While in recent years the word "yoga" has been heard more in gyms than in religious discourse, "yoga" in its original sense has little to do with exercise. "Yoga" comes from the Sanskrit verb yuj, to yoke or unite. The goal of yoga is to unite oneself with God; the practice of yoga is the path we take to accomplish this.

Read more here: » Yoga: The Meaning of Yoga

Pranayama is defined as breath control, but actually, Prana is energy, the type of energy that is received from Kether or from the spiritual world. It is sometimes defined as a white light that emanates from on high or that is surrounding us at all times. Call it what you like, it is possible to energize our electrochemical bodies by controlled breathing, and the Pranayama methods are highly effective in attaining specific energy states.

Read more here: » Pranayama: Pranayama Techniques

Western writers tend to describe silence in negative terms. We grow up with images of "the eerie silence of the night", "the disturbing silence of the graveyard", "the hollow sounds of loneliness".

In the East, silence is synonymous with bliss. Whether one is visiting an isolated temple on a hilltop, or at the samadhi of a saint, one gets a feeling of peace and harmony. Silence is of two types. The external silence that can be easily created in a sound-proof room. It is the other, the internal silence, which is difficult to achieve.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Peace of Mind: The Circle of Positive Energy - Silence

Detachment is a great wealth. Devotion is the real asset in life. Why does man not work for such a wealth? This is due to the fact that the mind has not been purified. Impure mind craves impure things.

Mantras help us to purify the mind and uplift the quality of life. Mantra yoga is all about working on purifying the mind. The object of yoga is to lift a person off the psychological mess he rests upon.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Peace of Mind: Mantra Yoga - A Tool For Great Inner Order

Breathing: God Is In The Gap Between Breaths

God is in the breath inside the breath, said Kabir. He showed that anyone can become illumined from within. Osho once explained a sutra from Kabir's song: "Student, tell me what is God?" he asks. He provides the answer: "He is the breath inside the breath."

God is your subjectivity; He is your innerness. Buddha made it a great technique for meditation, watching the breath, because through watching it you will come to know the breath inside the breath. 'Breath' means life. In Sanskrit it is pran or life. In Hebrew,

Read more here: » Breathing: God Is In The Gap Between Breaths

On Kriya Yoga

 Extract from The Essence of Self-Realization by Paramhansa Yogananda.

Read more here: » Kriya Yoga: On Kriya Yoga

If there are two piles, one of gold and one of dirt, which one will you choose? The gold one. If there is only one pile in which the dirt and gold are mixed you would try to separate the gold from the dirt and take the gold. We need to do the same with our personality.

In the beginning yoga is a practice, then it becomes a way of life. When it becomes a way of life identification with and expression of the balanced, positive and optimistic nature takes place and then one attains physical, mental and spiritual wealth.

Read more here: » Meditation and Yoga: Aids to Positivity - Meditation and Yoga

Mantra Yoga: Music with Mantras - A Divine Experience

A feast of heavenly music awaits those who can tune in. If you don't know how, you can learn the art from the science of Mantra Yoga. The world around us is full of vibrations. Tyagaraja created a raga upon hearing the hum of a bee. But only a pure mind can receive the finer vibrations. Mantra Yoga helps us purify our minds.

Read more here: » Mantra Yoga: Music with Mantras - A Divine Experience

Mantra Yoga Reveals A New Universe

Mantras help draw energy from both external and internal universes. The nature of our thoughts is largely compulsive. We are conscious beings but we live like machines. Our likes and dislikes are programmed. Addictive thoughts take away from the soul of the individual as a conscious being. By chanting mantras with understanding, compulsive thoughts are transformed. The mind becomes calm and our perception will be wise with respect to both the external and internal universes.

Read more here: » Mantra Yoga: Mantra Yoga Reveals A New Universe

Mantra that Helps Conquer Death

For the living, death is certain and for the dead, birth is certain. Since death is definite for all embodied beings, the Bhagavad Gita enjoins the seeker to aspire for that state of attainment, after which there is no return or rebirth.

Read more here: » Mantra Yoga: Mantra that Helps Conquer Death

 The Benefits of Practicing Kriya Yoga

The science of Kriya Yoga is the most precious technique for God-realization. It is very simple, it is easy to perform, and it gives the quickest results. With the help of the scientific technique of Kriya Yoga, a person perceives the triple divine qualities of the Soul, and through concentration on the divine qualities, he overcomes, within a short time, all the obstacles of the deep-rooted mental impressions, and becomes established in divine consciousness

Read more here: » Kriya Yoga: The Benefits of Practicing Kriya Yoga

Kundalini Maha Yoga

Kundalini Maha Yoga is an ancient universal science, perfected over thousands of years. It is not a religion, but a spiritual practice that brings the experience of lasting inner peace and happiness to individuals of any belief or religious affiliation.

Kundalini Maha Yoga is based on a very simple principle: in every human being there is a source of divine energy. The Sanskrit word for this source of energy is Kundalini. Kundalini is in two states: the dormant state, and the active, aroused, or awakened state.

Read more here: » Kundalini Maha Yoga: What is Kundalini Maha Yoga?

Kundalini, Creation and Spiritual Evolution

Kundalini is the divine energy. She manifests both in the cosmic form, encompassing all of creation, and in the personal form. God creates the universe by producing subtle energies in an act of divine will. This can be compared to the process wherein sparks are generated from a single source of fire. The individual manifestation of Kundalini is like a spark of cosmic Kundalini.

Read more here: » Kundalini Maha Yoga: Kundalini Creation and Spiritual Evolution

Shaktipat Initiation - Awakening the Kundalini

Kundalini can be awakened by attaining perfection of certain hatha yoga postures called asanas, by certain breathing exercises aimed at controlling the breath called pranayama, by God's grace, by meditation or by intense devotion.

Another technique of great importance is Shaktipat, the transmission of energy. A powerful yogi can transmit energy to an aspirant and awaken the Kundalini. This is accomplished in one of four ways: by touch, gaze, sound or thought.

Read more here: » Kundalini Maha Yoga: Shaktipat Initiation - Awakening the Kundalini

Kundalini Maha Yoga: Physical and Mental Benefits with Awakened Kundalini Self-realization is the ultimate and the most desirable state to be attained, and the awakened Kundalini leads to this state. However, even when the Kundalini is aroused and spiritual evolution is substantially hastened, there is no guarantee that Self-realization will be attained in the current lifetime. Therefore, it is encouraging to know many tangible benefits are gained even during the early states of the awakening and upward travel of the Kundalini.

Read more here: » Kundalini Maha Yoga: Physical and Mental Benefits with awakened Kundalini

Kundalini Awakening

When Rob told me my Kundalini had been awakened, I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. The awakening of Kundalini is a spiritual awakening, a major step towards realization of the divine. It is, in fact, a great boon, a great blessing and a magical gift. According to Swami Prajananda,

"The main purpose of its awakening in a seeker is to enable him to attain Godhood" (Muktananda, Kundalini 9).

Read more here: » Kundalini Awakening: Kundalini Awakens

Chakras are nonphysical organs that transform raw Kundalini energy into more subtle and usable forms of energy. The chakras do not themselves contain energy. Raw energy is drawn up from the planet by the minor chakras in the legs and feet and fed into the main chakra system. Kundalini energy is, in essence, pure thought energy that permeates and binds the universe together. This living energy field can be tapped more deeply by the application of focused, creative will. It can be drawn into the human body and transformed by the chakra system into a more subtle and usable form of energy.

Read more here: » Chakras: The Major Chakras

Much of the world today confuses meditation with a lot many exercises that are geared to relaxing the mind or releasing stress. Meditation is not music therapy and nor is it rhythmical dancing, though these can and do have their own inherent benefits.

Simply put, as Paramahansa Yogananda described it, "meditation really is a scientific technique of concentration on God." And while there are paths and ways that take you into the sublime lake of meditation, once you get into it, meditation really can be the one golden Light that will dissolve the darkness of incarnations.

(See also: Meditation Techniques, Meditation, Meditation for Beginners, Meditation Techniques)

Read more here: » Meditation Techniques: Understanding Meditation

Kriya Yoga: The Breath of God Is Our Breath of Life

Kriya Yoga gives extreme importance to the breath. It teaches that breath control is self control, breath mastery is self mastery, it is deathlessness. If you take a very short breath and seek God in the fontanel and the pituitary, you will attain calmness and God realization. The Bhagavad Gita, verse 5:27, mentions this short breath: "We are to fix our attention in the pituitary, take a very short breath and touch Him in the pituitary and in the fontanel." The breath must be so short that if you place your finger in front of your nose, the outgoing breath will not touch the finger.

Read more here: » Kriya Yoga: The Breath of God Is Our Breath of Life

Breathing Meditation: Radio Interview with Swami Prajnanananda Giri

This is a transcription of an interview with Swami Praj–anananda Giri for the "PhenomeNews" radio program in Detroit, USA, in December 1996.

Read more here: » Breathing Meditation: Radio Interview with Swami Prajnanananda Giri

Divine music, when you experience it, brings with it intense and lasting bliss. How can one who has heard this divine melody describe it to one who has not? Anyone who attempts to describe it would have to use pale analogies. If we think of the most beautiful music we have ever heard in this world, it still does not compare with the music known as the Voice of God.

The divine music is playing within us all the time. We dont hear it because no one has shown us the way to listen to this inner music.

Read more here: » Inner music: The Divine Music Within Us

Osho Nadabrahma Meditation is a sitting method, in which humming and hand movements create an inner balance, a harmony between mind and body. Suitable for any time of the day, have an empty stomach and remain inactive for at least fifteen minutes afterwards.

(See also: Meditation Techniques, Meditation, Meditation for Beginners, Meditation Techniques)

Read more here: » Meditation Techniques: Osho Nadabrahma Meditation