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Sri Yukteswarjee said that if a Kriya Yogi practices Kriya with the speed of Saturn then he can go into renunciation and can manage himself with very little material support and can remain with thorough control.
If a Kriya Yogi’s meditation proceeds with the speed of Jupiter, then the effect brings many things around him. The person will live like a king but at the same time will have mastery on everything. He will be very generous, have a social mentality, he will serve and help society and his liberation will be quicker than those whose meditation moves at the speed of Saturn.
If pranashakti progresses with the speed of Mars the person is very strong. He can dominate all mental and psychological qualities, and the meditation goes quicker than the speed of Jupiter.
The Kriyaban can practice Kriya with a different speed as per the planets e.g. the speed of Saturn is thirty years for one revolution around the zodiac (not the same as around the Sun) and Jupiter’s speed is twelve years for the same revolution. For spiritual progress the faster the speed, the better. The one who practices Kriya can progress at the speed of Lagna and eventually transcend the limitation of time and creation itself.
If the Kriyaban moves with the speed of Venus, his meditation proceeds with brilliant light, with deep love, free from ego and doubts, with dedication and surrender but with possible attachment to the light and to the knowledge (budhi and gyana). Such Kriyabans are brilliant but also blind even though progress is quicker than the speed of Mars.
If the Kriyabans advances with the speed of Mercury he will be very stable and quiet, always levitated and very particular about their meditation (planning how much to meditate, checking how much result they obtained and so on), they will be results and profits orientated and also quicker than the speed of Venus.
Once the Kriyaban comes to ajna chakra, he will evolve with Lunar and Solar rhythm and speed. This movement is very difficult to understand even for a Kriyaban. In the beginning stage one has to follow the speed of Sun. In the second stage, one follows the speed of Moon. You have dakshinayana in surya gati and uttarayana in chandra-gati. It is said that surya Chandra moves from dakshinayana to uttarayana and from uttarayana to dakshinayana (see Bhagavad Gita, 8th chapter). In dakshinayana the light is bright whereas in uttarayana the light is smoky.
All karma and all speeds are suspended here and the planets move with solar-lunar time. The Kriya-Yogi arrives at a state where all the planets ‘speeds are superseded because the only speed relevant is that of the Sun, the Moon and the Ascendant. When life goes to uttarayana, it is as though the whole universe is on the verge of ascending – the planets, stars, time, yugas and the mahakala (the great time) all move with solar-lunar speed. The yogi can hold and balance satya, treta, dvapara and kali yuga, balancing the back and front of the spine equally. Nature takes 24,000 years to arrive at the point of balance; life (prana) however, can do so in one breath or cycle. In general, however, at any one point in time, everything in creation is unbalanced and not in order.
After lunar and solar movement, a Kriyaban can move with the speed of lagna (the ascendant), iswara, brahmanda purusa, the speed of his own creation i.e. the beginning of everything, adi. The speed of lagna is much higher than the chandra-surya gati and is the final speed bestowed upon human beings. Only human beings can move at such speed.
With the speed of lagna, the Kriya practitioner can avoid the chandrayana and suryayana, the ascending and the descending and carefully penetrate the life force through the susumna-nadi up to the brahmanda. At this point, visnu nabhi and brahma nabhi are destroyed and merge into rudra nabhi where the mahapralaya (annihilation of the universe at the end of a kalpa or 24,000 years) takes place. Thereafter everything starts anew. This is the true meaning of lagna, the ascendant, the life, the iswara.
When life enters into the body after mahapralaya, a new life begins, without any prior karma, as the whole brahmanda (the whole cosmos) enters into the body (the microcosm). At this point, the human being is born with all the yugas, visnu nabhi, brahma nabhi and rudra nabhi in balance. This manifestation is a complete pure human being. We must not forget that complete destruction has to occur before a new and balanced creation can take place.
Lahiri Mahasaya used to say “The whole visva-brahmanda and I myself, everything is destroyed.”This is how lord Krishna was able to show Arjuna that the whole cosmos was in his body. That is called the form of purna-purusa, complete purusa. Here Kriyabans definitely need the presence of an experienced master who can continually check the progress of the meditation and help the student avoid problems.
It should be self-evident now that the whole meditation system and practice of spirituality is based only on an inner calculation consisting of one variable which is your breath or prana.
When one practices Kriya Yoga, one circulates life force from the middle of ajna chakra in uttarayana. This life force consists of the forty-nine letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, which also constitute forty-nine types of air. Through Kriya Yoga, the yogi experiences life force in the spinal circuit and the chakras. Real human life, which is the breath of fire is the essence of the Sun, is in fact the movement of the ascendant, lagna. The lagna traverses the complete solar system in 24 hours. For the Kriyaban the complete solar year can be traversed in only one breath.
The lagna travels through the twelve signs of the zodiac every day, passing through the twelve houses, and is thus related to all the planets. Every two hours it crosses a sign of the zodiac. This means that it is successively connected with all the fixed stars and all the planets. Life force, when it flows consciously in the spinal cord, operates in a similar way. Since our body is a microcosm of the solar system, life force is also connected with the planets and the fixed stars.
When the nine planets (five planets plus the Sun, Moon, Rahu and Ketu) go through the twelve signs of the zodiac, a time period is defined. This time period or era is obtained by multiplying nine times twelve, which gives 108. This number has an astrological meaning as it corresponds to the 108 fixed stars which have been used to define the constellations of the zodiac system. This is also the reason why every religion makes use of rosary beads, or malas. These malas are made with one hundred and eight, fifty-four, thirty-six, twenty-seven, eighteen or nine beads. All these numbers have an astrological significance: 54 is half of 108, therefore by counting the rosary (mala) twice, once ascending and one descending, one can symbolize the number of fixed stars that make up the zodiac. Twenty-seven is the number of fixed stars (nakshatra) used in a horoscope, each star has four steps (pada) in the zodiac and therefore one also arrives at 108. If you add nine (the five planets and the Sun, the Moon, Rahu and Ketu) to twenty-seven, you obtain thirty-six. One counts the number of recitations with the mala (rosary beads), however the true garland is situated inside the spine and one should practice moving along this inner path (antara matrkanyasa). In one long and deep inhalation and exhalation (one iswara pranidhana), one covers 360 degree the twelve signs of the zodiac, nine planets, 27 fixed stars and all the root or seed (bija) sounds.
By constant practice of Kriya Yoga you can remove the negative effects of the stars and planets in the spinal column. In this way you remove all karma resulting from past and present actions as these are astrologically locked in the spinal cord.
From the above explanations, it should be clear that one Kriya is equal to traversing one spinal or solar cycle. The relationship between Kriya Yoga practice and the astrological cycles is as follows:
One Kriya is equivalent to one day of the solar cycle.
Seven Kriya-s represent one week.
Four weeks are equal to twenty-eight days and are related to the twenty-seven fixed stars (in four weeks as we have seen). They also correspond to the forty-eight letters of the Sanskrit alphabet. If we add the two letters hung and ksam we get fifty letters or forty-nine because hung and ksam are sometimes considered as one single letter and at other times they are not counted as letters. They are considered as joining the two ends of the garland of letters.
Three hundred and thirty six days, i.e. forty-eight weeks, make up the lunar or Indian calendar. When we add to them a complementary sequence of days called malamasa (the intercalation month), then we create harmony with the solar calendar (360 days). In this system the week starts on a Saturday (Saturn) then continues with Sunday (the Sun), Monday (the Moon), Tuesday (Mars), Wednesday (Mercury), Thursday (Jupiter) and finishes on a Friday (Venus).On the other hand, the lunar period starts after the full moon day with Krishna paksa (waning or decreasing Moon). On the 14th day, we have chaturdasi. The new or no moon day follows on the next day. This is followed by the sukla paksa (waxing or increasing moon), pratipada (1st day), dvitiya (2nd day), trtiya, caturthi, pancami, sasthi, saptami, astami, navami, dasami, ekadasi, dvadasi, trayodasi and then again, caturdasi-the 14th day-and caturdasi purnima – the 15th day.
In the introduction of his book”The Holy Science”, Sri Yukteswarjee rectifies the calculation of the yugas. These cover a cycle of twenty-four thousand years divided into one day (daiva) and night (daica ahoratra) – ascending and descending arcs of twelve thousand years each. These arcs of twelve thousand years are called “daiva day” and “daiva night” which may be translated as “The Age of the Gods”. A daiva day divides into four ages. These are:
Kali yuga: lasting 1200 years, the era of ignorance. During this era, the human being is asleep. He does not like to think and has no knowledge. People do not make any effort for anything. This is an age of deep ignorance and of darkness.
Dvapara yuga: lasting 2400 years, the rational era. When the cycle of kali yuga is over, the dvapara yuga follows. It is the yuga of Krishna. Man fights – a permanent warrior he is constantly alert, vigilant and on the defensive. It is the beginning of awakening to knowledge, but doubts assail him. The ego wakes up. Man is not sufficiently conscious of his Soul. Gaining knowledge and fighting wars evolve together.
Treta yuga: lasting 3600 years, the era of devotion and divinity. During the treta yuga or age of Rama, one acts with divinity. One works with devotion and takes care of the three bodies: physical, astral and causal. Karma, gyana and bhakti (action, knowledge and devotion) are awakened.
Satya yuga: lasting 4800 years, the golden era or the era of truth. Finally in satya yuga all human beings live in truth, merged in the peace of the Creator, Brahmananda. This period corresponds to the highest degree of evolution in the human being.
This is the period (i.e. 24,000 years) taken by the Sun to move once around the visnu nabhi (naval of Lord Visnu – Lord of Sensation, Lord of Awakening).
The succession of ages or yugas describes the stages of development of the human being, from ignorance to knowledge or awakening.
The four eras are intimately related to our life. They correspond to the different chakras situated in the spine. The correspondence runs as shown in Figure - "The Yugas in Relation to Brahmanda Jyotish”. The outer ring in this diagram shows the yugas and the inner ring shows the astral signs including the colors of the signs. The key point to note here is that in any akarmic existence, the yugas are imbalanced such that descending kali starts at 12 degrees from the dorsal center. Also in this existence, the direction of creation – manifestation is clockwise and so the diagram is followed clockwise.
Thus, following in a clockwise direction we see the following correspondence:
Descending kali yuga starts at 12 degrees front side dorsal in Libra to 18 degrees at the end of front side dorsal in Libra.
Ascending kali yuga starts at 0 degrees front side cervical in Virgo and continues up to 18 degrees front side cervical in Virgo.
Ascending dvapara yuga starts at 18 degrees front side pituitary in Leo and continues for 54 degrees, crossing Cancer and ending at 18 degrees rear side cervical in Gemini.
Ascending satya yuga starts at 18 degrees rear side cervical in Gemini and continues for 72 degrees, crossing Taurus and Aries and ending at 0 degrees lumbar in Aries (start of Aries).
After this point the descending part of the cycle starts with descending satya yuga starting at 30 degrees rear side lumbar in Pisces and crossing both Pisces and Aquarius and ending at 12 degrees front side coccyx in Capricorn.
Descending treta yuga starts at 6 degrees front side lumbar in Scorpio and ends at 12 degrees front side dorsal in Libra.
This complete one cycle (navi), lasting 24,000 years, ascending and descending. In totality there are three cycles lasting 72,000 years. Each cycle is one navi and each navi is one aspect of the trinity of creation, preservation and destruction.
For normal creation, the yugas are imbalanced as shown in Fig. 32. This is akarmic existence, i.e. in harmony with the astral bodies but imbalanced.
The moment a being starts to practice Kriya Yoga, purification of the chakras starts to take place and with this the elimination of akarma. We have to go anticlockwise and rebalance all the yugas in each of the three navis.
For the yogi, Bhrahmanda Purusa in Vishnunavi is the point at which material existence is balances at the manipura chakra. Below this chakra we have the first two chakras most concerned with the need for physical existence and sustenance. On the other hand, the two chakras immediately above are most concerned with ego and illusion. The lower aspect is visual, solidly material, whereas the upper is related to knowledge is not as material. Thus in Vishnunavi, the yogi distinguishes between lower existence and higher existence, balancing both.
For the yogi, Brahmanda Purusa in Brahmanavi in the cervical (5th chakra), is the point at which knowledge, consciousness, super-consciousness and wisdom is distinguished and balanced against mind, sex and material wealth (existence). This is the point at which all detailed aspects of duality such as ego, mind etc. start.
Finally, Brahmanda Purusa in Rudranavi, in pituitary, is the final balancing point where everything (time, matter, breath, knowledge, techniques, mathematics, Kriya etc.) is destroyed completely. Here the yogi balances the root cause of duality with the non-dual, cancelling each other out.
Through meditation it is possible to feel the influence of these periods in our life on our different states of consciousness. Meditation allows us to obtain constant liberation and to therefore not be subjected to the effects of these periods. It gives us the unique liberation, called “Kaivalya Darshanam” in “The Holy Science”. According to Sri Yukteswarjee’s calculations we are now in dvapara yuga, which started in 1699 AD.
It is possible to access some information about our existence during past yugas by examining our astrological birth charts. Earlier, we said that in determining the position of the Moon at birth, we can know the position of the fixed star to which it is related and that in this way we can know our original sound. This is the first sound which is in tune with our mind. It is through this sound and through this star we can have access to our past lives.
The latitude and longitude of our place of birth allows us to calculate the position of the Sun or Eastern horizon at the time of birth. This position is called the ascendant. Every day the Sun runs through the entire zodiac so that every two hours or so the ascendant changes signs. Again we determine the corresponding fixed star in the sky related to the ascendant and we thus identify a second root sound. This gives access to our present life, to the front door of this life and to what we will achieve in this life. For this reason, in the third chapter of the Yoga sutras, Patanjali states:
Bhuvana-gyanam surye samyamat.
The knowledge of the Earth may be controlled by the Sun. The word “Earth” should be understood here as a locality giving the ascendant. This means that the knowledge of muladhara is controlled by ajna chakra.
Chandretara-vyuha-gyanam.
Through the position of the Moon you shall know the star from which you came. Each one of us was born from the life centre swadhisthana – physically the mother’s womb and also the womb of our life force (prana). Through your physical mother you can know your physical father. In the scriptures it is said, “no one can know his or her physical father until the mother explains”. Just as physically the mother is the way by which you can know your physical father, in the same manner, by love, by nectar (amrta, soma) through our swadisthana chakra it is possible to know our Eternal Father (ista-devata).
Dhruve tad-gati gyanam
Dhruva means whatever is fixed, stationary and stable, like the Soul. Dhruva is also the fixed star called the Pole star. Just as the Pole star is a fixed star, so also the axis point of manipura is fixed. In the astral plane, the star Asvini can also be called Dhruva. In the same manner there are three fixed stars in the zodiac. The other two are Magha and Mula. The manipura chakra is the common pole. The ascending and descending satya yuga start from the beginning and end of this chakra respectively. In a way it is also possible to call this point in our physical body visnu-nabhi (naval of Lord Visnu). All of this is according to Sri Yukteswarjee’s calculations which are so precise that he was able to recognize the axis point even though that point is within the chakra.
When you are established in the Soul, absorbed in intense devotion and set in the non-changing state, then you are in dhruva. In the same way that in astrology you can calculate all the directions of the stars and the planets from the fixed star, so also by fixing yourself in dhruva, your Soul, you will be able to know the direction of your life, your origin and where you are going.
It is said in the scriptures: grha chidam gupta dhanam mantram maithuna bhesajam etani panca gopyani. There are five secrets (which should not be disclosed publicly):
These secrets should never be revealed publicly; otherwise the truth could be misused or misunderstood. It is clearly and strictly stated in cosmic astrology, and also by the masters, that this cosmic knowledge should never be made public. However, it is also said that if a master knows this gupta-vidya or gudha-tattva (secret knowledge) and does not teach it to his disciples then, it is considered theft as this knowledge is universal.
It is important that one should not treat this knowledge as though it were one’s own property, to be used for a commercial purpose, for money or for name and fame. It is also said in the scriptures that this knowledge should be imparted directly from master to disciple. The proper time for a person to receive this knowledge comes when he shows interest in it, understands it and is able to discover and validate this knowledge directly through his meditation. If someone finds out something very easily before the right time and without proper interest, then it could be misused or rejected.