri Jwalaprasad Tiwari - a capable disciple of Shri Sanyal. It is well known that the great bard Rabindranath Tagore was a beneficiary of pious association with Shri Sanyal for a long time. Influence of this pious association upon the compositions of the great bard is evident.

Among other traditions, the tradition of Shri Panchanan Bhattacharya, a disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya has done some important work. His disciple Shri Varadacharan Majumdar initiated in to Kriyayog the famous revolutionary Netaji Subhashchandra Bose, who contributed extra momentum to Indian freedom struggle, as also the revolutionary poet Kazi Nasrul Islam and the renowned revolutionary Arvind Ghosh who later became world famous yogi. All these revolutionaries benefited from the pious association of Shri Varadacharan Majumdar.

Apart from above traditions, Swami Pranavanand and Keshavanand Brahmachari also established their traditions, but these are almost extinct as of now.

I belong to one line of disciples which although was not very famous but was able to maintain the strict standard of this mystic art. The line goes like this - Shri Shyamacharan Lahiri, his disciple and son Shri TeenKodi Lahiri, his disciple and youngest son Shri Satyacharan Lahiri and then myself. It is by the grace of my Guru that today I am able to discuss this great mystic Yogic art.