The quintessence of ‘KRIYA YOGA’ as delivered by ‘Lord Sree Rama’ to ‘Lakshmana’ - ‘Kriya yoga’ is meant for the seekers of ‘Atma vidya’ or ‘Brahma vidya’, to bring about ‘Self-surrender’, ‘Self-realization’ and ‘Sahaja samadhi’.

The quintessence of ‘KRIYA YOGA’ as delivered by ‘Lord Sree Rama’ to ‘Lakshmana’

‘Kriya yoga’ is meant for the seekers of ‘Atma vidya’ or ‘Brahma vidya’, to bring about ‘Self-surrender’, ‘Self-realization’ and ‘Sahaja samadhi’. The ‘GOD’ is immanent , everywhere and in everything, without name and form, as one`s own ‘SELF’ ( Truth- Being- Existence-Consciousness and Bliss). Since there is difficulty in comprehending, such an omnipresent and omnipotent reality, We superimpose those divine attributes to an imaginary ‘IDOL’, as our beloved ‘DEVATHA’( ISHTA-DEVATHA), and start worshiping that with, Pooja, abhisheka and nivedya.

Water, flowers, incense, incandescence and smoke are used for the five fold ritualistic adoration of the ‘Devatha’; finally one`s own self is surrendered as ‘ATHMA-NIVEDANA’. Then one becomes ‘GOD’ himself. Imagination, action and experience are, the three fold ignorance of everybody in this phenomenal world. The worldly experiences can be, good, bad, happy or sorrowful, according to the nature of actions, good, bad or mixed. Thus our actions are dependent on our imaginations and the imaginations are in turn dependent on names and forms, again dependent on the five fundamental elements, ether, air, water, fire and earth.

In pooja, water represents the element of water, incense-earth, incandescence-fire, the flower-ether and smoke-air. Thus in pooja we are retracing, our original experience of the phenomenal world, to the source of our ‘BEING’. The burning of camphor at the end indicates, sublimation of our ‘EGO’, finally resulting in ‘ATHMA-NIVEDANA’, Self-surrender, self-realization and sahaja Samadhi.

Thus POOJA is nothing but, dissolution of the phenomenal world of five elements ( ether, air , water, fire and earth ), in the omnipresent , omnipotent, truth, consciousness and bliss; casting away ‘self- ignorance’ and bringing about ‘self awareness’, resulting in ‘Self-realization’ and ‘Sahaja Samadhi’.

‘Tapas’ (performing one`s own duties, without taking care of the results), ‘Swadhyaya’ (Learning and assimilating, scriptural wisdom) and ‘Easwara Pranidhana’ (self-surrender) are the three limbs of ‘KRIYA YOGA’.

~SWAATHMAARAAMAN