26 Facts About Lahiri Mahasaya

Charan Lahiri, best known as Lahiri Mahasaya, was an Indian yogi guru who founded the Kriya Yoga school.

Lahiri Mahasaya was born into a Bengali Brahmin family in the Ghurni village in Nadia district of Bengal Province.

Lahiri Mahasaya was the youngest son of Muktakashi, wife of Gaur Mohan Lahiri.

When Lahiri Mahasaya was five, the family's ancestral home was lost in a flood, so the family moved to Varanasi, where he would spend most of his life.

Lahiri Mahasaya's wife became his disciple and was affectionately called by Guru Ma.

In 1861, Lahiri Mahasaya was transferred to Ranikhet, in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Lahiri Mahasaya encouraged his students to adhere to the tenets of their own faith, adding the Kriya techniques to what they already were practicing.

Lahiri Mahasaya continued his dual role of accountant and supporter to his family, and a teacher of Kriya Yoga, until 1886, when he was able to retire on a pension.

Lahiri Mahasaya rarely left his sitting room, available to all who sought his darshan.

Lahiri Mahasaya often exhibited the breathless state of superconscious samadhi.

Lahiri Mahasaya gave permission to one disciple, Panchanan Bhattacharya, to start an institution in Kolkata to spread the teachings of Kriya Yoga.

Lahiri Mahasaya himself had printed thousands of small books with excerpted passages from the Gita, in Bengali and Hindi, and distributed them for free, an unusual idea at that time.

Lahiri Mahasaya died on 26 September 1895, four days before turning 67.

Lahiri Mahasaya was cremated according to Hindu Brahmin rites at Manikarnika Ghat in Varanasi.

Lahiri Mahasaya taught this technique to all sincere seekers, regardless of their religious background.

Lahiri Mahasaya taught that Kriya practice would give the yogi direct experience of truth, unlike mere theoretical discussion of the scriptures, and to:.

Lahiri Mahasaya often spoke of the Guru-disciple relationship in the context of Kriya Yoga.

Lahiri Mahasaya always gave the Kriya technique as an initiation, and taught that the technique was only properly learned as part of the Guru-disciple relationship.

Lahiri Mahasaya taught that the grace of the Guru comes automatically if his instructions are followed.

Lahiri Mahasaya suggested contacting the Guru during meditation, counseling that it wasn't always necessary to see his physical form.

The relationship Lahiri Mahasaya had with his own disciples was very individual.

Lahiri Mahasaya taught that if one is earning an honest living and practicing honesty, then there was no need to alter one's external life in any significant way in order to become aware of God's presence.

Lahiri Mahasaya generally eschewed organized religion, but he allowed at least one advanced disciple, Panchanan Bhattacharya, to open the "Arya Mission Institution" in Kolkata to spread Kriya teachings.

Lahiri Mahasaya asked several of his close disciples to write interpretations of the Gita by tuning in to his own realization.

Lahiri Mahasaya taught that the Battle of Kurukshetra was really an inner psychological battle, and that the different characters in the battle were actually psychological traits within the struggling yogi.

Lahiri Mahasaya taught that the epic story of the Mahabharata showed the soul's descent into matter, and its challenges in retracing its way back to spirit.