------------------- Mahaavatar in India-----------------------

                               Kriya Yoga

Kriya Yoga is described by its practitioners as the ancient Yoga system revived in modern times by Mahavatar Babaji through his disciple Lahiri Mahasaya, c. 1861. To Westerners, it was brought into popular awareness through Paramahansa Yogananda's book Autobiography of a Yogi [1] and through Yogananda's introductions of the practice since 1920. The system consists of a number of levels of Pranayama based on techniques that are intended to rapidly accelerate spiritual development[1] and engender a profound state of tranquility and God-communion.[2]

Yogananda attributes Kriya Yoga to his lineage of gurus, deriving it via Yukteswar Giri and his master Lahiri Mahasaya, from Mahavatar Babaji (fl. 1860s). The latter is reported to have introduced the concept as essentially identical to the Raja Yoga of Patanjali and the concept of Yoga as described in the Bhagavad Gita.[3]

 The story of Lahiri Mahasaya receiving initiation into Kriya Yoga by the yogi Mahavatar Babaji in 1861 is recounted in Autobiography of a Yogi.[15] Yogananda wrote that at that meeting, Mahavatar Babaji told Lahiri Mahasaya, "The Kriya Yoga that I am giving to the world through you in this nineteenth century, is a revival of the same science that Krishna gave millenniums ago to Arjuna; and was later known to Patanjali, and to Christ, St. John, St. Paul, and other disciples." Yogananda also wrote that Babaji and Christ were in continual communion and together, "have planned the spiritual technique of salvation for this age."[1][16]

Through Lahiri Mahasaya, Kriya Yoga soon spread throughout India. Yogananda, a disciple of Yukteswar Giri who was himself a disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya, then brought Kriya Yoga to the United States and Europe during the 20th century.[17]

Lahiri Mahasaya's disciples included his sons, Dukouri Lahiri and Tincori Lahiri, Yukteswar Giri, Panchanan Bhattacharya, Pranabananda, Kebalananda, Keshabananda, and Bhupendranath Sanyal (Sanyal Mahasaya).[18]

 Legendary powers and age have been attributed to Mahavatar Babaji by the disciples of Lahiri Mahasaya. These stories have led many to believe that Mahavatar Babaji is a legendary person, rather than a real sadhu that was seen by numerous witnesses from 1861 to 1935.

Paramahansa Yogananda, in his Autobiography, described Mahavatar Babaji’s role on earth:

The Mahavatar is in constant communion with Christ; together they send out vibrations of redemption, and have planned the spiritual technique of salvation for this age. The work of these two fully-illumined masters–one with the body, and one without it–is to inspire the nations to forsake suicidal wars, race hatreds, religious sectarianism, and the boomerang-evils of materialism. Babaji is well aware of the trend of modern times, especially of the influence and complexities of Western civilization, and realizes the necessity of spreading the self-liberations of yoga equally in the West and in the East.

In addition, Babaji is reputed to be ageless, according to some accounts, and about 500 years old around the late 1800s, according to Pranabananda.[4] Yogananda reports that, according to the disciples of Lahiri Mahasaya, nobody knows Babaji’s age, family, place of birth, true name, or other details “dear to the annalist’s heart.”[2]

According to Yogananda's autobiography, he has a sister called Mataji (meaning "Holy Mother") who also has lived throughout the centuries. Her level of spiritual attainment is comparable to her brother's, and she lives in a state of spiritual ecstasy in an underground cave. Although only three pages in the book are dedicated to her, she is described by Ram Gopal as "young and surpassingly lovely" as well as a "glorious woman."

Now nobody knows what Babaji's real name was. Babaji is a title just as Christ is the title for Jesus. Babaji is a Son of God just like Jesus and became one after the Church began to form. Babaji was possibly born during the Dark Ages and learned to transcend death like those of Melchizedek and Enoch in the Bible. To actually have control of the elements, the Wheel of Life. Babaji also spoke openly to others always saying he was interested in OUR divine nature, not his own. And that we all must do the work of the Heavenly Father

Jesus had the most careful education possible as is shown by the fact that when he was twelve he passed his final exams in the temple of Jerusalem with the highest honours whilst everyone of his examiners was amazed by his wisdom and understanding. It is obvious that Jesus wanted to study further and – above all – practice under the guidance of competent masters. In Israel he had done what he could. So he went to India and Tibet where he studied the ancient Vedic tradition, Yoga and Buddhism. At the age of thirty he returned to Palestine to preach what he had learned. He survived the crucifixion and returned, once more, to India as convincingly explained by Holger Kersten in his book ‘Jesus lived in India’.