Initiated Meditation

His Holiness Swami Vidyadhishananda offers initiation into four different paths of meditation within the Himalayan Kriyāyoga system: Layayoga, Mantrayoga, Hathayoga and Rājayoga (Kriyāyoga). Aspiring initiates choose, with the guidance of His Holiness, the path which is appropriate for them. This depends on many factors, such as lifestyle, personal inclinations and commitment to a daily practice.

While these four paths are independent within the overall Kriyāyoga system, they all lead to the same ultimate goal of Self-realization. All meditation techniques are mentioned in the Sanskrit literature and related esoteric texts of the siddha adepts.

Sanskrit texts promise that the blessings of a realized spiritual teacher (satguru) are an invaluable boon to a devotee on the path of steadily deepening meditation. The Sanskrit heritage further proclaims that the blessings of an exalted spiritual teacher who is part of an unbroken lineage increases the impact manifold.

His Holiness Swami Vidyadhishananda is one of the very few ordained teachers who can confer all three levels of initiation based on the ancient Sanskrit heritage. These stages of initiation into progressively higher practice of meditation are denoted by the Sanskrit terms: ānavi, śākteyi and śāmbhavi. 

Two higher levels of meditation practices are also possible for those who have undertaken prolonged deep study, especially from the aphorisms of Vedānta sutrāṇi and Sāṅkhya sutrāṇi. The Vedānta method begins with contemplation (upāsanā) leading into aham-graha meditation on Brahman. Whereas the Sāṅkhya method begins with repose in the intellect (inner voice) and matures into reflective rumination on the sutra and its purport to unravel the pure truth contained within the aphorism.