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Kriya Yoga/Advaita Vedanta
L.M.: They do. So Om is the primordial sound.
S. SHANK: Exactly, it is the one out of which all other sounds have emerged.
L.M.: We have all emerged out of that Om.
S. SHANK: Yes, our form, all creation, everything: God spoke, and Om vibrated. So Om is given as the second level of initiation within the tradition.
L.M.: It is not quite as secret.
S. SHANK: Not quite as secret in that more information is readily available about the Om meditation technique. But the actual way of meditating on Om is also a secret tradition.
L.M.: You can find out practically anything about any spiritual path, and it has been said you can find all of the mantras, in books. But they are without the touch, and guiding presence, of the teacher.
S. SHANK: Yes, that is without the living touch. So even if the practice has been written down, it is not the same without that living touch and energy. The third technique is the kriya yoga meditation practice that is an integral part of our spiritual lineage and heritage all the way back to Babaji. Now you will find that there are some variations in the way kriya is taught, of what is taught by different teachers.
L.M.: Did you experience that with first SRF and then Swami Premananda?
S. SHANK: Yogananda adapted kriya to the Western lifestyle.
L.M.: That is very important.
S. SHANK: But Swami Haraharananda, the spiritual successor guru at Sri Yukteswar's ashram in India teaches an older form of kriya. It is very complex, very intensive, and time-consuming.
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