FAQ: About Organisations
I am a Kriyaban, a student (of a Kriya Yoga organisation) and realise that changes have been made to the original technique. Will I be able to practise the method as taught by Lahiri Mahasaya after reading Footsteps to Freedom?
As a Kriyaban you will find the book particularly interesting and inspiring, since it returns to the source and 'father of Kriya', Lahiri Mahasaya. The book will point you in the right direction, since it provides information on the order and purpose of the original Kriya techniques. The complete method can only be given personally by an authorised, self-realised Guru (see also Customer Reviews).
Are there any authentic Kriya organisations that you endorse?
Neither the publisher nor the author of Footsteps to Freedom has any connection with any Kriya organisation, teacher of any other Kriya Yoga other than Yogi Prakash Shankar Vyas, and therefore can neither endorse nor judge their teachings.
The book explains that during Lahiri Mahasaya's lifetime, although some zealous disciples and devotees wanted to set up Kriya organisations and ashrams, the master always opposed such projects. After Kriya Yoga reached the West in the 1920s, Lahiri Mahasaya's grandson, Satya Charan Lahiri, began to notice that changes had been made to the original practice by various Kriya organisations and commented that through these the original practice would become obsolete in time. Nowadays, it would appear that certain Kriya organisations are propagating an altered technique. Footsteps to Freedom was written to return to the source of Kriya Yoga. It outlines Lahiri Mahasaya's principles and what the real practice involves so that those seeking Kriya will be in a position to recognise if a teacher or organisation is passing on the authentic method.