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| Hi everybody,
My name is Furio, I am 36 and I am a minister in the kriya yoga tradition of Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya, Sri Yukteswar, Paramahansa Yogananda and his successors. I was ordained last year by Roy Eugene Davis, a direct disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda (web page: www.csa-davis.org).
My activity is mainly in Italy, though I occasionally deal with people living abroad. Probably in september I'll lecture abroad for the first time (in Florida - US). My dream is to be able to go to Australia for a series of seminars. I don't know why Australia; but it is something I feel inside.
I am not a full time minister, because I have a normal job in the insurance field. My activity as a minister is done for free. Except for a few donations that I receive here and there, I don't charge people for lessons or seminars.
"Kriya" means "action". Our general thought is that by living a life centered on God we can elevate our consciousness and reach Self-realization. Our main practice deals with meditation. We practice specific pranayamas taught by our lineage of gurus. Our path is a non-sectarian one. Our main texts are:
- Autobiography of a yogi - by Paramahansa Yogananda
- The Bhagavad Gita (commented in the light of kriya yoga)
- Patanjali's yoga sutras
Is there anybody here who knows something about kriya yoga?
If you have pleasure I can, once in a while, add to the forum articles or news about our world.
My web page is www.kriyayoga.it (it is both in italian and english). In the page www.angelfire.com/yt/KRIYAYOGA/ministeng.html you can find a downloadable file with a basic meditation technique of our path. Except for the kriya pranayama, which is reserved to initiates, we teach the basic techniques to everybody.
Have a nice day / Furio  |
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| Selections From the Writings
of Roy Eugene Davis
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The final solution to all human problems is spiritual enlightenment: mental illumination and unfoldment of conscious knowledge of ourselves as spiritual beings abiding in the wholeness of God. Even though this good news has been proclaimed by seers for thousands of years and is known in the heart of every person, what it is like to be enlightened may be difficult to imagine and awakening to it may erroneously be believed to be difficult if not impossible. To make spiritual awakening easier, what is needed is a radical change in how we think and feel about ourselves in relationship to the whole: one which provides an overview that enables us to have an intimation of what God is, and how the reality of God expresses as the cosmos and as souls.
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Meditation proficiency can be acquired by practice. While some devotees are able to easily internalize their attention and experience spontaneous unfoldments of superconscious states, most people who try to meditate find it difficult to relax the body, overcome restlessness, and quiet their active mental processes. Curiosity about possible outcomes of meditation practice, aspiration to experience clear states of consciousness, devotion to practice, and the application of time-tested procedures such as regulation of breathing rhythms, prayer, and directing the body's vital forces upward to the higher brain centers, can be helpful. The effective use of specific psycophysiological (mind-body) techniques can enable a meditator to experience rapid progress.
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A rational mind, devoid of confusion, erroneous beliefs, and illusions, always accurately processes information conveyed to it by the senses and innate knowledge revealed to it by the soul. When mental operations are rational, the intellect, the mental faculty that makes discernment possible, rejects falsehood in favor of fact or truth. The heart, the immortal, real Self or being of us, can only be satisfied with perfect realization (conscious experience) of wholeness and of what is true about itself and that which is perceived and experienced. Until this realization is accomplished and perfected, we are restless, lonely, and unhappy, because unfulfilled.
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To live effectively and to fully awaken to spiritual realities, we need to be healthy-minded, knowledgeably purposeful, success-oriented, and completely dedicated to awakening to Self-knowledge and God-realizaton in this physical life cycle. A healthy, efficiently functioning mind is necessary for accessing and processing a variety of information for psychological, emotional, and physical well-being. Knowledgeable purpose is neccessary if our lives are to be meaningful and our actions focused. A success-attitude enables us to accept good fortune and accomplish worthwhile purposes. Complete dedication energizes the mind and body; empowers us to more easily make wise choices; helps us to disregard or avoid nonessential endeavors and involvements; concentrates our energies and constructive endeavors toward essential and worthwhile actions and circumstances; and sustains us when we are challenged by thoughts or feelings of uncertainty or occasions of personal difficulty. When only that which is real can satisfy the rational mind and the heart that aspires to wholeness, nuture both mind and soul with perceptions of truth and awaken to conscious experience of God.
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Our real purpose for being in this world is much different than what is commonly believed by most people. Physical birth, growing through physiological and psychological stages to adulthood, family and social relationships and interactions, and learning survival and functional skills, are experiences common to human beings and creatures alike. Unlike creatures of nature which are primarily motivated by instinct, human beings, because more self-conscious and endowed with superior mental potential, are usually inclined to acquire a secular education, learn to work to provide for themselves and others, and endeavor to develop and express their creative abilities. Also, they often seek excessive sensory stimulation, status, power, and possessions, as substitutes for mental peace, Self-knowledge, and God-realization. For people in the world today who are not yet spiritually awake, their actions and experiences are but superficial incidents occurring on the stage of self-consious or egocentric life. They commonly experience their mind-conditioned, habit-bound lives as a partially conscious, dreamlike sequence of events with little or no knowledge of their causes or of how to implement actions to change or improve them.
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What is our real purpose for being in this world? It is to awaken to knowledge of ourselves as spiritual beings in relationship to a Reality which, not confined by space, time, or relative circumstances, is infinite. When realization of transcendent knowledge is accomplished--when it is completely and permanently unfolded--we can live freely in the physical realm with enlightened understanding. When we are fully enlightened while expressing through a body, our awareness extends beyond the sense-perceived environment to include all planes and dimensions of the cosmos--and beyond them, to eternity. It is only the soul's confinement of awareness to an erroneous belief of independent selfhood that limits it. The truth is, because the soul is a unit of God's consciousness, it is infinite. |
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| How to practice meditation
Sit on an armless chair, inhale deeply for ten seconds, hold the breath for the same time and exhale with a double exhalation (also for ten seconds). Repeat this procedure five or six times.
Close your eyes and concentrate on the point between the eyebrows
Pray to God in any way you are able to understand him.
Watch your breath, without trying to control it. When inhaling, repeat mentally the word "hong" (pronunciation: Hon), when exhaling repeat mentally the word "so"
(Hong-so is a sanskrit mantra taught by Paramahansa Yogananda and the kriya yoga masters, whose meaning is "I am he")
After practicing this way for ten minutes or more, disregard the breath and contemplate the point between the eyebrows. Try to stop your thoughts and be aware only of the light that you may perceive. Fix your gaze on that light and try to penetrate it. Go on as long as you can. If you do not manage to be always concentrated, this is the right time to talk to God. After doing that, open your eyes, practice again the hong-so technique for a while and try to meditate again. The contemplation is the real meditative experience, while techniques are only tools to use in order to reach a meditative state.
When you feel inclined, end the session and go back to your normal activities.
The results of meditation are:
A stronger immune system
Reduction of blood pressure
Refinement of the brain
Ability to experience refined states of consciousness
Furio ....
You can download this file as a document from the web page quoted in the 1st message |
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| Actualize Your Spiritual Potential
Roy Eugene Davis
The average person’s habitual thoughts, emotional states, lifestyle preferences, and behaviors—and thus their personal circumstances—are primarily determined by subliminal (below the threshold of conscious awareness) inclinations and tendencies. So long as this condition prevails, life is experienced as a semi-conscious dream; random accomplishments are of little value; spiritual growth, if it occurs at all, is minimal.
To awaken from this dreamlike condition and begin to actualize one’s innate spiritual potential, the question that needs to be asked is, "What is life for?" If the answer to this important question does not immediately arise to the surface of awareness, the fact that it is sincerely asked will attract a response from Universal Mind referred to by Ralph Waldo Emerson as "the one Mind which is common to all of us." Information will then be provided in ordinary ways, which may be intuitively recognized as being valid.
Over half a century ago, in an endeavor to apprehend the meaning of life, I prayed for guidance and avidly read the writings of people who were considered to be enlightened—knowledgeable because of their flawless insights and their personal experiences of life’s processes. I discovered that saints and sages of various philosophical traditions are in agreement in regard to why we are in this world. We are here to:
To live in harmony with the laws (processes) of nature by using our knowledge and abilities constructively. By doing this, we can unfold our innate potential, experience personal fulfillment, and make a useful contribution to society and the ongoing trends of evolution.
To learn to experience the easy fulfillment of wholesome desires which enhance our lives and benefit others. By doing this, we can accomplish our worthy purposes and experience enjoyment without attachments to our actions or to their results.
To learn to have our needs spontaneously satisfied by the responsiveness of the universe. As our awareness becomes clarified and expanded, we become increasingly conscious of the one Power that enlivens the universe and discover that, as we compliantly cooperate with it, it unfailingly provides resources, supportive events, and appropriate relationships for our highest good.
To respond to our innate soul urge to have our awareness restored to wholeness by nurturing our spiritual growth until we are fully Self- and God-realized. The Self of us, which is to be acknowledged and directly experienced, is our immortal, true nature. We are individualized units of the one field of Consciousness commonly referred to as God.
Endeavors to accomplish all four of these primary purposes of life can be applied simultaneously. While choosing to live in accord with the laws of nature, we can also perform effective actions and be receptive to the fulfillment of desires, have faith that our needs will be met, and unfold and express our soul qualities. The key to doing this is to be established in awareness of Being while performing useful actions.
At the innermost level of our Being, knowledge of Consciousness and its processes is innate to us; here, we are always serenely conscious of our wholeness. It is only at the surface of our awareness that confusion and conflict may occur. This is why the teachers of most enlightenment traditions recommend that contemplative prayer and meditation be learned and regularly practiced.
Although the side benefits of meditation—some of which are stress reduction, strengthening of the body’s immune system, enlivening of the nervous system, and orderly thinking—can be welcomed, the primary purpose of practice is to accomplish the stage of alert, tranquil awareness which allows superconsciousness to be experienced. The superior influences of superconsciousness weaken and eradicate problem-causing subconscious influences and improve the meditator’s intellectual powers, allowing authentic spiritual growth to spontaneously occur in the course of time.
The key to effective living and to spiritual growth that results in emotional maturity and clarified, expanded states of consciousness is mastery of attention. A spiritually unawake person’s awareness is overly identified with mental and emotional states, physical sensations, and objective circumstances. A spiritually awake person, because established in Self- (soul) awareness, is able to view thoughts, moods, physical sensations, and objective circumstances with insightful dispassion and to consciously live with meaningful purpose.
Purposes which have value (which enhance and spiritually enrich our lives and the lives of others and which nurture the planet) are meaningful; purposes which have little or no value are meaningless. Focusing attention and actions on meaningful purposes, then, is a spiritual practice.
During a conversation with truth seekers, my guru Paramahansa Yogananda said, "There is a fundamental purpose for our lives. To know it, we must understand where life comes from and where it is going. We must consider life’s highest potential for development and look beyond our immediate goals to what we ultimately want to accomplish."
What do we want to accomplish during our sojourn on Planet Earth? Have we chosen to be victims of circumstances? Or are we intent upon learning how to live effectively so that we can experience the unfoldment and actualization of our innate potential as quickly as possible? We can easily determine the degree of our spiritual awareness by self-honestly examining how we view ourselves in relationship to life and our habitual behaviors. The seven stages of soul unfoldment have been described as follows:
1. Unconsciousness. Awareness is almost completely identified with conditioned mental states, erroneous beliefs and opinions (delusions), and illusions (misperceptions of what is observed). Apathy, disinterest, and boredom are common characteristics. If one is religious, one may seek refuge in a system of beliefs to comfort the mind.
2. Dysfunctional self-consciousness. The self-conscious state is egocentric: mind-, body-, and personality-centered. Although awareness is somewhat clarified and curiosity about life and the possibilities it offers is compelling, delusions and illusions prevail. Psychological conflicts may be troublesome. Because intellectual powers are not yet highly developed, endeavors to comprehend higher realities (even though sincere) are not always fruitful. There may be a tendency to presume illusions and fantasies to be the truth.
3. Functional self-consciousness. Although still self-conscious, one has fewer psychological problems, is able to more easily exercise freedom of choice, is more goal oriented, and is able to efficiently accomplish purposes which are considered to be of value. Functional self-consciousness provides a firm foundation upon which to investigate higher realities and to nurture spiritual growth.
4. Superconsciousness. Purified intellectual powers and intuition enable one to clearly discern the difference between ordinary states of fragmented awareness and the essence of one’s Being, the true Self. When superconsciousness is stable, Self-realization is permanent.
5. Cosmic consciousness. As superconscious influences further purify the mind and refine the nervous system, episodes of cosmic awareness progressively unfold, providing clear perceptions of the wholeness of life.
6. God-consciousness. As cosmic consciousness matures, the reality of God, the one field of Consciousness, is directly apprehended and experienced.
7. Full enlightenment. Now completely spiritually awake, with all delusions (erroneous ideas) and illusions (misperceptions) absent, the totality of life is flawlessly comprehended. Soul awareness is liberated.
Is it possible to actually experience satisfying spiritual growth while attending to duties and responsibilities and relating to rapidly changing social conditions? Yes, it is possible. All that is required of us is aspiration to excellence, a clear sense of purpose, Self- (soul) confidence, willingness to learn how to live effectively reinforced by determination to do so, and compliant cooperation with the universal, impersonal processes of life that can and will produce the desired results.
Roy Eugene Davis is an internationally recognized teacher of spiritual growth processes, the author of many books, and the founder-director of Center for Spiritual Awareness with offices and a meditation retreat center in the northeast Georgia mountains.
Copyright 2002, All rights reserved. |
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| Hi,
I am an Indian settled in New Zealand. My elder sister has been a Yogadan for 7 years now in India. I know that she does Kriya daily & goes to Meditation camps at least once a year. I would love to do Kriya but she said that it can only be handed to you by your guru once you have done the SRF lessons. Is that right? |
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| Dear Indian: If you are talking about the Kriyayoga as taught by SRF, then of course, she is right that it can be given to you by a guru from SRF. But, that applies to that Kriyayoga, NOT all things. And, whether you call it Kriyayoga, or any other Yoga, after all, all Yogas are meant for Self Realization. So, you need to decide which practice you can perform depending on a) your back ground b) feasibility c) geographical location d) family e) work, etc.
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| Hy my friend,
Sorry for my late reply. I check this forum only once in a while. My web page is www.kriyayoga.it (both italian and english). Contact me by using the address shown in the page from now on if you want to receive a reply soon. (fsyukteswarji@yahoo.com)
According to the tradition, kriya yoga has to be taught directly from guru to disciple; this is the indian way that you should know well as you are an indian. Paramahansa Yogananda received permission from his guru, Sri Yukteswar, to teach in a different way; i.e. he was authorized to establish a church and teach kriya yoga this way. The big difference is that kriya yoga in the west has been taught to the masses and not on a one-to-one basis (classic indian guru-disciple relationship).
Yogananda initiated more than 100.000 disciples, only a few of whom became teachers. Amongst these people, most of them remained inside SRF whilst a few others were authorized to teach privately. A few of his disciples become even gurus (Oliver Black, Roy Eugene Davis, Shelly Trimmer and a few others).
SRF sends you lessons by mail every 15 days for 3 years and 6 months; 2 years after receiving the first lesson, they send you a lesson with the kriya yoga technique. They say that receiving the technique is more or less like receiving initiation from a guru. As they have a christian approach, they say that if you become a member of SRF you become a disciple of Yogananda (in the same way, for example, the catholic church says that if you become a member of the catholic church you are accepted by Christ as a son, or similar). After receiving the lesson with the technique you are cordially invited anyway to attend the first initiation service which will take place close to where you live.
If you like this approach you can write a letter to:
Self-Realization fellowship
3880 San rafael Avenue
90065 GA Los Angeles USA
and ask them for more information.
Roy Eugene Davis is a direct disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda and was authorized by him to teach as a kriya yoga guru (teacher). mr. Davis has a fast way to give initiation and probably if you write him he will send you the kriya yoga material sooner than SRF.
You can take a look at his web page www.csa-davis.org. If you feel attunement with him you can ask to become a member of Center for Spiritual Awareness (it is quite inexpensive).
You can write to:
Center for Spiritual Awareness
p.o.box 7
30552 Lakemont - USA
e-mail: csainc@csa-davis.org
I wish you the best for your spiritual journey. 
A great hug / Furio |
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| Wow Furio, thanks for all that information & the positive energy in the message. Are you a Yogadan too? I went to an SRF centre in New Delhi, India during my visit in Jqanuary this year & met with one of the teachers there. He radiated such positive energy, happiness & pure sontentment that I was drawn to this. I've got photos of Yogananda Parmahansa & Lahiri Mahasaya on my desk as my sister presented them to me & adviced I place them where I can see them everyday. The reason I've not joined this yet is because I feel that I need to have a strong reason like an inspiration or calling or tremendous want to be a Yogadan to be attracted to this. Is that a right way of looking at this? I've seen my sister go on various retreats & she believes its the most important aspect of her life. For something to be so powerful in impact, does'nt it need to be searched for or wanted first? |
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| Well, yes my friend. Motivation is essential on the spiritual path. Befor starting the spiritual path you have to desire the Brahman (God). I am also a member (student) of SRF, but mainly I am a minister of CSA. I am authorized also to give initiation.
Anyway, if you write either to SRF or to Mr. Davis you will receive much good.
have a nice day / Furio |
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Kriya yoga - P. Yogananda
