Sunyata and the Kriya Jyoti Tantra Lineage
Many people have read in Paramahansa Yogananda’s groundbreaking book, Autobiography of a Yogi, that the whole of the Kriya science was passed to Lahiri Mahasaya by Babaji, the great yogic master. What most people do not know is that Babaji also passed the Kriya science to Sivananda in India and to Jaradan in Nepal.
Jaradan focused on Ajapa Japa, Cosmic Sound Current Meditation. Sivananda taught Satyananda, whose primary focus was Tantric Kriya Yoga. My instructor and mentor, the celebrated Goswami Sunyata Saraswati, studied Ajapa Japa directly under Jaradan in Nepal, and was one of only five English speaking disciples to learn Tantric Kriya Yoga directly from Satyananda in India.
Jaradan focused on Ajapa Japa, Cosmic Sound Current Meditation. Sivananda taught Satyananda, whose primary focus was Tantric Kriya Yoga. My instructor and mentor, the celebrated Goswami Sunyata Saraswati, studied Ajapa Japa directly under Jaradan in Nepal, and was one of only five English speaking disciples to learn Tantric Kriya Yoga directly from Satyananda in India.
You may remember from Autobiography of a Yogi that Lahiri Mahasaya transmitted the whole of the Kriya Science to Sri Yukteswar, the teacher of Paramahansa Yogananda. When Yogananda came to the U.S., he focused on teaching the Bhakti path, the path of devotion, since this aspect of Kriya resonated with the spiritual state of a nation focused on Christianity and other worship-based spiritual systems.
When, as a child, Sunyata was taken to Yogananda, the master yogi recognized immediately that Sunyata was of an enquiring mind and that the Bhakti path would not suffice for him. Sri Yuketeswar had other disciples, including Sri Shieliji, who focused on the Jyoti Path, the Light of Knowledge. Sri Sheliji taught Kriyananda who started a Kriya temple in Chicago. It was to Kriyananda that Yogananda sent a young Sunyata to be instructed until he was old enough for the journey to India, Nepal and beyond.
When, as a child, Sunyata was taken to Yogananda, the master yogi recognized immediately that Sunyata was of an enquiring mind and that the Bhakti path would not suffice for him. Sri Yuketeswar had other disciples, including Sri Shieliji, who focused on the Jyoti Path, the Light of Knowledge. Sri Sheliji taught Kriyananda who started a Kriya temple in Chicago. It was to Kriyananda that Yogananda sent a young Sunyata to be instructed until he was old enough for the journey to India, Nepal and beyond.
In Sunyata, three branches of Kriya Yoga were rejoined: Kriya, Tantric Kriya, and Ajapa Japa. Sunyata’s enquiring mind did not stop there. He learned Karma Yoga in Sri Lanka, Chi Kung in Hong Kong, Tibetan Lama Yoga at the Monastery of Nine Fire Dragons, Egyptian Solar Yoga in Heliopolis, Egypt, Native American Quodoushka in the American Southwest, the ancient Atlantean meditations of the Amarus in the Temple of Seven Rays in Peru, Western Esoteric Mysticism in Germany and Sound Current Meditation of several systems. Sunyata was a Master or Grandmaster of five different Taoist martial arts and nine different Buddhist martial arts (Kung Fu) and he was a 7th Level Tibetan Seichem Reiki Master.
I had the honor and privilege to learn from Sunyata for many years and to live with him for a time. He was more than a mentor to me. As I progressed and my consciousness expanded to incorporate my true nature and long memory, Sunyata and I transitioned from teacher-student to ancient friends, brothers and spiritual allies. Even as I write this, I am humbled to have known him so intimately and to be asked to carry on the work of so many amazing bright lights of humanity. I will do my best.
