Making the Shift to 4D/5D

In this post the Founders describe what people need to do (beyond spiritual practice) in order to make the shift to 4D and then eventually 5D. Much of what they say here I have mentioned before in my post on diet. However, given the information in my last four posts, it should now be clear why they say what they do.

For those of you that are committed to remaining with the Earth by entering fourth or fifth density states, it is essential that you reduce your dependence on the things of this world. You can start by simplifying your lives so that you require less resources in order to keep your lives going. As you raise your vibration, you will naturally need to consume less and less of Earth's resources anyway. You might start by reducing your intake of products from mammals (beef, pork, dairy, etc.) since the production of these foods consumes a great deal of natural resources. As you continue to raise your vibration, you will likely reduce your intake of all animal products, becoming what is termed "vegan." Eventually, you will find that only a tiny amount of highly nutritious food will be necessary to keep your body healthy. At some point in your ascension process you will eliminate food altogether and drink only water. Then the water will also become unnecessary and you will become what some call a "breatharian." Finally, as your light body becomes fully activated, you will exist on direct etheric energy and even oxygen will no longer be necessary.

It is unlikely that very many of you will reach this stage before the economic systems of the world collapse. Therefore, it will be necessary to form the enlightened self-sufficient spiritual communities that this channel talks about. In these communities you will create a safe haven, grow your own food, acquire your own water, and produce your own energy based on solar, wind and EM power sources. You will form your own governments, which will really be more like the high councils of more enlightened worlds.

For me, that is exactly how I imagine the Golden Age to be. There is still a lot I have to learn to be able to live in a self-sufficient manner, so I'll be switching my attention back to Anastasia for my next few posts.

The Food and Water Crisis

Before we get to the Founders discussion of food and water, I just want to mention what they say about the energy crisis, which we already know about. Essentially, the world is running out of oil, and everything in 3D society depends on oil, so this will be another economic burden on the world. The Founders' food and water discussion centers around the California breadbasket shown in the picture above.

In the USA, you have a place called California, which grows up to one-fourth of the food consumed by people of that country. Other countries have similar "breadbasket" agricultural regions. The majority of this particular region is within six meters of sea level. Sea levels around the world are rising rapidly. Within a very short time, the sea will be invading this region, causing salt water to mix with fresh water (it is unlikely that your dams and dikes will solve this problem). This will result in the destruction of over 90% of the crops grown in this region. The most immediate effect of this catastrophe will be a rise in food prices, since there will now be a scarcity of food.

Eventually, if the pattern continues, there will be real food shortages for nearly everyone, but in the interim, the main problem will be more and more humans being unable to afford to buy food to feed their families. At the same time, the heat waves and droughts will exacerbate the fresh water shortage on your world (not to mention the melting ice fields and glaciers). So a larger and larger part of the income of the people will be spent acquiring dwindling supplies of food and water.

We have pointed out previously that we do not see the majority of humanity perishing due to famine, hunger and thirst. Nevertheless, the reduced availability of food and water will contribute to the decline of the immune system, which we do see as the biggest cause of exit for the average 3D human.

The Impending Medical Crisis

In this post, the Founders describe the likely scenario for those that choose to remain in 3D during the Earth Changes. So while 3D humans can escape natural disasters and protect themselves from a collapsing economy, they will have a very hard time when it comes to illness. The secret to avoiding illness is to have a strong immune system, and the secret to a strong 4D immune system is having a daily spiritual practice like eN-Kriya. For those with a 3D immune system, here is what the Founders say to expect.

Between 75 and 80 percent of the souls on your world will likely not choose to make the shift with Mother Earth into fourth density. Not all of them will simply go to sleep and not wake up. Most of them still believe they want to survive. Their survival mechanism will kick in and attempt to keep their bodies functioning, even though their souls are putting pressure on them to wrap up the affairs of this lifetime and move to another world.

The result of this battle between the body and soul (really between the body and mind, since the soul does not do battle) will be a lot of people getting sick and becoming dependent on the medical system for their care. In strictly 3D terms, this will manifest as an increased rate of allergies, chemical reactions, debilitating viruses, sensitivities to bacteria, molds, fungi, and other "environmental illnesses," as well as long-term cancers, heart and lung conditions. So-called "exotic bugs" will surface, which are really just hybrid viruses and bacteria that are able to penetrate the weakening immune system of humans.

There are, of course, some biological warfare agents on the loose, but as we have discussed previously, the more serious of these will not be allowed to proliferate beyond a certain point. The vast majority of the illnesses will be due to the soul's desire to exit this planet as the changes become more pronounced.

As more and more people get sick and die, a tremendous burden will be put on the medical care systems of your world. Hospitals will be full and overflowing. In countries that do not have government-subsidized medical care, thousands of people will be unable to pay their medical bills, which will create further defaults within the credit system. In countries where the government subsidizes medical care, the balance sheets of those governments will sag significantly.

In some countries, dead bodies will pile up in the streets and along rivers, which will contribute to the rise in contagious diseases, so it will become a downward spiral of decay. The rapidly increasing number of sick will immobilize some businesses and government agencies, as there will be a shortage of qualified people available to perform daily tasks.

Fractional Reserve Banking

Money plays a large role in the life of 3D humans, so the coming financial collapse foreseen by the Founders will have a significant impact on the lives of those humans. For those waiting for NESARA, the Founders feel it won't happen, just like they don't expect Disclosure to happen. I'll present the Founders thoughts on NESARA in a future post, but for this post we start with their view of the financial system in place today.

The control of the world's monetary systems by a ruling elite has been going on for thousands of years, although the methodology has changed since the earlier civilizations. During the so-called Roman empire, taxation was a primary scheme. Tax collectors for the government would go door to door and would often take up to 90% of the assets of the people. In your present technological environment, this brazen form of control has been replaced with a more subtle, yet also more insidious, means of extracting assets from the common people and concentrating them in the hands of a few individuals.

As detailed in many of your alternative economic writings, you have a system that is called "fractional reserve" banking, in which money is printed and distributed in such a way as to cause the fictional assets of the banks to be replaced with real assets, meaning that paper is exchanged for things that have real value in your world, such as houses, land, crops, etc. Banks print and then loan these fictional assets (paper money) to borrowers, who then pay interest on the loan. The interest is compounded, which drives the "value" of the paper money lower (as if you could subtract something from zero in the first place). When the borrower is unable to pay (often due to inflation caused by the fractional reserve system itself), the bank repossesses the borrower's property (having real value). Now the bank has received something for nothing, and the owners of the bank have acquired resources with real value in exchange for the inconvenience of running a few printing presses and distributing a few pieces of paper.

The Founders have explained things in the simplest way possible, but for those looking for a more detailed and technical explanation, I would recommend my post "Gold for the Golden Age". For those keeping score, the value of gold in $US has increased by 29% since that post was written over a year ago.

The Founders on Earth Changes

My next series of posts will cover more specific predictions given by the Founders from their book "Earth Changes and 2012: Messages From the Founders" for the 2012 to 2030 time period. Regarding these predictions they emphasize the following point repeatedly.

These prophecies have a large margin of error, as do all specific predictions, due to fluctuations in the free will of humans. They are only guidelines and pointers to the most likely scenarios according to our viewpoint from outside the veil of your world.

In this post, I'll look at the geological, geographical and climatic changes that appear likely to the Founders. In terms of using your free will to reduce these effects, I can recommend gardening as described by Anastasia. I can also recommend eN-Kriya step 6 or any equivalent prayer/meditation practice. Below are snippets from the Founders' seven page discussion on the topic.

Your beloved Mother Earth has her own way of restoring the balance when things get out of whack. Many of the climatic changes, earthquakes, volcanoes and other so-called "natural" Earth changes are the result of your Mother's desire to put things back into balance.

The ocean currents will be changing as well. Areas that have been temperate will get colder, while other places will warm up. You can already see extremes in many places. Some countries are drying up, while others are being inundated with rain.

Australia
Your coastlines will erode a bit, but not as much as in the northern hemisphere. You have a lot of arable land on plateaus above the sea and you will need to rely on this in the years to come for growing your food.

Asia
There are many areas of Asia near sea level and these will continue to experience greater and greater floods in the years to come. Many will perish along the coastlines. Inland areas will experience more extreme drought. In some parts of the continent, you have cut down most of your trees and this is causing severe erosion.

Africa
In the years to come, the climate will continue to get more and more erratic, with droughts and floods commonplace. Your Nile river will rise and fall in unusual patterns, and your growing seasons will change. As with most countries on Earth, land near sea level will eventually become inundated.

North America
Your coastlines will erode significantly, particularly along what you call the Gulf region. Parts of the state of Florida will disappear into the sea. The inland growing region of California will soon become an inland sea, greatly reducing agricultural production.

There will be increasing drought in the USA and Canada, with flooding rains along the coastlines, as well as dramatic warming. Already, wildfires are raging across parched areas of the west every summer, and the southeast is drying up. Mexico will continue to become more tropical (warmer and wetter in most sections).

South America
Expect the weather in areas that are being decimated through logging to become quite severe at times, with droughts in the middle of the rainy season, and rainy weather in the middle of the dry season.

Your eastern coastlines will experience significant erosion in the years to come, and many people will migrate inland in search of food, water and livelihood.

Europe
Your climate imbalances are showing up more every year. Heat waves, floods and droughts are becoming commonplace. Most of your countries are quite crowded and there is a shortage of arable land in many places. The countries currently producing most of your food will be subject to drought and famine in the years to come.

Middle East
We foresee major flooding and climate irregularities in the desert areas, as well as cold spells that are unusually severe. You already have heat waves as a natural consequence of your geography.

Inelia Benz on UFOs

I've been reading all of the posts at Inelia Benz's blog and I stand by my previous recommendation. In her post "UFOs are all over the place!", she clears up many misconceptions regarding the ET presence on Earth.

There are UFO reports all over the media at the moment, and hundreds of posts on youtube with footage of unidentified flying objects. A lot are different from the "usual" footage as they show "fleets" of objects in the sky. So, are they new flying machines that our governments have been hiding from us and now are showing us to get us used to the idea (whether true or false) that there are aliens about to contact us? Or are they extra terrestrial entities showing themselves to us? And why is this relevant to Ascension?

The photo on the right was taken by me last September, while chatting with my daughter in our backyard. The object flew at a "normal" speed, then slowed down above us, changed direction, then stood still for about an hour, after which it sped away at a tremendous speed, much faster than any plane I have ever seen.

The photo she is referring to here is the one above.

One thing is for certain, there are objects flying in the sky that we can't identify. At the moment there are movies about alien species trying to take something from us, either water, life, or even the planet. But we've had these movies for decades, what's different this time is that there are a LOT of them coming up, as well as a continuous feed of tv shows depicting the same subject.

There is a very interesting theory going around the internet called "Blue Beam". This theory says that the powers that be are planning on fooling us all with mass landings of craft, which are of human origin, plus perhaps some from not so friendly (to the masses) aliens who made deals with our governments, to create a huge emotional and religious experience which they will use to keep the human collective enslaved. This is a summary of the theory, if you want to know more, and how it is supposed to happen, google the words "blue beam".

Another theory is that there are in fact several alien species flying around our planet at the moment, some terrestrial, some extra terrestrial, and they are slowly getting us used to their presence. The theory is that they are either here to welcome us to the galactic neighborhood association, or simply to witness our planetary ascension.

Yet another theory is that they are here to tell us that we are in fact their petri-dish experiment.

And yet another, is that as the human collective and Earth ascend in awareness and evolution, we are now able to see other dimensions and we can perceive, and record, these crafts more easily.

How does this affect our ascension process? Well, the shift is occurring, whether we like it or not. Where we are when it culminates either next year or the year after depends very much on how much negativity we have processed before then. The main forms of negativity being fear and anger, but also encompassing victim consciousness and wanting to be saved by an external force (giving our power away).

It is blatantly obvious that the powers that be are doing their up-most to keep us in fear mode. How they will use the alien equation to feed fear is open to debate. But they are seeding our minds with gross alien violence in a very open way, by our entertainment industry and news items.

Now, if any spaceship lands in your backyard and beautiful being come out and invite you their mothership in order to save you, make sure you ask for their Light ID. Ask them if they work for the light. If they don't answer the question, but instead give you an ultimatum or warning of things to come, then ask them politely to get off our planet. I can assure you that no light being will offer another to "save them".

However, if they are offering to take you for a ride in their latest Model X spaceship, temptation might be too great to say NO, so ask them to come back in January 2013. If they have your best interest at heart, they will. If they tell you this is your only chance, don't forget what your mother told you about getting into stranger's cars, even if they do have alien puppies in there. Any ultimatum is fear based, and not advisable to comply with.

Nothing can stop our ascension if we do the necessary work on ourselves. Nothing. So, aliens or no aliens, it doesn't matter, it is irrelevant. Our collective is ascending and nothing can stop an awakened and fearless person from getting the full benefit of the personal, collective and planetary ascension process that is happening right now.

The Founders and Anastasia both have the same opinion as Inelia regarding ET involvement in the 3D timeline. I'll be posting their views in future posts as well.

The eN-Kriya Technique (part 3)

In this post I'll provide my thoughts and analysis of the eN-Kriya technique, so if you have not already done so, please read my previous two posts that explain the technique.

• The eN-Kriya Technique (part 1)
• The eN-Kriya Technique (part 2)

Since I first discovered yogic techniques that involve breath retention back in 2001, I quickly realized the power they held and have focused on them ever since. If you've downloaded my yoga course, you would've noticed that breath retention is a core part of the practice, and many of the Kundalini Kriyas also involve breath retention. So the fact that eN-Kriya steps 3 and 4 involve breath retention was a key point for me.

The instructions for step 4 involve blocking the breath right to the point of fainting. Sounds crazy? You bet! That's why you must be fit, healthy and strong before you even try it. But if you do, you very quickly overcome all fear, anxiety, addictions, frustrations, and any other negativity in your life. Can you imagine what's required to block your breath to the point of fainting? And as soon as you recover - doing it again, and again for 21 times! You come out of that process feeling absolutely invincible, fearless, powerful, yet incredibly calm, at peace, and in oneness. You are almost guaranteed to have a spiritual experience, either a psychic sound, vision or physical sensation.

Every day you keep practicing, it takes more and more time to reach that fainting point, and the more time spent without breathing takes you deeper and deeper into the core of your being. Your awareness of spiritual reality and spiritual truths expands rapidly. As Nithyananda says "instant enlightenment".

Step 1: Nadi Shodhana is a simple and straight forward practice. It should be done daily regardless of which yoga practice you are following. It is the most basic and most essential pranayama practice there is and can be done by anyone regardless of your age or state of health. Here, it is practiced for 11 rounds.

Step 2: Bhastrika seems to have gained popularity in recent years. However, Nithyananda's description and demonstration doesn't quite match what I'm familiar with. There are three distinct practices that involve moving the abdomen. The first is Agnisar Kriya where the breathing is either through the mouth or the breath is held out. The abdomen is moved in and up, then out and back in repeatedly. The second is Kapalbhati where the breathing is through the nose. The abdomen is rapidly pulled in (not up) causing a forceful exhalation through the nostrils, then it is relaxed and expanded for a full gentle inhalation, then forceful exhalation and so on. The third is Bhastrika where breathing is again through the nose, but in this case both exhalation and inhalation are done forcefully and rapidly. I practice Agnisar Kriya and Nauli daily prior to my eN-Kriya practice, so here for step 2, I practice Bhastrika as described for 21 rounds.

Step 3: Samana Kriya is a new practice I haven't seen before that sort of combines Kunadalini Kriyas 6 (inner retention) and 7 (outer retention) in a single practice without the complexity of the bandhas/locks and rotation of awareness. My main comment here regards the instruction to do each of the four parts as long as possible. If you do this, your second round will be much shorter than your first, which I don't think is the purpose of this particular practice. I think you should choose a length of time for each of inhalation, holding in, exhalation, and holding out that you can maintain for all 21 rounds. I would recommend something like inhale for 10 sec, hold for 20 sec, exhale for 20 sec, hold out for 10 sec. Basically, pick values that are less than half of what your maximum is such that it can be maintained for the entire practice.

Step 4: Samburi Mudra is a slightly modified version of Shanmukhi Mudra, where rather than closing the nostrils with the middle fingers you use the ring fingers instead. This is the main Kriya. In this case, you want to hold your breath as long as you can, for all of the benefits I described at the beginning of this post. It is repeated 21 times.

Step 5: Maha Mantra is described as intense humming with no further description, but I would guess it is similar to Bhramari, except the ears are not plugged and the hands just rest on the knees. For more description, I would say keep the eyes and mouth closed, but keep the teeth slightly separated. Inhale deeply through the nose and while exhaling as slowly as possible create a smooth and continuous humming sound. Allow the vibration to be heard and felt distinctly in the brain. At the end of exhalation, inhale again and repeat. Continue for 7 minutes.

Step 6: Shakti Dharana is a practice I haven't seen taught by any other yoga teachers, but similar practices are very common in New Age circles. Prior to learning about eN-Kriya I had been wanting to incorporate this type of practice into my daily routine as I believe it is critical for the smooth arrival of the Golden Age. There is severe weather and natural disasters being experienced all over the planet. This practice will reduce these calamities in the area where you live, and globally as well. You can choose to receive energy from any masters or spiritual beings you feel connected to, or even simply from the stars and planets as Anastasia would recommend. Then pour that into the Earth, or Mother Earth, Lady Gaia, Bhudevi, or any other image you feel most connected to. The picture above shows some in the receiving pose and some in the pouring pose. This practice is done 7 times in 7 minutes.

Step 7: Swasti Mantra is another practice not traditionally part of yoga but well known in the New Age community. This practice will reduce the crime, war and violence in the area where you live and all over the world. Another essential practice for creating the Golden Age.

That concludes my discussion of the 7 steps of eN-Kriya, but I also want to take a moment to discuss sitting postures. For steps 1 to 5, I sit in Padmasana as recommended by Nithyananda, but for those familiar with the Kundalini Kriyas, Siddhasana is the recommended pose. Siddhasana is designed to work in conjunction with Moola Bandha, which is a core component of the Kundalini Kriyas, but since it is not used in eN-Kriya, Padmasana is the recommended choice. However, if you are unable to sit in Padmasana, I would recommend Siddhasana second. The step 6 receiving pose is similar to Hasta Uttanasana except done from the knees, and the pouring pose is similar to Shashankasana. From step 6 it's easiest to assume Vajrasana for step 7 which is what I do rather than going back into Padmasana.

The next thing I want to talk about is the time spent on each step in the practice. Nithyananda indicates the whole practice should be completed in 42 minutes, however, it takes me over an hour to complete all 7 steps as after years of practice I can now hold my breath for quite a while, making steps 3 and 4 go on forever. So I began thinking if this was necessary, and decided that 42 minutes is probably enough. The far more important thing is to simply practice every single day without fail. So if 42 minutes is enough, then what should the time allotment breakdown be? This is what I came up with and am currently following.

• Nadi Shodhana (2 min) - 11 rounds takes me 4 min
• Bhastrika (1 min) - 21 rounds is fine
• Samana Kriya (11 min) - 11 rounds still puts me over
• Samburi Mudra (11 min) - again 11 rounds for me
• Maha Mantra (7 min) - counting rounds not required
• Shakti Dharana (7 min) - 7 rounds as required is fine
• Swasti Mantra (3 min) - no rounds
• Total Time (42 min)

When looking at the number of rounds prescribed here and for the Kundalini Kriyas, it is always an odd number, so as my ability to hold my breath keeps increasing, I will likely reduce 11 to 9, then 7 and so on to keep the practice at around 11 minutes.

All things change with time, as does Kriya Yoga. Mahavatar Babaji has been overseeing it for thousands of years, and I'm sure it has continued to evolve over that time period. Now, at this point in time, I believe eN-Kriya is the next step in that evolution.

The eN-Kriya Technique (part 2)

In this video Paramahamsa Nithyananda clearly and concisely explains the 7 steps of eN-Kriya. So I will just quote him directly with some embellishments and paraphrasing starting at the 36:00 mark.

I'll give the instruction now. The first step is Nadi Shodhana. Closing your right nostril with right thumb, inhaling as deeply as possible through the left nostril. Then opening the right nostril and closing the left with your middle finger and ring finger, exhaling through the right as completely as possible. And inhaling through the right, and exhaling through the left. It's called one cycle. Do this at least 11 times. This is the first step.

The second step. Bhastrika. Pull your lower abdomen in and up. If it is too heavy there is nothing that can be done. Even if you shake the whole body you cannot shake the lower abdomen. 21 times do Bhastrika. This is the second step.

The third step is: inhale as slowly as possible, hold as long as possible, exhale as slowly as possible, hold the lungs empty as long as possible. This one cycle is called one Samana Kriya. Do this 21 times. This is the third step.

All of these 3 steps are preparatory steps. The fourth step is the main Kriya. In this you put your thumbs in the ears, the index finger and middle finger on the eyes, ring finger on the nose, and little finger on the lips. It's called Samburi Mudra. Close all the five senses. Block the nostrils. Stop the energy going outward. Bring the energy intensely in. This is a powerful technique for instant enlightenment. Hold as long as you can.

Your mind will say, "No, no I can't hold anymore, I'll fall. I'm going to faint." Don't worry, even if you faint, automatically your hands will relax. You'll breathe, you'll not die. Only if you have a serious heart condition, or high blood pressure, any other serious illness, don't do. People with normal health can do as much as you can.

When you are able to...again block. When you are feeling balanced, again block the nostrils. Do this same thing 21 times. Through Samburi Mudra sending the energy inside; directing it. This is the main Kriya, the fourth part.

The fifth part is intense humming for 7 minutes.

The sixth part is Shakti Dharana. Stand on your knees and raise the hands towards the sky. Connect with the masters. Feel their presence and intense energy landing on you. When you feel full, just surrender to the Earth. Empty yourself. Pour yourself. Then again stand up on your knees. Receive intensely and pour to the Earth. Do this at least 7 times.

The last step. Sit feeling connected with the masters. Send a strong compassionate, loving, healing energy and vibrations to the whole world. Bless the whole world. The last step is the time I work intensely on you awakening the Kundalini. That's the time for you to relax and experience the awakening.

In my next post, I'll provide my full analysis of the eN-Kriya technique.

The eN-Kriya Technique (part 1)

In this video Paramahamsa Nithyananda presents the 7 steps of eN-Kriya. In the video I will post next, he again describes the 7 steps, but with additional details. So in this post I will simply summarize the information provided in this video and save the bulk of my analysis for the next post after all available details of eN-Kriya have been provided.

The video starts with some repetition of what was in the previous video, so you can skip ahead to the 5:20 mark where he lists the recommended sitting postures in order of priority: Padmasana, Vajrasana, or Sukhasana. Step 1 is 11 rounds of Nadi Shodhana which should take only 90 seconds (8:00). He states that the first 3 steps of eN-Kriya are really just preparation for Kriya (9:10). Step 2 is 21 rounds of Bhastrika Pranayama (9:30). Step 3 is 21 rounds of slow breathing with inner and outer breath retention (11:00).

He says eN-Kriya provides the maximum benefit with less time and less effort (11:30). The lazy man's guide to enlightenment (11:50). Step 4 is 21 rounds of Shanmukhi Mudra (my name not his) with the ring finger closing the nostrils rather than the middle finger (16:00). He gets sidetracked, then continues step 4 at the 25:30 mark. He recaps that the first 3 steps are preparation, step 4 is the main Kriya, then step 5 is for settling or balancing the body. Step 5 is 7 minutes of Bhramari Pranayama (my name not his) or intense humming (28:30). Step 6 is 7 rounds of Shakti Dharana. In each round, raise your arms to the sky and visualize the masters presence and energy landing on you and awakening your Kundalini, then bow down to the cosmos (29:30).

He recaps the steps again, and it sounds like he names step 3 Amana Kriya, step 4 Samburi Mudra, and step 5 Maha Mantra (30:10). He gives another interpretation for step 6, of receiving energy from the Sky and offering it to the Earth (30:50). Finally, step 7 is sending love and compassion to the whole world (31:30). All 7 steps should take less than 42 minutes (32:30).

That concludes my summary of this second video, and in my next post I will cover some additional details provided in a third video followed by my detailed analysis.

Nithyananda Scandal

One of my readers informed me of Nithyananda's sex scandal video, so I thought I should share my thoughts on that after recommending him in my last post. It's unfortunate that this has happened, as I still believe that his eN-Kriya technique is quite amazing based on my own experience with it. So after this post I will continue to describe it in my next two posts. Of course, I completely understand if you no longer have any interest in it after reading this post. However, you should also be aware that Swami Rama went through a similar sex scandal, and while Swami Satyananda made it through life free of scandals, at least one or more of his disciples representing his ashram ended up in sex scandals.

I searched the internet for the most scathing (but not inflammatory) article I could find on the subject, and in the end, the news site DNA India had an article that fit the bill.

Officers of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) said on Tuesday that disciples of tainted swamy Nithyananda Paramahamsa of the Nithyananda Dhyanapeetham at Bidadi in Ramanagaram district tried to derail the investigation into the sexual escapades and sleaze tapes featuring the self-styled godman and Tamil actress Ranjitha alias Srivalli.

The officers say that if it were not for the persistence of one woman who refused to be cowed down, investigations might have drawn a blank. The woman who aided the investigations is, at present, settled in the US. The CID did not want to divulge her identity, but claimed that she admitted to being repeatedly raped by the swamy.

“The woman came forward even though a Mysore resident, who later settled in the US, Vinay Bharadwaj, was silenced. The disciples of Nithyananda slapped a false case against Bharadwaj, and he was jailed in Seattle, just as he had agreed to depose before investigating officers. We were left with no evidence, as Ranjitha had already claimed that she had had nothing to do with the case,” an officer said.

Director-general of police (CID) DV Guruprasad, said that this is a matter in which no case can be made, if it involves consenting adults. “We were left with only one man willing to depose, Vinay Bhardwaj. But he was silenced after a criminal case was slapped on him in the USA. The ray of hope came after an anonymous woman came forward, alleging that the ‘spiritual leader’ repeatedly raped her. This woman gave us a statement that ran into 23 pages,” Guruprasad said.

Investigations have revealed that the statement that actor Ranjitha made to the media on December 31 about being blackmailed was not true. An officer stated that soon after the videos were made, the spiritual leader was blackmailed, not Ranjitha. “As soon as the ashram inmates came to know about the sleaze tapes, they tried to hush the matter up by offering huge sums of money to prevent them from being made public,” the official said.

Some third parties were paid at least Rs10 crore in a bid to stop the telecast of the video. Even though money changed hands, the tapes were telecast on a TV channel for the first time on March 2, 2010. Nithyananda fled the ashram and went to Haridwar. As he was on his way there, he called Ranjitha and told her not to talk to anyone, especially the media. Ranjitha herself made a statement to this effect to officials,” an officer said.

Soon after Nithyananda was arrested from Solan, Himachal Pradesh, where he had been in hiding, he was brought to the CID headquarters. Nithyananda confessed that he had erectile dysfunction. “He also confessed that he had a heightened urge for sex on amavasya and poornima nights, when there is the new moon or the full moon. He said that he was much like other men when it came to the sex urge.

“He confessed that he had sex with as many as 20 disciples. He also said that in order to impart ‘spiritual bliss’ to disciples, he used to hug them. He made the allegation that his work had drawn a large number of non-Hindus into the fold, causing resentment,” an officer said.

In her statement to the CID police on June 21, Ranjitha made it clear that she and the swamiji were in constant touch: “On March 2 night, Swamiji spoke to me over my mobile phone and informed me that the clippings had been telecast. I was shocked. Swamiji consoled me. He advised me not to talk to the media. It is false to say I had purchased a house worth Rs20 crore. I know about the non-disclosure agreement, but I have not signed any such thing,” Ranjitha had said.

Forensic tests on the tapes revealed that the people featured in them were indeed Nithyananda and Ranjitha. Attempting to explain, Ranjitha said that as a celebrity, she has appeared for sessions of video filming to promote activities at the ashram. Ranjitha had also accompanied the swamiji on his trips to the USA a couple of times.

For those interested in reading more, you can type "Nithyananda" in the search box at DNA India to get the dozens of articles that have been written on this since the story began on March 2, 2010.

Nithyananda has created a playlist of 11 videos on YouTube where he presents his side of the story. It is called "Nithyananda Answers on Scandal". The videos are selectable across the bottom of the page.

New Avatar on the Block

Around two weeks ago one of my YouTube subscribers introduced me to Paramahamsa Nithyananda and his new yogic teaching called eN-Kriya which he announced to the world on January 29th, 2011.

In three YouTube videos (first is above), Nithyananda covers eN-Kriya in enough detail such that anyone can start practicing. I have been practicing it from the time it was introduced to me (about two weeks ago) and have not been this impressed with a practice since Satyananda's 20 Kundalini Kriyas. In fact, it even has many advantages over the Kundalini Kriyas which I'll describe in detail in subsequent posts.

In this post, I'll summarize the key points in this first video as means of introduction to Nithyananda and eN-Kriya. The video starts with Nithyananda welcoming everyone with his love and respect (1:00). He then invokes the presence of all the great masters and offers his respect to them as well (3:00). He discusses some of the benefits of eN-Kriya starting with the usual ones of health and well being, as the pranic level rises in your system (6:30). He discusses the research and development that was done for eN-Kriya prior to this public launch (7:30). He mentions the scientific results achieved by his trial participants (9:30). He gives full credit to the great masters for discovering the technique and says his only role was to test it out and deliver it to the world (10:20).

It was at the 12:30 mark when my ears really perked up at his mention of Swami Satyananda Saraswati. He then goes on to discuss the underlying workings of eN-Kriya which involves balancing the 5 breathing moments: prana, apana, vyana, udana, and samana (13:30). He describes them as inhaling (one), holding the breath in (two), the prana separating from the air and spreading throughout the body (three), exhaling (four), and cleaning (five) (16:00). He says when these 5 pranas are balanced you live a healthy life, and when they are awakened, you live an enlightened life, and when they are out of balance you experience disorders (18:00).

I would also like to add some additional detail regarding these 5 pranic energies and their role in the body-mind-spirit complex (system). I provide a general description of the energy action along with specific examples for ease of understanding. Prana is the intake of energy into the system (eating food, inhaling air). Samana is the processing of that energy by the system (digesting food, extracting oxygen). Vyana is the distribution of that energy throughout the system (blood circulation). Udana is the use or release of that energy by the system (actions, words). Apana is the elimination of waste energy from the system (bowel movement, exhaling carbon dioxide).

Nithyananda says he hopes to one day prove to the world that all diseases can be cured (19:00). He says eN-Kriya will even free you from the birth-death cycle itself (20:00). He mentions Mahavatar Babaji and the anti-aging effect of Kriya yoga (22:30). He says he has condensed eN-Kriya such that it will take only 42 minutes to complete (26:00). Later, he again mentions Mahavatar Babaji and gives him credit for keeping Kriya yoga alive on Earth (30:50). He talks about techniques coming soon, like eN-Yoga which will be 54 postures, eN-Mudra and eN-Dhyana (32:00). He concludes by taking about yet another result of these techniques which he calls the eN-Effect. That is the reduction in crime rate, wars and natural calamities (34:00). This is something not usually part of yogic practice but often practiced in the new age community, and eN-Kriya incorporates these aspects of new age meditation as well which I find quite exciting.

The next two videos (and my next two posts) will focus on the specific details of the eN-Kriya technique.