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Living Kriya Yoga

Four Pillars of Practice

K

riya Yoga is a comprehensive philosophy and practice for 

spiritual awakening and fulfilled living. The Sanskrit word 

Kriya simply means “action” and yoga means “oneness 

or union.” Kriya Yoga comprises those actions that support being 

restored to our original wholeness through merging our attention 

and awareness with our essential nature. The attention of the prac-

titioner of yoga rests in his or her essence of being. With clarified 

awareness, we then experience our unchanging spiritual nature 

directly and are able to live peacefully and joyfully in the world.

Kriya Yoga includes four universal practices for clearing away 

any obstacle to realizing our essential nature. These four practices 

taken together—superconscious meditation, study of scripture 

and of the nature of consciousness, self-discipline, and surrender 

of the illusional sense of being separate from the Source—provide 

a complete and systematic program for Self- and God-realization. 

When all components of the practice are included in our daily 

lives, balance and clarity come naturally. 

Think of these four components of spiritual practice as pillars of 

a temple, or legs of a table that provide a supportive foundation. 

Just like pillars or table legs, each practice must be equal to the 

others, otherwise there is imbalance. 

Whenever we experience our lives out of balance, we can use 

these four core practices as a reference point. When it seems there 

is too much struggle and not enough breakthrough, too much 

worry and not enough peace—we  can look to these practices as 

a prescription for spiritual well-being and ask ourselves if we are 

incorporating each one daily. Have we been meditating regularly? 

Studying? Do we need to step up our self-discipline? Or, have we 

been holding on to a sense that we are on our own, somehow sepa-

rate from God? If introspection reveals that one or two areas of 

spiritual practice have been neglected it is easy enough to get back 

on track by implementing the necessary changes. Once we have 

established a regular, balanced practice including all four elements 

on a daily basis, any time a part falls away, bringing it back is like 

getting back on a bicycle that we know how to ride. It's familiar. 

The balance and joy it brings is immediate.