Kriya Yoga

Four Spiritual Masters and a Beginner

‘Kriya Yoga belongs on the bookshelf alongside classics like Autobiography of a Yogi, to be delved into again and again…’

Foreword Clarion Reviews

Kriya Yoga: Four Spiritual Masters and a Beginner by Heidi Wyder

When Heidi Wyder was travelling the world and arrived in Varanasi, India, she decided it was the perfect spot to dabble in a bit of yoga. The young novitiate had no inkling that this casual step to get in shape was the launch of a transformative, lifelong spiritual journey. Kriya Yoga: Four Spiritual Masters and a Beginner shares her remarkable immersion in an extremely powerful practice that leads to inner peace and the supreme bliss of samadhi.

Logging her progress with the original Kriya Yoga, Wyder’s fascinating and uplifting account takes spiritual seekers everywhere on a captivating voyage along the ancient yoga path that some call the ‘Holy Grail’ of meditation. The book does this by recounting the extraordinary and miraculous lives of the renowned spiritual master Lahiri Mahasaya, his son Tinkori Lahiri, and his grandson Satya Charan Lahiri, who passed the authority to teach others to his most advanced disciple, ‘Guruji’ Yogiraj Prakash Shankar Vyas.

As she explores questions surrounding prayer, meditation, healing, levitation, and the meaning of life, Wyder presents Guruji’s logical and authoritative answers. The book now enables others to access the authentic and scientific Kriya Yoga, and further their own personal quest towards self-discovery and peace of mind.

What the book explores

Returning to the source of Kriya Yoga, Wyder chronicles her personal progress from the beginner’s perspective, whilst exploring issues such as:

What is the key to lasting inner peace and happiness?
How were Jesus and other spiritual masters able to heal?
What are the secrets behind levitation and walking on water?
What is the difference between prayer and meditation?
What does breath control have to do with finding God?
Why should a master with supernatural powers hide these from the general public?
How can I recognise the original Kriya Yoga method?

The Story of Yoga

Since the 1980s, yoga has become highly commercialised: Hatha Yoga is packaged as a workout, whilst Tantra Yoga is marketed as the answer to increasing sexual prowess. New varieties are constantly appearing, and a large proportion of books currently available emphasise the physical aspect alone.

Kriya Yoga: Four Spiritual Masters and a Beginner is different because it deals with the whole story of yoga. Whilst it clarifies the origin and purpose of Hatha and other branches of yoga, it is concerned primarily with yoga’s spiritual and mystical aspects.

The Source of Kriya

At a time when many are propagating a changed method of the scientific technique, this book returns to the source and principles of Kriya Yoga, offering a clear and honest perspective. It explains why seekers should be wary of claims that five to ten minutes of meditation a day can lead to Self-realisation and ultimate freedom, or that a few months will suffice in order to unlock the chakras and raise the kundalini. The original Kriya Yoga as given by Lahiri Mahasaya is no quick fix, and the book explains why Kriya has always been passed from authorised teacher to disciple, in the unbroken lineage known as guru-parampara.

Available in paperback and Kindle from Amazon and most online bookstores.

What Readers Say

4.6out of 5, from 53 ratings

Why this book was written

Due to the continuing crisis facing the authentic and scientific Kriya Yoga, Guruji entrusted Wyder with the task of writing Kriya Yoga: Four Spiritual Masters and a Beginner. He wanted there to be at least one book on the market that told the truth, so that spiritual seekers could recognise the much sought-after meditation technique in its original form as given by Lahiri Mahasaya. The book also reminds seekers of the importance of having a living spiritual master on this path.

Chapter Five is dedicated to the yogic method in which questions are answered such as:

What is Kriya Yoga?
What are the benefits of Kriya Yoga?
What is the connection between respiration and mind?
Why is Kriya Yoga referred to as a ‘scientific’ technique?
How has Kriya Yoga been altered since it arrived in the West?
How can I recognise the original method and principles of Kriya Yoga?
Why can Kriya Yoga not be learned from a book alone?

Yogic terms explained

PRANA: the vital life force.

PRANAYAMA: the expansion and control of prana through the breath; far more than breathing exercises.

SUSHUMNA: the subtle nadi or channel within the spine; for Yogis, the key to rendering external breathing unnecessary.

THE CHAKRAS: the centres of energy in the subtle body, aligned along the sushumna nadi

KUNDALINI: ‘the coiled one’; the dormant spiritual power of prana, lying at the root chakra.

KUTASTHA: the unchanging Self, seated at the third eye; if the ajna chakra is the projector, kutastha is the screen.

SAMADHI: there are several stages of samadhi, otherwise referred to as ‘super-consciousness’. Mahasamadhi is victory over death itself.

These and many more terms are explained in the book’s glossary.

‘Samadhi is beyond reason, beyond the intellect and beyond the workings of mind. It is a question of practice, not theory, and therefore it is impossible to philosophise on the subject. However, the reality and existence of this state, which is scientifically attainable through Kriya Yoga, has produced spiritual masters, saints and prophets throughout every age: and their experiences of super-consciousness formed the foundations upon which the major religions of the world were built.’

Extract from Kriya Yoga: Four Spiritual Masters and a Beginner

Translations

Italiano

Kriya Yoga: Il cammino verso la libertà

Una guida illuminante e di facile lettura al Kriya Yoga originale e non modificato, che offre una visione senza precedenti di questa potente tecnica scientifica di meditazione, insieme a storie mai raccontate prima dei maestri spirituali realizzati nel Sé della linea familiare di Lahiri Mahasaya. Edizione italiana: Edizioni Mediterranee, 2010.

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Deutsch · 2027

Kriya Yoga: Vier spirituelle Meister und eine Anfängerin

Eine erhellende Einführung in das ursprüngliche, unveränderte Kriya Yoga, mit bisher unerzählten Geschichten der selbstverwirklichten Meister aus der Familienlinie von Lahiri Mahasaya. Die deutsche Ausgabe ist in Vorbereitung und erscheint 2027.

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Heidi Wyder with her guitar in the garden

About the author

In 1994, Heidi Wyder travelled to India on a round-the-world ticket as a young singer-songwriter and language teacher who had recorded two folk-pop albums. She had everything to be grateful for, yet could not shake the feeling that something was missing. It would never have occurred to her, as a devout Christian, that a spiritual practice was what she needed, but following a chance meeting with Guruji in Varanasi, it soon became clear that Kriya Yoga was the elusive something she had been searching for. Since then, the practice has been at the heart of her life, and her music.

She and her family migrated to Melbourne in the same year as Guruji, and she has lived, worked, and practised Kriya Yoga there ever since.

Born in Sussex, England, she studied French and German at the University of Exeter before training as a teacher at the University of Cambridge. She has enjoyed a long teaching career in Switzerland, England, and Australia. Today she continues to share Guruji’s wisdom through her writing and on social media. Her music is available on all major streaming platforms.