CONCEPT OF KRIYA IN KUNDALINI YOGA AND HATHA YOGA

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(From the KRI Manual)

 

You'll find the word kriya used frequently. Kriya yoga, kundalini

kriyas, and Kriya shakti. The root word kriya means action, but it has

very specific connotations. In Kundalini Yoga, Kriya shakti is the

power of the soul to manifest itself into each realm of experience:

the realm of the mind through proper thought; the realm of the body,

through proper movement, shape, form; and the realm of action through

the power of the will to manifest creativity that serves the Infinite.

Kriya is also often called tattva shakti, which is the ability of the

great soul of the universal self to create new categories, levels of

manifestation in mind body and in the world. Kriya is not just any

reflex or action, but an action that leads to a complete manifestation;

that lets a seed come to bloom, a thought come into actuality, a desire

become a commitment.

 

When you learn to act with kriya, then action becomes synchronous with

the larger pattern of the Self. We get into kriya by the removal of

blocks, attachments, blindness and ego that hold us back from acting

when we ought to act.

 

To act with kriya is a state of spontaneous flow. It's free of all of

the blocks. You apply great effort just when great effort should be

applied. You apply great relaxation just when great relaxation should

be applied. There is a perfect match between the inner and outer,

between the inner resources and the outer demands. There is no gap of

doubt, no hesitation, no partial support of the action by only one area

of your mind and not another. That sense of wholeness and

appropriateness to the action creates a grace in your body, a central

power in your thought, and a projective ability in your mind.

 

Mastering kriya brings with it a sense of grace, power, and the ability

to complete things. You act both timelessly and timely. Kriya is not

a random collection of actions. As you put together a transmission in a

car--there's a number of gears that have to be in place and they have

to be there in a certain sequence and then the power that's in the

motor can be transferred to the wheels and you can go where you need

to--just so, a kriya in yoga is a sequence of postures, breath, and

sound that are integrated together to allow the manifestation of a

particular state. When you do a Kundalini kriya, the result of its

repetition is the access to, and mastery of a particular, predictable

and stable state--a facet of your awareness.