Kriya (Breath) Yoga Las Vegas Meditation Group of Self-Realization Fellowship

Members, students and friends of Self-Realization Fellowship are invited to attend our scheduled group meditation services. If you are new to meditation, you are welcome to attend the "Reading Services" on Sunday morning. Our center opens approximately 30-minutes prior to the commencement of services.

Regular Services
Sunday Meditation 10:00 - 10:45 AM
Sunday Reading Service 11:00 - 12:00 Noon
Thursday Meditation 7:00 - 9:00 PM
Saturday Long Meditation 8:00 - 12:00

Noon Sunday School 10:45 - 12:00 Noon Second Sunday of the month.

Please see below for more information on our services:

Upcoming Special Services Please visit the SRF web site for information regarding the Calendar of Events.

http://www.yogananda-srf.org/Calendar_of_Events.aspx

Meditation Service
The meditation service includes periods of prayer, chanting and silent meditation. Paramahansa Yogananda emphasized that the combined devotion and concentration of many devotees can powerfully increase the depth of each individual's meditation. Meditation services provide opportunities to practice the methods of concentration and meditation taught in the Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons. It is best to have some knowledge of silent meditation.

Reading Service
A reading service includes short periods of prayer, chanting and silent meditation. Selections from the writings of Paramahansa Yogananda are read during the service. All are welcome.

Saturday Long Meditation
We are very pleased to announce the initiation of a weekly, four-hour Saturday mediation service from 8 AM to 12 noon. There will be chanting on the hour at which time you may arrive or leave, but we ask that you stay for a minimum of two-hours. It is recommended that you have some experience in meditation before attending a Saturday meditation. A good place to start is the reading service held on Sunday from 11 AM to 12 noon.

On rare occasions this service may not be held, but an e-mail will be sent out well ahead of time. If you would like to be added to our email distribution please send your name and e-mail address along with your mailing address to: email: srf_lasvegas@yahoo.com

Commemorative Service
All are welcome who are well enough acquainted with Self-Realization Fellowship teachings to appreciate the significance of the Guru-disciple relationship and to participate in the service with sincerity and reverence. For both birthday and mahasamadhi services, please bring your favorite flower(s) as a symbol of devotion to God and Gurus. Remember not to smell the flower, thereby "stealing" for yourself a part of the gift meant for God. Also, please bring a donation as a symbol of loyalty to the work of the Gurus. The donations are sent to Mother Center to be used for some special work in connection with the Guru who is being honored.

Chanting
Chanting with deep concentration and devotion draws the devotee inward to the altar of God’s presence. Please refer to the Cosmic Chants booklet and SRF CDs to learn the words to chants. Books are available under the chairs in the chapel for use during the service and are available for sale in the bookroom.

Prayer
During the last portion of the meditation, time is spent praying for those who are in need of healing and for world peace. We practice a simple technique of gathering healing life force in our hands and broadcasting it to those in need. Instructions are found in the free booklet “Worldwide Prayer Circle (http://www.yogananda-srf.org/tmp/spiritual.aspx?id=101&ekmensel=568fab5c_9_215_btnlink).”

Social
Quarterly, following the Reading Service, we have a vegetarian potluck brunch. This is a wonderful opportunity to gather in a fun and social atmosphere while harvesting the blessings of fellowship. At the Convocation Social Devotees who did not attend Convocation will have a chance to share the 'inspirational stories" from those who were blessed by attending. We hope to see you there!

Sunday School
The Las Vegas Meditation Group is pleased to announce the development of a Sunday school. The Sunday school will be held on the second Sunday of each month from 10:45 AM to 12 noon in the special events room at our complex. Girls and boys ages 3-14 are welcome. Please email us ahead of time if you have children that will be attending. If you would like to be added to our email distribution please send your name and e-mail address along with your mailing address to: email: srf_lasvegas@yahoo.com We look forward to sharing Master's works with your children.

From Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kriya_Yoga

Kriya Yoga is described by its practitioners as the ancient Yoga (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga) system revived in modern times by Mahavatar Babaji (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahavatar_Babaji) through his disciple Lahiri Mahasaya (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lahiri_Mahasaya), c. 1861. To Westerners, it was brought into popular awareness through Paramahansa Yogananda (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramahansa_Yogananda)'s book Autobiography of a Yogi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobiography_of_a_Yogi) and through Yogananda's introductions of the practice since 1920. The system consists of a number of levels of Pranayama (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pranayama) based on techniques that are intended to rapidly accelerate spiritual development and engender a profound state of tranquility and God-communion.

In the ancient text on yoga called the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga_Sutras_of_Patanjali), Patanjali (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patanjali) gives a description of Kriya Yoga in the second chapter. Yogananda wrote that Patanjali refers to the Kriya technique when he wrote in the Yoga Sutras II:49: Liberation can be attained by that pranayama which is accomplished by disjoining the course of inspiration and expiration.

In modern times what has been described as Kriya Yoga was brought into popular awareness through Paramahansa Yogananda (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramahansa_Yogananda)'s book Autobiography of a Yogi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobiography_of_a_Yogi) and through Yogananda's introductions of the practice since 1920. The system consists of a number of levels of Pranayama (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pranayama) based on techniques that are intended to rapidly accelerate spiritual development and engender a profound state of tranquility and God-communion. This modern description differs from the original description of Patanjali. Yogananda attributes his description of Kriya Yoga to his lineage of gurus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guru), deriving it via Yukteswar Giri (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukteswar_Giri) and his master Lahiri Mahasaya (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lahiri_Mahasaya), from Mahavatar Babaji (fl. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floruit) 1860s). The latter is reported to have introduced the concept as essentially identical to the Raja Yoga (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raja_Yoga) of Patanjali (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patanjali) and the concept of Yoga as described in the Bhagavad Gita (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagavad_Gita).

Kriya Yoga, as taught by Lahiri Mahasaya, is traditionally exclusively learned via the Guru-disciple relationship. He recounted that after his initiation into Kriya Yoga, "Babaji instructed me in the ancient rigid rules which govern the transmission of the yogic art from Guru to disciple.

As Yogananda describes Kriya Yoga, "The Kriya Yogi mentally directs his life energy to revolve, upward and downward, around the six spinal centers (medullary, cervical, dorsal, lumbar, sacral, and coccygeal plexuses) which correspond to the twelve astral signs of the zodiac, the symbolic Cosmic Man. One half-minute of revolution of energy around the sensitive spinal cord of man effects subtle progress in his evolution; that half-minute of Kriya equals one year of natural spiritual unfoldment."

In Kriya Quotes from Swami Satyananda, it is written, "Kriya sadhana may be thought of as the sadhana of the "practice of being in Atman".

History
Yogananda wrote in God Talks With Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita that the science of Kriya Yoga was given to Manu, the original Adam, and through him to Janaka and other royal sages.[12] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kriya_Yoga#cite_note-12) According to Yogananda, Kriya Yoga was well known in ancient India (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India), but was eventually lost, due to "priestly secrecy and man’s indifference". Yogananda says that Krishna (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krishna) refers to Kriya Yoga in the Bhagavad Gita (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagavad_Gita):

Offering inhaling breath into the outgoing breath, and offering the outgoing breath into the inhaling breath, the yogi neutralizes both these breaths; he thus releases the life force from the heart and brings it under his control.

Yogananda also stated that Krishna was referring to Kriya Yoga when "Lord Krishna ... relates that it was he, in a former incarnation, who communicated the indestructible yoga to an ancient illuminato, Vivasvat, who gave it to Manu, the great legislator. He, in turn, instructed Ikshwaku, the father of India’s solar warrior dynasty." Yogananda says that Patanjali was referring to Kriya Yoga when he wrote "Kriya Yoga consists of body discipline, mental control, and meditating on Aum." And again when he says,"Liberation can be accomplished by that pranayama which is attained by disjoining the course of inhalation and exhalation." A direct disciple of Yukteswar Giri (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukteswar_Giri), Sailendra Dasgupta (d. 1984) has written that, "Kriya entails several acts that have evidently been adapted from the Gita, the Yoga Sutras, Tantra (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tantra) shastras and from conceptions on the Yugas.

Recent history
The story of Lahiri Mahasaya receiving initiation into Kriya Yoga by the yogi Mahavatar Babaji in 1861 is recounted in Autobiography of a Yogi. Yogananda wrote that at that meeting, Mahavatar Babaji told Lahiri Mahasaya, "The Kriya Yoga that I am giving to the world through you in this nineteenth century, is a revival of the same science that Krishna gave millenniums ago to Arjuna; and was later known to Patanjali, and to Christ, St. John, St. Paul, and other disciples." Yogananda also wrote that Babaji and Christ were in continual communion and together, "have planned the spiritual technique of salvation for this age."

Through Lahiri Mahasaya, Kriya Yoga soon spread throughout India. Yogananda, a disciple of Yukteswar Giri who was himself a disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya, then brought Kriya Yoga to the United States and Europe during the 20th century.

Lahiri Mahasaya's disciples included his sons, Dukouri Lahiri and Tincori Lahiri, Yukteswar Giri, Panchanan Bhattacharya (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panchanan_Bhattacharya), Pranabananda, Kebalananda, Keshabananda, and Bhupendranath Sanyal (Sanyal Mahasaya).