My personal experience of transformation

Yogiraj SatGurunath Siddhanath

My meeting with Himalayan Master Yogiraj is a story that began long, long ago.
This is a very condensed version.

In 2002, after a hiking accident that completely interrupted the plans I'd written out for my life, like a cliché, I felt inspired to re-prioritize, and I ended up leaving grad school and moving to San Francisco. This was to be the first leap of faith in what became a series of leaps.

Through seeming miracles, I immediately found work, as well as Yaniv, my then-coworker and now-fiancé, who almost immediately gave me a copy of "Autobiography of a Yogi," the spiritual classic by Paramahansa Yogananda. I made a sincere effort to read it, but honestly couldn't make it through the beginning -- I just had no context at all for the extraordinary stories and explanations in this book. Yaniv continued to share with me about meditation and its benefits, and eventually I started to meditate. I knew that when his Master would come to California the following summer, I would go and see him. There was just something about Yaniv, like a shining-from-within, that I wanted to know more about, and I also wanted to shine like that, to have that kind of light.

(Now I recognize that light as the spark that we all have within us. Being in the presence of a living Master, and practicing the powerful alchemical techniques of Kriya Yoga, the muck of our stored impressions is being washed away, and that spark that we all have within us is allowed more and more freedom to shine!

Yogiraj says,

"We cover the eyes of our soul
with the hands of our mind
and then cry that we cannot see!"

He tells us that, "Kriya Yoga is the method by which we may remove the hands of our mind to uncover the splendor or our soul." From my experience, I agree!)

When the time came, I did indeed make the trip to meet the Master. He was giving a public talk, or a satsang, which literally means a "gathering of souls"... Waiting for him to arrive, I was casually sitting and chatting with several friends who were also seeing him for the first time. I distinctly remember a moment when I suddenly turned for no apparent reason, and precisely then, with no formal introduction, Yogiraj appeared and entered the room. I remember a sturdy looking form, dressed in white robes, rushing forward, yet not rushing, towards the front of the room. In that first moment of seeing the profile of his face, something inside of me blazed open, and I was simultaneously 1) in awe at what I was seeing, and 2) in utter confusion at my reaction.

That evening, this experiential satsang would be full of surprises. According to Yogiraj, a Master must be able to bestow upon others the three graces of Shivapat (sharing of the "still mind of thoughtless awareness"), Shaktipat (a healing Kundalini energy transmission), and Pranapat (breathing through the breath of others, which is experienced as our own breath becoming longer, richer and deeper)...

I most vividly remember that first Shivapat experience. Basically, Yogiraj gives a brief explanation of what he plans to do ("I will stop your thoughts") and then claps his hands. My mind -- usually so busy, so full of chatter about this and that -- suddenly became STILL. Just still. No movement. At all. There was peace. Just like that... And in this peace, I experienced something new and beautiful. I saw a light surrounding Yogiraj, and it grew, both in breadth and intensity. The color was warm and golden, basking the atmosphere in a dewy brilliance, a divine poetry... I had no idea what was happening; I just kept looking.

Before my eyes, I watched the face of Yogiraj morph into many other faces, including the archetypal faces of Moses, of Zeus, of Poseidon, of Sri Yukteswar, of Masters unknown. I blinked several times, checking whether this was just a trick of the eyes. Meanwhile, the glowing light continued to pulsate in an aliveness, and while everything else in the room seemed to disappear, I could see with pristine clarity the face of Yogiraj and the other faces flashing through his. What was going on? I did not know. I didn't need to know.

For years I couldn't even begin to describe this state of awe I was experiencing. Now I realize that it is that I see in Yogiraj the proof that I had always been looking for -- that LOVE exists. Yogiraj is a manifestation of Perfect Love.

There is more, of course. He is also much, much more.

Later that summer, Yogiraj would initiate me into Kriya Yoga, a powerful set of meditation techniques which he also calls "The Alchemy of Total Transformation"... This is the same Kriya Yoga which Babaji taught Lahiri Mahasaya in the autumn of 1861, as Yogananda references in his "Autobiography" (which I did end up reading, by the way, once these mind-blowing experiences had given me more context for it)...

Since then, life has been a trip!

I practice Kriya Yoga daily and have been one of Yogiraj's Acharyas, or authorized teachers, since 2006. I have spent time with Yogiraj around the world, including in India, Europe and the US. I have watched my experience of life transform. Every day is literally new & improved. There are still difficulties, for sure, although many have indeed melted away. The major difference, though, is in my approach. I am increasingly able to take experiences as lessons from which I can learn -- including pleasures and challenges alike.

In joy and sorrow, light and dark
He ever that eternal spark
In honor and dishonor too
The constant yogi ever new
          - Yogiraj SatGurunath Siddhanath

Yoga means "union with God"... and "God" may be described in Yogic parlance as "Universal Consciousness"... There are millions of ways to try to understand God; ancient Yogis passed beyond an intellectual understanding and developed the scientific techniques of Kriya Yoga, using the human body as their laboratory and making the knowing of God their goal.

Anyone who practices Kriya Yoga can get results, without the need for *believing* anything. Practice, and see for yourself.

Increasingly I am learning to refocus my awareness at any moment --
What is my real goal? To merge into God.

That's it.


....

Yogiraj is touring the USA right now!

2011 Event dates!
July 23 & 24 - San Francisco
July 30 & 31 - Encinitas / San Diego
Aug 12 & 13 - Los Angeles

For schedule & more info: hamsayoga.org/bliss
(Retreats in August, September, October)

You can also contact me directly... sara@hamsa-yoga.org