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Yogiraj Siddhanath spent his early years among the Himalayan masters and completed his transformation with a direct personal experience of Mahavatar Babaji, the same Babaji introduced in Paramahansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi. He is featured in the documentary film and newly released book Wings to Freedom, an inspirational classic that has answers to profound spiritual questions.

Guy Spiro: Yoga has become very popular in the United States. You see yoga classes everywhere. Most of them are of the physical types. How is the Nath tradition different?

Yogiraj Siddhanath: It’s not different to any other tradition. It’s complimentary. We have all of these steps of yoga. You have first the observances that are the Niyams and then you have the don’ts, Yamas, which are the other observances. Then you have the Asanas which is the postural integration. Then you have Pranayam which is the spiritual breath, patterns of breathing. Then you have Pratyahara, withdrawal of senses from the object. Then you have Dharana-Concentration, Dhyan—Contemplation/Meditation, Samadhi or ecstasy. So these are the eight limbs and one of these limbs has become very popular which is the physical portion of the yoga, the postural integration, the physical asanas, technically known as Ghatastha Yoga, but popularly mistaken to be Hatha Yoga. This brings about good health, strength of body, flexibility of spine, which assists in the further progress of the individual. So, it’s a complimentary thing. The Nath technique focuses more on Hatha-yoga which is combining the sun and the moon channels of Prana—currents of Prana, and Apana, which are the sun and the moon channels and further using them to still the mind. The mind once stilled, the breath is stilled. You see, in the Nath tradition we believe that the soul is tied to the body and mind by the chord of breath. By utilizing the breath in a rhythmic way, we untie the chord of breath which binds the soul to the body and disengages the soul to expand into super-conscious states of ecstasy called Samadhi. The Pranayam is very important—using the sun and moon currents of the breathing pattern is called Pranayam.

GS: Is the Kriya Yoga system different from the Yoga described in the Yoga Sutras or other forms of meditation?

YS: (Laughing.) It’s very funny because every time I’m interviewed, people ask me how is this different from that? How is Kriya Yoga different from Hatha Yoga and to my Indian mind, my simple way of thinking, nothing is different frm the other. These are all complimentary steps, one to the other. So Kriya Yoga is the same as what is mentioned in the Yoga Sutras. It’s only after a certain stage of Samadhi that there are no more kriyas to do, so then Kriya Yoga gives way to Raja Yoga, the Royal Yoga, where there are no Kriyas, no spiritual actions, no Praynayams, no breathing exercises, no mentation or contemplation to do. When the ecstasy starts, the super-conscious ecstasy, then Kriya merges into that conscious ecstasy. Kriya Yoga goes up to Vichar, Vitarka or Savikalpa Samadhi, also known as Sampradnyat Samadhi. When it goes to Nirvikalpa Sanadhi (also known as Asampradnyat Samadhi), then there is no Kriya to do. Then there is only the Samadhi that is the Raja Yoga state. So one flows into the other—like the colors of the rainbow blend one into the other. The different systems of yoga blend and compliment one another, taking the soul to higher and higher states of awareness and enlightenment.

GS: When one meditates and stills the mind, the mind is silent but awareness remains. What would you say to that?

YS: When the mind is silent, the mind also remains but is subservient to the awareness which we call the Conscious Seer, or the Witness, the Soul in man. Under normal circumstances,  he is enmeshed in mind and senses, but by the practice of Pranayama and contemplation-meditation, the mind stills itself ... the ripples of thoughts in the mind’s lake are still. This enables the breath to still, thereby allowing the consciousness of the soul to rise up and out of the mind’s lake and merge into the Super-conscious state. The Conscious Seer, the Soul, merges into the Super-conscious Seer which is the Cosmic Consciousness.

GS: So the awareness that remains when the mind is stilled is the beginning of discovering who one really is?

YS: Yes. Basically, to put it theoretically, although the words are not enough to fully describe it, first you get into a state of Self-Realization. There you have full control over the mind. The mind lies subservient to your consciousness and you realize that you are a soul and not the body.

GS: Yes.

YS: Normally we say to ourselves that we are a body and we have a soul. But the self-realized person says that we are a soul and have a body, which is an attachment or appendix.

GS: And then what?

YS: Then this is a state of Self-Realization. Then you have experiences of the Divine, of God. But still, this divinity or this Cosmic Consciousness is reflected through the mind. It’s still mind. When you penetrate the Stargate, you cross relativity and penetrate the Stargate to enter from the state of individual Self-Realization to a state of cosmic, God-Realization when you penetrate the star of the soul. This is the state of realization about which no one can really talk or describe. Those who tell it know it not and those who know it tell it not.

GS: It is indescribable. There is a saying, I think it’s out of the Zen tradition, before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water, and after enlightenment chop wood, carry water. What is the practice once the mind has been stilled?

YS: When the mind is stilled, it still tends to pull the consciousness back to involve the senses. The mind is stilled temporarily. Momentarily it is controlled by the yogi who knows himself to be the Conscious Seer and not the body and mind. But now, as he practices, deeper and deeper layers of the mind are catharted. They are brought to the surface from his memory banks and as he soars higher into the conscious ecstasy, some desires bubble up from the surface of the mind’s lake to pull him back again. These are stored impressions of his past life and he thus has to practice many, many years. It’s not like the Zen people think. Zen came from India. The proper pronunciation of Zen is Dhyana, not Zen, which is meditation in Sanskrit. Dhyana went to China and in the stage called Bodhidharma to the temple of Shaolin and the Nath Yogis taught them the martial arts and mediation. Then Dhyana became Ch’an. From China the Diaspora spread to Japan where the word was further corrupted to Zen. So, Zen is not the correct word. It’s called Dhyana. Zen has a word in it called Satori which is not the true Samadhi. It’s just like having a glimpse of Samadhi through the window. But Samadhi is ready to go out of doors and see the whole sky. Zen is like seeing the sky through a small crack of a window.

GS: The glimpse through the window is not that hard. It’s what do you do with it then.

YS: You have to get out into the open and become it, because Satori has to become Samadhi. Satori means that which comes for a moment then is destroyed. The permanent Samadhi is a state of God-Realization that the yogi is constantly submerged and lost in this Super-Conscious or Supreme-Conscious ecstasy.

GS: Would you be willing to talk about meetings or guidance that you’ve gotten from Babaji or other immortal yogis?

YS: I will talk, but I cannot talk much about that because the state is so overwhelming. I have given it in the first chapter in my book Wings to Freedom. Even though I talk to you here about it, I would still invite you to read that first chapter because it will give you more insight into what I’ve said. I did meet Him when I was young, about 27 years old. I was journeying up to the Himalayas in my trip from the plains, from Hardwar to Rishikesh and then to Rudraprayag, and had this experience of this great being called Babaji Gorakshanath. There are two experiences. The first was this great light I saw in the night at the confluence of the rivers, the Mandakini and the Alakhnanda. There these two rivers meet. There was this experience I had of Babaji. It was morning and I was meditating and an Aurora Borealis light came along this river and I saw all of these colors and I found that I was partaking of my own self as I saw this swirling mount of light; at the still center I found that I was experiencing my Master and my Supreme-Self. I am at a loss to describe the experience. I cannot find the words.

GS: That is understandable.

YS: I cannot describe the ecstasy that I felt. It was so blissful and so supreme that I though I was partaking of my larger Self. I turned inside out and my innermost core became my outermost being and my outermost being became my innermost core and I saw no difference between the two. When He appeared I was not in my mind, I was not taking information from my mind. I was taking information from this consciousness that I had. I was out of the body and he appeared. I could not capacitate his voltage, his spiritual power and I took this information in photons of light and not in words. It happened very fast and now whenever I go, through these photons of light, as my life, mission, and work is unfolding ... it has taken a whole lifetime and many lifetimes to unfold ... but this great Sage of the Fire-Mist is the King of Kings.

GS: Does Babaji have a plan for the future and humanity?

YS: He has a plan for the future of humanity, but it may not be how we would want it. He would plan it according to the cosmic, divine program, and it is more focused on our consciousness and spirit than it is on our physical bodies and our minds which are very limited and filled with desires.

GS: You mean it’s not going to be all rainbows and unicorns?

[Laughter]

YS: Rainbows and unicorns are in the three-dimensional world and the consciousness is going to soar straight through the three-dimensional world in time and speed up the evolution of human consciousness. We are lagging behind due to our procrastination and delay. They will take it upon themselves to speed up the evolution of human consciousness and this will not necessarily be the way we like it.

GS: So it might not be fun.

YS: It could be fun. It might not be fun and it might be a lot of fun. The thing is that it’s way beyond the scope of our understanding. The plan for the future of this world and cosmic evolution is beyond the little comprehension of our minds. There is one mode of past, present, and future all at once. The plan is there ready.

GS: Do you think that if we get enough people we could meditate world peace?

YS: We will meditate world peace. I’m doing a program called Earth Peace Through Self Peace, all over the world, every third Saturday. I invite you to join us and feel the effect. Feel the difference of peace because, when you give your life and love to the whole world, when you have done your duty as a world citizen, the world is growing small, our hearts are growing big, there are no individual people, we are all citizens of the world. Therefore I do it at Full Moon and every third Saturday, the Full Moon World Peace Meditation.

GS: I believe that the global meditations and prayers for peace in the 1980s were actually enough to bring an end the cold war.

YS: A sort of propaganda of love, by sending out love vibrations to every single soul on this earth. You know what I do? I radiate love and we explode love to all the 6,200,000,000 souls on this earth.

GS: I usually think of it in terms of generating light.

YS: Yes. We generate light and the Hamsa swans fly out from our hearts. 6,200,000,000 humans feel it. Hamsa swans fly out and explode in the hearts of the 6,200,000,000 souls on this earth. What a joy. What a feeling it is. No time, no energy. Nothing is required. You simply sit on the grass and with all your heart and soul radiate love. It’s the best thing we can do as citizens of this world. We are all brothers to each other as one family, as one being.

GS: If we can get hundreds of thousands or millions of people doing it simultaneously, then that must have a big effect.

YS: It would have a big effect because, just as evil things generate and multiply, so does love generate and multiply. The particles of love bombard one against the other and they gain momentum themselves and they create and radiate all around light and clouds and spread all over the world and this is what we want to do. If there is any evil or hatred in this world we are responsible because the side of our love aspect is weak and we must strengthen ourselves and do this. The Full Moon World Peace Meditation and every third Saturday is very important and we teach our children to do it also. I tell the mothers to teach their children also; in schools, businesses, offices, every area must do this. Since we are on the phone, I cannot describe it to you but there is a certain posture and mudra which is to be done. When you meet me sometime, then I can show.

GS: I will participate. I’ve recently become aware of a term called Avadhut. Is this the same as the Bodhisattva state coming out of Buddhism?

YS: Of course, Buddhism was much later than the Sanatana Dharma or the Indian religion called the Hindu Dharma. The Sanatana Dharma has the state of the Avadhut which is the sixth state of the expansion of consciousness. The Buddhist Bodhisattva state is also the sixth state. It is just before one becomes the Avatar or enlightened which is the seventh stage. So the Bodhisattva stage is definitely like the Avadhut who sacrifices Devachar, who gives up Nirvana, Brahma-Nirvana to serve humanity as one’s larger Self. That’s what the Avadhut does—he is Virakta—Avadhut means totally cut-off from the three-dimensional world and its temptations. Living always in the light and the love of God and yet in that state of Divine Consciousness, having his feet firmly planted on the ground and serving humanity as one’s larger self. That’s what the Bodhisattva also does.

GS: You’re going to be in Chicago. What will you be doing here?

YS: Basically what I’m trying to do is for my vision of Earth Peace through Self Peace. I’m trying to form a community that’s called Community Humanity because you know, my vision is, my soul cry is that “If World Peace is to herald the dawn of the New Age, we must all realize that Humanity is One’s only Religion; Breath One’s only prayer; and Consciousness One’s only God.” So this being the soul’s cry, I want to form Community Humanity and bring about the peaceful coexistence amongst the people of the Earth by doing the dynamic Earth Peace through Self Peace Meditation on every full moon and on every third Saturday. Besides this, I’m teaching the evolutionary Yoga called the Mahavatar Babaji Kriya Yoga which is again, I repeat, complimenting the Ashtanga Yoga and the Sutras of Patanjali.

GS: It’s been very interesting speaking with you. Is there anything that you’d like to talk about that we haven’t gotten to?

YS: It’s all about Kriya Yoga, which is the Science of the Evolution of Consciousness given for the benefit and wellness of humanity by the great Shiva-Goraksha Babaji. That is my mission and that’s what I teach, and my teachings are not only talking, but they are experiential where I give transmission of Shaktipat and I also give them my enlightened state of still mind awareness which I make each person experience. This is unique, but you must know and experience the enlightened still mind of the Yogi and see his awareness. This is what I am able to transfer to all people who come into my contact and attend the Seminars and Satsangs. It gives them the motivation to practice Kriya Yoga and meditation.

GS: Do you think that we will get to a point where people will come to realize that the Christ-consciousness, the Buddha-consciousness and all of these other consciousness at the high enough level is the same and that there is unity?

YS: We will realize this individually and each human being, each soul, will certainly realize that at that level of Consciousness, Humanity is one. These different consciousness names are names of the same state of being. These are differences of name and dialect. The essential fact is that these states of consciousness are all the same, but above these is the Nameless One; the God Consciousness; but it is for humanity to achieve first the Supreme, Self-Realized state of the perfect human being—the Christ, the Krishna, and the Buddha consciousness. Beyond that is God Consciousness which we cannot describe nor know. People have got into that state, but it is not to be described or spoken about, only to be experienced by those Buddhas, Christs, and Krishnas who have reached the level that they can merge into the Ultimate Finale.

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Join Yogiraji Siddhanath for a free Experiential Workshop 7-9pm, Friday, August 25 at the Unitarian Church of Evanston, 1330 Ridge Ave., Evanston, phone 847-864-1330, or 7-9pm, Saturday, August 26 at the Northshore Healing Center, 222 Waukegan Rd., Glenview, phone 847-657-1600.

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