Siddha Maha Yoga

Happiness is man’s timeless goal. Since we have a notion that anything pleasant or
pleasurable to the senses (the sense of smell, taste, sight, touch and sound), would lead to
happiness, our mind harks for such experiences. However, there are several shortcomings
in seeking happiness in this way.

Firstly, senses always require some external object in order to convey an experience.
This spells dependence and in the long run, slavery. Secondly, experience of sense
gratification is only temporary, while what we really are looking for is a lasting state. Thirdly,
if an experience is pleasurable, the senses demand more of the same experience, leading to
a constant state of wanting.

In Yoga, we have a science that deals with searching for lasting, sense-free
happiness.

To begin with, we should have no exception in accepting that the entire Manifest
Creation is a Cause and Effect Hierarchy Matrix in which the gross elements to which our
senses and mind are tuned are located at the Effect Space of this matrix.

Since for lasting happiness, its source has to be free from the five senses, our
awareness or consciousness has to ascend this hierarchy and move towards the Cause
Space in the matrix.

We must therefore first find a force in this Hierarchy which is superior to the mind so
that we could hand over the mind along with all its disturbing contents to it!

This Superior and Intelligent force is our very own Prana Shakti. Friends, take
yourselves to the time when you were in your mother’s womb. Did you ask for two eyes and
two ears? Or for one nose and one mouth? Or for two hands and two legs? No. It is that very
Intelligent Force viz. Prana Shakti that decided and caused not only your body, but also the
mind to take a particular form and constitution. It even caused the first heartbeat and the first
breath and will continue to be the cause of your breathing till death.

The self-intelligently functioning Shakti of Nature becomes dormant just at birth as

this Shakti has finished Her work of bringing a living being into existence, who as per the
Law of Cause and Effect (better known as Karma), has to live out some or all of the past
Karma in the current life-span. We are hence born with a certain constitution, which are
actually driven by subtle energy centres or “Chakras” which are pre-set for that person.

If, after having completed her task of creation (birth), had this Shakti (Yogis named
this dormant Shakti as “Kundalini Shakti”) not become dormant, she would have commenced
her return journey i.e. towards Pure Consciousness. Having to work Her way through that
person, She must correct the Chakra pre-sets, since the aberrations represent obstacles in
her way. The Shakti thus effects these corrections by means of causing various corrective
Kriyas, thus bypassing the need to actually live out the karma.

Most other Yoga Practices directly or indirectly aim at balancing these energy
Chakras willfully. However, as every individual is constitutionally different, it is difficult to
select suitable practices, leading to puzzlement.

In Siddha MahaYoga, the Sadhaka’s dormant Shakti is awakened by the grace of the
Guru at the time of Initiation. Hence, during daily Siddha Yoga Sadhana, all one has to do is
to sit relaxed and simply surrender one’s will to the awakened Kundalini Shakti and be a
calm witness as this Prana Shakti works out various corrective Kriyas.

Such corrective Kriyas could be physical, mental or even emotional in nature

depending upon the karmic requirements or the Chakra imbalance of the individual. Some of
these could even be imperceptible as when corrections are taking place concerning some
hidden health disorder. As the practitioner’s mind does not exert any will for these Kriyas,
Siddha Maha Yoga could thus be seen as “auto-customized”.

The preparatory practice for Siddha Maha Yoga consists of learning to hand over the
mind, at least for a few minutes everyday, to this Mother Prana Shakti manifesting in all of us
as breath.

The aspiring Siddha Maha Yoga Sadhak could thus make a start as outlined below:

1. Sit in any comfortable position, keeping the body loose and relaxed to the
maximum.
2. Close the eyes and become a calm witness to your natural breathing. Do not
force any technique.
3. As soon as the eyes are closed, feel a current or a wave rising from the base
of the spine to the top of the brain.
4. Practise this for five minutes or more.

If done regularly, this preparatory practice will result in many positive changes. In due
course it will also kindle one’s wish to obtain the Grace and Initiation from the right Guide on
this path. If such grace is showered, from then on, during daily Sadhana, the awakened
Prana Shakti, will cause appropriate corrective Kriyas and over time will remove all the
physical, mental, emotional and spiritual imbalances within the Sadhaka.

(Writer Anand M. Kulkarni is graced with Siddha Maha Yoga initiation from P.P.
Shree Narayan Kaka Dhekane Maharaj; Readers can reach him at: mahayogi@vsnl.com)