Kriya Yoga Secrets: Using Meditation to Achieve Material Success
As a young accounting student in college who saw classes as a total waste of time, I used my time and energy to start a software business. Perhaps I was one of thousands who, after reading the stories of Bill Gates & Mark Zuckerberg, dreamt of building a software empire out of their dorm room. There was just one problem – I didn’t know how to write code.
Fortunately, I didn’t let that deter me. Every day, I would plunge myself into learning software development through YouTube videos and online courses. Most of my friends thought I was crazy and/or lost – “If you wanted to do this, why waste your time and money with an accounting degree?” Imagine their surprise when one year later, my software was being implemented in hundreds of retail stores throughout the country.
The Link Between Spiritual and Material Success
Many people ask me how I was able to do that. In hindsight, one habit made it all possible – meditation. Most people think meditation is for those who are too lazy to do the real work required to be successful. This misconception is partly due to numerous New Age movements that have sprung up, telling people they need only to practice visualizations and expect riches to come knocking on their door.
My Guru, Paramhansa Yogananda, a great yoga master who spent most of his life teaching in America, had many successful businessmen as his disciples. These disciples, whom most would consider “worldly”, were the ones who made quicker spiritual progress. This is because the qualities one needs to become a successful yogi – concentration, willpower, patience, determination, etc. – are necessary for material success as well.
One such disciple of Yogananda had tremendous business responsibilities and owned several businesses. He would spend several hours every morning in meditation until 10 am, leaving a note with his secretary – “I am in conference. Please do not disturb.” He didn’t say that he was in conference with God! Filled with divine calmness, he would accomplish much more than the average distracted office worker.
Yogananda Ji used to say, “It isn’t what you own, but what you can acquire at will, that is real prosperity. A yogi may not have many material possessions, but by his ability to focus his mind, he can create at will the financial success he needs.”
The two key ingredients needed to manifest success in any field, whether material or spiritual, are 1) High energy and 2) Concentration.
Most people don’t succeed in achieving their goals because they either don’t have energy or their energy is utterly scattered. The degree of one’s success depends on how much energy one can channel to their brain. That is what differentiates geniuses from everyone else. Their very thoughts attract to them the success they seek.
Advances in science now reveal to us what great men and women have always known—thoughts are things. When we send a thought into the “ether” or the “universe” (as many New Age philosophies describe it), we draw to ourselves the object of our desire. All successful people apply this principle whether consciously or otherwise. The strength and energy with which we project our thoughts determines our level of success. Most people fail to fuel their thoughts with sufficient energy and thus get mediocre results.
Meditation: The Key to Unlocking Your Potential
Meditation, then, is a great aid in manifesting material success. In meditation, we learn how to withdraw our energy from the senses and stop it from leaking out in a thousand different directions. Then we channel that energy up to the brain to achieve higher states of awareness, clarity, intuition, peace, love, and joy. These states are not unknown even to the novice meditator.
Yogananda Ji writes, “By the power of concentration and meditation, you can direct the power of your mind to accomplish what you desire and guard all the doors through which failure may enter. If you learn how to withdraw your attention from all objects of distraction and place it upon one object of concentration, then you will know how to attract at will what you need.”
I am sure that, as kids, we were all told countless times by our parents and teachers to concentrate on what we were doing. I am also sure that no one taught us how to concentrate. Isn’t that fascinating?
A person learning how to type on a keyboard has two options. He can either use the “hunt-and-peck” method, where he uses two or three fingers of each hand to find the keys, or the scientific method of “touch typing,” where he types with all his ten fingers without looking at the keyboard. The latter is significantly more effective.
Similarly, concentration too has two methods. The “hunt-and-peck” method is merely trying our best (and struggling) to maintain our concentration on the task at hand. The scientific method, on the other hand, involves using time-tested techniques of meditation and breath control to direct all our energy to the brain. Once we do that, we can concentrate that energy to achieve anything.
Yogananda says that the ordinary businessman uses only five or six percent of his attention while performing his daily duties. By using the scientific methods of concentration and meditation, we can gradually learn to use one hundred percent of our concentration in all things we do.
Practical Techniques for Energy and Focus
The Hong-Sau technique of concentration is one of the simplest tools we have to instantly experience a state of calm concentration. Kriya Yoga, which is an advanced technique of energy control, is par excellence. It helps us master the flow of energy in our spine and nervous system using which we can find success in any area of life.
While a high degree of concentration is essential, meditation gives us something more still. It connects us with the divine source of energy that has brought all things into manifestation. The meditating yogi learns not only to focus his mind but also to draw divine guidance to accomplish his material goals.
Yogananda Ji would remind his students, “If you have that great contact with God, then the prosperity of the universe will be at your feet. Don’t forget that God is your provider.” He then gave this technique to draw inspiration at will – “When you want to create something important, sit quietly, calm your senses and your thoughts, and meditate deeply upon what you want to do or acquire. You will then be guided by the great creative power of Spirit.”
I can attest to the effectiveness of this method from experience. Right before I started writing this article, I asked my Guru to tell me what to write. Instantly, thoughts started coming into my mind. Concepts, ideas, and even reference sources poured as I struggled to keep up with my pen. Repeatedly, I have seen this method work.
After the passing of my earthly father a few months ago, I found myself in the middle of numerous responsibilities, paperwork, and documentation. Since his passing was unexpected, I never got to ask him how I would handle his business affairs in his absence. At every point, however, I found divine guidance forthcoming. In the stillness of meditation, I would often receive the inspiration to call a certain acquaintance or relative who, as it turned out, had the answer to my problem.
The Secret to Lasting Prosperity
In our efforts to achieve material prosperity, we often forget to draw on God’s power, the greatest power in the universe, which is ever-ready to help us, if only we call on it. Depending on our efforts alone, we might find some success, but soon find ourselves stuck on a plateau. “The one-sided business-bent man is not the truly successful man. He who only keeps engagement with money is left behind by God,” wrote Yogananda Ji.
By feeling the presence of God through daily meditation and drawing on His presence to achieve our material goals, we will not only have success but also health and peace of mind. That is the secret of all-around well-being taught by great yogis through the ages.
