Download - Babaji's Kriya Yoga

ProfileAcharya DayanandaI was invited to write a biography and to talk aboutmy relation with Kriya YogaChildhoodI was born December 17th 1953 in Montréal,Québec, Canada. Since a very young age I was alreadyvery attracted to spirituality.My parents and especiallymy paternal grandfather was a very religiousman. He wouldn’tmiss any opportunity toparticipate in a pilgrimageor to prayer. He wasmember of a CatholicFranciscan order and heloved wood carving forhours. He completed severalreligious sculpturesfrom the Saints, Jesusand the Evangelists forthe Church, friends orhimself. He had even carved a rosary with big seedsand on each one there was a religious scene, a magnificentwork. My spiritual relationship with him beganwhen i was three years old. I would run away from myhouse to visit him, as he lived just next door. I loved tohear him telling me the stories of the saints, includingSaint François of Assisi and brother André to whom hewas deeply devoted.At 6 years old when people asked me what would ilike to do latter I used to answe “I want to become amarried monk”. This doesn’t exist in Catholicism. Onecan do nothing when the call is there it remains forever. As we can read in the book The Voice of Babaji : «One cannot benefit from something if one is not readyto receive it. All growth comes from within.’’ Later onmy grand father fulfilled my need for spiritual literatureoffering and lending me several religious books.When I was a child I loved to recite prayers and later atthe age of thirteen during a dream a Goddess revealedherself and taught me a mantra: “Om Namo BhagavatheVasu Devaya.” By that time I didn’t know its origin norsignificance but enjoyed repeating it continuously.Ever since, I enjoy repeating mantras without anyeffort, like a second nature.Spiritual seekingMy mother became a Jehovah’s Witness when I wassix years old and since this time I began to read everythingthat I could about this religion. Some years latterI began to compare different religions. My mother withoutknowing had opened the door of all religions to me,awakening my everlasting curiosity and thirst for truth.At the age of fourteen I read so much on Buddhism,Page 8Acharya DayanandaIslam and Christianity, as well as Hinduism. I beganpracticing meditation and exercises in relaxation andastral travel. I wanted to demonstrate that no matterwhat one’s religion is, it is people who make the divisionsand that it is God who as the absolute ruler cannotbe limited by a book, a region of the word, a peopleor a religion. Being a Catholic, I was told that God hadwritten only one book, the Bible. As I saw that it wasseveral ordinary persons who wrote such a hugeamount in this book, for me, God could not be so small.I understood that in all of the authentic texts of asceticismand mystic Christianity or others which I read,the same thing was repeated. On must practice, masterthe mind, examine and correct one self. They all leadto the same goal: the Divine, but that each used differentnames: God, Self, Soul, the Supreme and others.This was the beginning of my search for Truth.Kriya YogaIn the early 1980’s I read The Autobiography of aYogi and enrolled in the correspondence course of theSelf Realization Fellowship. I was a part of this movementand several others for many years. In 1983, afriend invited me to attend a meeting where Kriya Yogawas being practiced, on Querbes Avenue in Montreal. Itwas there that I met for the first time an authentic yogiwho, in my opinion, had gone beyond the theory andput into practice the teachings of his master. No matterwhat question one put to him, he turned me backtowards the importance of practice. What came out ofhis mouth, was “practice, practice and practice,” andnothing more. His name was Govindan, and he nowknown as Satchidananda. During this period he woreonly Indian cloth like Mahatma Gandhi, something younever saw in Quebec. He conducted scheduled satsangmeetings even when I was alone with him. Overall, atrue and authentic person who lived in simplicity, withoutany pretence, concentrated on what was essentialwith great detachment. Before being a good master onemust first be a good disciple and it is exactly what thisyogi did; and I am here to bear witness to his devotionto his guru S.A.A. Ramaiah. As incredible as it mayseem now, he had a very beautiful voice, clear andstrong, which made us appreciate the mantras andsacred chants.Later, in November 1986, my nine year old son diedwhen our house burned. This was a terrible event, butdespite the pain, I received my first initiation intoBabaji’s Kriya Yoga in December 1986 in Washington,D.C. by Yogi S.A.A. Ramaiah. He told me that he hadlost his wife in India, and that despite everything, losingeverything in fire was a great purifying force. Mymeeting with him and my initiation helped me to getContinued on Page 9Babaji’s Kriya Yoga Journal