"In 1966 there was an All India Vice Chancellors Conference in Nainital, from which vice chancellors from various universities in India and Nepal had come. Having heard about Maharajji (Neem Karoli Baba), they all came to the temple on Sunday to see him.

They sat in Babaji’s room and he talked with them. Their whole attention was focused on asking Babaji about the nature of his sadhana, who his guru was, what tapasya he had done, and that sort of thing. They were questioning Baba for more than an hour, but he had a nice way of escaping---smiling and replying, but not disclosing anything.

After their darshan, Babaji told me to go and give them Prasad. They accosted me and asked me what kind of spiritual power or realization Baba had attained. I (Dada) said I did not know. They would not believe me and insisted I must know these things. But I told them I was not only ignorant, but completely indifferent. They asked why I stayed so close to him. I said, “The reason is this: whenever I am with him, I get so much peace and joy that I forget everything.”

“In the real system, Kriya Yoga and the Guru are one and the same. In reality, the way Kriya Yoga works is with the Guru, who is a “conduit.” The Guru is the spiritual sun under which the cultivation of Kriya takes place. The Guru is someone who has fully realized and radiates the Divine State. Just as plants cannot grow and be cultivated without sunlight, so Kriya Yoga cannot grow and be cultivated without the Guru. Its vast layers and rhythms cannot be unfolded and transmitted any other way. Those who belong to the real system know this.  The Guru is like a magnet; if you put an iron bar next to a magnet, what happens is that gradually the iron bar becomes “magnetized” ... the very molecules of the iron bar change and line up in a certain way and the iron bar itself becomes a magnet. Nobody went to Lahiri Baba looking for “Kriya Yoga” – they’d never heard of it. They went to him to be in his magnetizing God-presence. Kriya Yoga is one of the Guru’s tools, by which he transmits his diksha. Kriya and the Guru are inseparable; one does not exist without the other. Kriya Yoga is an instrument of the Guru, which he uses to cultivate in the disciple the Divine radiance which flows through Him. People used to come into the presence of Lahiri Baba and they would be so charmed by the Divine fragrance permeating the atmosphere that they would completely forget everything, even their own families. He would have to remind them. And he would send them home and they wouldn’t want to go! So he would take them aside and would give them this tool which he called Kriya Yoga (i.e. “to do Yoga”) to take with them and would comfort them and advise them to use that to cultivate the Divine Presence that had transmitted to them in His diksha.”

“Again, the disciples of Lahiri Baba came to him searching for God. They had never heard of “Kriya Yoga” when they came to His feet. It was unknown. They were so overcome to sit in the God-Presence of Lahiri Baba that they surrendered their very lives to Him and would have done anything He asked. They didn’t care what he taught. They had never heard of Kriya Yoga. They would sit with him and forget everything. They would lose track of time, forget their families and jobs (He would have to remind them!) and everything else. How did they come to Him? Or how did the disciples of Sri Yukteshvar and Pranabananda Swami come to them? Look at this quote from Sri Sailendra Bejoy Dasgupta (direct disciple of Sri Yukteshvarji): “Shyama Charan was required to make daily purchases from the market of ararticles of daily consumption. His dutiful wife used to give him the marketing bag and requisite cash. She used to spell out what had to be purchased. Many of the items were common every day and hence did not need repetition. He walked towards the market with the bag in hand and the cash. As soon as he came near the market a flower-vendor came rushing to him, took the bag and the money from Shyama Charan and himself went inside the market. He would make all purchases, as he could easily make out what was needed in such a pious family. He would not forget even the tobacco and lime for the good old lady. Coming back to Shyama Charan, who waited by the road side all this time, the vendor handed over the bag full of purchased articles. Shyama Charan carried the bag home with the merchandise. The good lady thought within herself after inspecting the purchases how lucky she was to have such a considerate and frugal husband. The vendor was seized with inexplicable veneration for Shyama Charan from the very day he saw him; and from that very day he acted as above. Shyama Charan became a totally dedicated tool in the hands of his God and remained totally resigned in all situations of day to day life.”  That is how people came to Lahiri Baba. Not from any poster or “Kriya Yoga workshop” and not because they had read a book which is actually about loving God (but their worldly minds had only seen the miracles in the book) and then went out looking for a teacher of the “original Kriya Yoga.” Rather, they came and sat in His God presence and would be so charmed that they would forget everything; like the Gopis did with Krishna. Or like Mother Yashoda with Gopala. They would have done anything He asked. Sometimes they threw themselves down and begged for His Diksha not knowing what that would be, assuming it might be some blessing or mantra. He took them aside and gave his initiation which turned out to be the ways of Kriya. Or sometimes they wouldn’t even ask for Diksha because they would forget even that in his God Intoxicated presence. And then it would be Lahiri Baba himself who might take them aside and say, “Here is something I would like you to do every day in order to remember God.” They would have done anything He said without question. Even if He told them to bounce on their head to Calcutta and back every day, they were just completely surrendered to Him. Those who weren’t left to find other teachers... as it should be. You have to find the teacher you can surrender to. That is the Kriya Yoga of Lahiri Mahasaya that everyone is asking about. That is the way one has to be. Unless one is that way he is not fit for the God path. But yet look at how the “seekers” are these days. How sad. Modern seekers have their preconceived idea about what Kriya Yoga is. There are even silly and ridiculous books and websites about “how to tell if you have the real Kriya” as though any of those deluded self-appointed “experts” who write these things have any idea at all. The modern attitude of seeking after a path such as “Kriya Yoga” rather than God Realization has given rise to an insane spiritual marketplace full of fake “Gurus.” None of this is the original Kriya Yoga. Search for God alone like the disciples of Lahiri Baba did. Pray to God for His vision alone.”