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Date Posted: 02:35:05 07/13/03 Sun
Author: Hendrik - 11 May 2003
Subject: Re: Kechari mudra
In reply to: Ron - 11 May 2003 's message, "Kechari mudra" on 02:30:41 07/13/03 Sun

Ron,

In your article you claim:

"The practice of kechari mudra bridges that gap. And it has other functions as well."

Prana must by nature be flowing through some subtle body rather than through the physical body as this is not its domain. And in Kriya pranayam - which never required mastery of Kechari as a precondition - the prana is crossing the 'gap' without being impeded by the lack of connecting bone tissue. If there is a gap that poses problems in the higher kriyas, it can only be on a very subtle level.

Well, the Tibetan master DK who you quote elaborates at length on this gap, but - at least in the text you link to - fails to mention Kechari Mudra or any other physical exercise as a means of closing it. I wonder how from his text you can get the idea that the two are necessarily linked together. Did he mention Kechari elsewhere? DK writes:

"Part of the work the man who is developing thought power has to do, is to build a temporary channel in etheric matter to bridge the gap. This channel is the reflection in physical matter of the antahkarana that the Ego has to build"

No mention of Kechari here either; the physical side is called 'etheric' here, but he does mention no specific instruction how to accomplish bridging the gap.

Earlier in the text he states clearly that he relates to advanced thinkers here, not to Kriya Yogis. Perhaps advanced thinking is a quality of some Tantric branches. Tantrics may work in these subtle planes in order to enhance their mental power; I think some do. It is true that Lahiri Mahasaya's Kriya Yoga seems to be largely derived from Tantric practices, but it also seems he took care to include only those that directly help in attaining spiritual realization. Kriya is not Tantra proper.

Hence I do not see why DK's text should necessarily have any relation to Kriya practice, nor why it should to Kechari Mudra.


Those teachers who pretend to teach the original kriya of Lahiri Mahasaya and omit the teaching of kechari mudra reveal their ignorance of the role kechari plays in the performance of the higher kriyas as taught by Lahiri Mahasaya.

This seems to indirectly suggest that the performance of higher kriyas cannot have the desired effects (such as 'paravastha of kriya') unless they are performed along with Kechari. Can't they? Suppose there are people who have attained higher states in kriya without Kechari. What becomes of your theory then?

It is surely correct that Lahiri Mahasaya strongly endorsed practice of Kechari - as a requirement for higher Kriyas.

One can take it or leave it. Fact is that some constituents of higher Kriyas are identical to or advancements of constituents of lower Kriyas. I do not know whether there is a substantial difference between the lower and the higher Kriyas, perhaps there is, but surely the higher Kriyas are concerned with successively deeper states of meditation.

I have met a number of Kriyavans who are able to do Kechari. From what they have told me Kechari must be an effective help for going inward and leads to a feeling of well-being and for some also generates a sweet taste in the mouth, but nothing more.

Most people cannot easily meditate. As I understand it, Kechari helps those people to go inward, and as far as I know this is necessary for successful practice of the higher Kriyas. If it helps with getting inward it may be a fine tool, but for those who already have the ability to deeply meditate such a tool would be redundant. At worst its intoxicating effect could be counterproductive and an obstacle if it obscured a clear inner perception.

The question is what Kechari Mudra exactly does. If one attains the desired results without Kechari, why should it be necessary for that practitioner anymore? Kriya Yoga in my opinion is at least 50% a psychological i.e. imaginary technique, not a science. Tinkori Lahiri taught an imaginary pranayama ('inner breathing' without actual breath) to some miners with breath problems -- I don't think he was hoaxing them. I have heard of a similar more contemporary case of a man in a wheel-chair, unable to control his breath, who nevertheless had results from purely mental pranayam; this man was from SRF.

Hendrik

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