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Part III of the Ananda Course prepares the student for initiation into kriya yoga, the highest technique of the path of Self-realization. Part II of the Ananda Course (The Art and Science of Raja Yoga) is a prerequisite for taking Part III.

The Path of Kriya Yoga lessons include six lessons and four cassette tapes. They cover discipleship, the Aum technique, and kriya yoga preparation. The discipleship lessons give Swami Kriyananda's insights into the meaning and practice of discipleship and stories of his personal experiences with Paramhansa Yogananda. They help prepare the student for an at-home discipleship initiation. Discipleship initiation is a requirement for kriya yoga initiation.

After discipleship initiation, the student receives the second part of The Path of Kriya Yoga lessons: the Aum technique and kriya yoga preparation techniques.

Excerpts from Part III: Preparation for Kriya Yoga
Words of Paramhansa Yogananda

People who are still locked up in the cage of ego often view the prospect of having a guru as a threat to their personal freedom. They don't realize that freedom is exactly what they don't have at present!

The guru's role is to open the door of the cage. If a disciple, finding himself still attached to limitation, cries, "Leave me alone; I like my nice little nest of pleasures and desires!" the guru won't insist. He will say, simply, "I came because you called me; otherwise I would not have troubled. It wasn't my need that brought me. It was your need. So, until you call me again, I will wait.

Accepting a guru isn't the assumption of a burden! It isn't a menace to a person's free will and happiness! It is the greatest blessing that you, or anyone, can possibly have in this world. Incarnations of good karma are required to attract the help of a true guru.

From Lessons in Discipleship: Lesson #1
Understanding the Need for the Guru:
Must the Guru Be Present Physically?

Does the guru have to be with you physically? No, he doesn't have to be, because it's an inner relationship. I have seen in ashrams those who were only relating outwardly to the guru for years, and never getting very far spiritually. But the really serious disciples were those who took it within, who didn't feel the need to be with the guru outwardly, but sought inner attunement. The guru's influence, a spiritual radiation to the disciple, is what matters.

Yogananda came into a body for only a few years, but his power is something that will live far longer. It's his divine mission to help people. That's why so many of his disciples who never had a chance to meet him in the flesh feel his presence so strongly. This is what allows someone like Yogananda to be a world saviour.

It's also good to get guidance from successive lines of those who are in tune with the guru and understand that it is his power that flows through them. The guru will transmit his power through those who are in tune with him and can give his diksha, the physical touch of his blessing. He doesn't have to be living in his physical body because he has many other bodies to work through. But, again, the true goal is for you to become in tune with him inwardly, and to feel that guidance within your own self.

From Lessons in Discipleship: Lesson #2
The Disciple's Part
Taken from Talks by Kriyananda

The guru-disciple relationship is perhaps the most important relationship the soul can have in this world of relativity. It is also the most important relationship the ego can have in the sense that it's the one relationship that thoroughly demolishes the ego. The worldly person, however, doesn't see the attractiveness of this relationship; he doesn't like to put himself in the position of subordination to what he considers to be just another person. He feels that his opinion is as good as anyone else's. In the matter of seeking God, he doesn't see the need for another human being to intercede, but thinks to establish his own relationship with God directly.

It's very important to speak not only of why we need a guru, but more particularly of how we can be good disciples. This is an even more difficult question, and one that, generally speaking, people don't understand on a deep level.

A true disciple is not somebody who is always trying to proselytize others, or who goes around outwardly saying, "Oh, Master, Master, Master." Neither is he somebody who acts as though he were a member of a special club. A true disciple, first of all, has to have the right attitudes that make him a good disciple. Increasingly he has to develop that kind of consciousness which the guru brings to him.

From Lessons in Discipleship: Lesson #3
Attunement with the Guru
Taken from Talks by Kriyananda

In the Indian language, the word "disciple" has quite a different meaning than it does in English, one that implies a much sweeter and more personal relationship. In the West, we think of a disciple as somebody who is willing to accept discipline and be molded by the teacher-which is perfectly valid, and very much a part of what discipleship to a great master means. There is, however, another connotation that is left out when we think only in terms of discipline.

In India, the difference between siksha, or student, and chela, or disciple, is the difference between somebody who is out there taking notes but not really committed, and somebody who is your child. The chela is, in fact, thought of as the child of the guru. This includes being disciplined and taught, but more importantly, it means having a close, loving relationship with the guru, being a part of his family, and an heir to his spiritual wealth.

I'm reminded of a time at the Lake Shrine when Master was putting on musical programs for the public. Visitors would see the lovely surroundings, listen to a beautiful concert under the stars, and then they would go away. Referring to them, Master once said, "Those who are not our own come, enjoy themselves for awhile, and then they go. But those who are our own never leave." This is, in fact, quite true. Those true disciples who leave outwardly are never really gone. They are never able to get Master out of their hearts because this connection is put there by God.

This loving soul-contact is the essence of what Master came to bring into our lives. You can get spiritual teachings from books, but what the great masters really bring is their consciousness. What we must try to do as disciples is tune in with Master's consciousness, his loving presence and guidance, in every act of our lives.

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