In 1894 Sri Yukteshwar met for the first time his Paramguru (his Guru’s - Lahiri Mahasaya’s - Guru) Mahavatar Babaji, who requested he write a short book on the underlying harmony between Christian and Hindu scriptures, to show by parallel references that the truths spoken of within were the same. Sri Yukteshwar spent time comparing the Bible with the body of Vedic teachings known as Sanatan Dharma, and his writings on this subject are the result of his book ‘The Holy Science’. The following are excerpts which may be of interest in respect to the practice of Kriya Yoga.

The Gospel - Sutras 17 & 1

“What is needed is Guru, a Savior, who will awaken us to Bhakti (devotion) and to perceptions of Truth. Emancipation (Kaivalya) is obtained when one realizes the oneness of his Self with the Universal Self, the Supreme Reality”.

‘Any advanced sincere seeker may be fortunate in having the Godlike company of some one such personages, who may kindly stand to him as his Spiritual Preceptor, Sat-Guru, the Savior. Following affectionately the holy precepts of these divine personages, man becomes able to direct all his organs of sense inward to their common centre – the sensorium, Trikuti or Sushumnadwara, the door of the interior world – where he comprehends the Voice, like a peculiar “knocking’ sound, (the Cosmic Vibration) the Word, Amen, Aum; and sees the God-sent luminous body of Radha, symbolized in the Bible as the Forerunner or John the Baptist…

…Through this Savior the son of man becomes again baptized or absorbed in the stream of Spiritual Light, and, rising above the creation of Darkness, Maya, enters into the spiritual world and becomes unified with Abhasa Chaitanya or Purusha, the Son of God, as was the case with Lord Jesus of Nazareth’.

The Procedure – Sutra 7-8

“Regard the Guru with deep love”.

‘To keep company with the Guru is not only to be in his physical presence (as this is sometimes impossible), but mainly means to keep him in our hearts and to be one with him in principle and to attune ourselves with him… To keep company, therefore, with the Godlike object is to associate him with Sraddha, [the energetic tendency of the heart’s natural love], the heart’s love intensified by keeping his appearance and attributes fully in mind, and by reflecting on the same and affectionately following his instructions, lamblike. See John 1:29 “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world’.

The Procedure – Sutras 12-18

“Necessity of Pranayama” [control over prana, involuntary nerve electricities]

‘Man can put the voluntary nerves into action whenever he likes, and can give them rest when fatigued. When all of these voluntary nerves require rest he sleeps naturally, and by this sleep the voluntary nerves, being refreshed, can work again with full vigor.

Man’s involuntary nerves however, irrespective of this will, are working continuously of themselves from his birth. As he has no control over them, he cannot interfere with their action in the least. When these nerves become fatigued they also want rest and naturally fall asleep. This sleep of the involuntary nerves is called Mahanidra, the great sleep, or death. When this takes place, the circulation, respiration, and other vital functions being stopped, the material body naturally begins to decay. After a while, when this great sleep Mahanidra is over, man awakes, with all his desires, and is reborn in a new physical body for the accomplishment of his various yearnings. In this way man binds himself to life and death and fails to achieve final salvation.

But if man can control these involuntary nerves by the aforesaid Pranayama, he can stop the natural decay of the material body and put the involuntary nerves (of the heart, lungs, and other vital organs) to rest periodically, as he does with his voluntary nerves in sleep. After such rest by Pranayama the involuntary nerves become refreshed and work with newly replenished life’.

“Necessity of Pratyahara” [withdrawal of the senses from external objects – changing the direction of the voluntary nerve currents inward]

‘Man enjoys a thing when he so desires. At the time of the enjoyment, however if he directs his organs of sense, through which he enjoys, toward the object of his desire, he can never be satisfied, and his desire increase, in double force. On the contrary, if he can direct his organs of sense inward toward his Self, at that time he can satisfy his heart immediately. So the practice of the aforesaid Pratyahara, the changing of the direction of the voluntary nerve currents inward, is a desirable way to fulfill his worldly desires. Man must reincarnate again and again until all his earthly longings are worked out and he is free from all desires’.

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