The Path Revealed

It was a sultry afternoon, as a usual Indian summer. And hidden from the prying eyes of my parents, I was restlessly flipping through the pages of a book. I was looking for any reference to a seemingly simple word ascribed with the most incredible glories. I had seen ten such summers by then, and I was looking for the word Kriya. I had read about Kriya Sadhana and was fascinated beyond comparison with the powers of this spiritual Sadhana. Unfortunately, there was a long time spanning decades before I could start the actual Kriya Sadhana. Looking back, however, it seems the preparation had begun early.

In lack of personal guidance, books were my only friend and guide. I used to secretly tuck away books describing various Asanas, Pranayamas, methods of Dhyana, etc., and tried to follow those crudely whenever alone. I still remember vividly running away from my home to the bazaar on every opportunity scouring for spiritual books to quench this peculiar longing. Often it would result in ridicule from my cousins and almost always ending in stern reminders from elders to focus on books from the curriculum. But those held no attraction to my mind. Gradually Maths, Physics, and Philosophy respectively became my closest friends. As they helped me peep into the grand design of the Creator. To unveil this design became a perennial search. I still remember the expression on the faces of my peers on the first day of my Engineering college. When questioned about what I would want to do after graduating, my response was to search for Truth either by Science or Spirituality. A controversial answer at best for a premier engineering setting.

After quite a few twists and turns, this journey brought me to a breathtaking discovery. That, I could learn Kriya in Gurgaon, a place where I had least expected. The only reason I had picked Gurgaon after my Master’s was that I could run off to the Himalayas whenever I wanted to. Even though that never materialized, at least the way I had imagined. What I received instead was a much bigger blessing, an inner cave of silence by being initiated into the ancient soul-cleansing technique of Kriya.

Association even to the dust of the feet of great Masters is said to be liberating at the least. What Ananda has given me, in comparison, is a living link to this great lineage of Masters. And the possibility of being Guru’s foot soldier, which makes me indebted forever and forever.

“I give you my unconditional love. Will you give me the same unconditional love?”

…“I will love you eternally, Gurudeva!”  (Chapter 10 – Autobiography of a Yogi)

– Shashank Kumar