Swami Kriyananda, as a direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda, received a comprehensive training that centered on Kriya Yoga and its supporting disciplines. Yogananda initiated him into Kriya Yoga as a scientific method of God-realization, along with preparatory techniques such as Hong-Sau, the AUM technique, and the Energization Exercises. These practices, rooted in pranayama and energy control, were given not as mere techniques but as a sacred discipline to be approached with regularity, devotion, and inner receptivity. Through them, Kriyananda was taught to harmonize body, mind, and soul, preparing the consciousness for deeper states of meditation and superconscious awareness.

Alongside technique, Yogananda imparted to Kriyananda a vision of spiritual life grounded in direct experience of the Divine. He emphasized inner communion with God as ever-new joy, inner sound, and inner light, and as a loving, personal presence. The teachings stressed that realization is experiential rather than intellectual, and that devotion—expressed through prayer, chanting, and heartfelt meditation—is a swift path to God. Kriyananda was guided to cultivate humility, cheerfulness, non-attachment, and the perception of God as the true Doer, thereby weakening the hold of ego and fostering even-mindedness amid life’s dualities.

A central strand of Yogananda’s guidance concerned the guru-disciple relationship and its practical implications. Kriyananda was taught to see the guru as a channel of divine grace, to obey sincerely yet intelligently, and to seek inner attunement more than outward dependence. This inner attunement extended into what Yogananda called “superconscious living”: allowing higher guidance to inform attitudes, decisions, and service. In this context, Kriyananda absorbed principles of Raja Yoga and Self-realization—the understanding of the soul as existence-consciousness-bliss and the application of right attitude, right diet, and selfless service in daily life.

Yogananda also entrusted Kriyananda with a broad, universal outlook on religion and society. He taught that all true religions rest on one eternal truth (Sanatana Dharma), that God is one though paths are many, and that genuine religion is direct perception of God rather than dogma. This universalism informed Yogananda’s commentaries on scriptures and his emphasis on interfaith respect. It also underlay his ideal of spiritual communities or “World Brotherhood Colonies,” cooperative environments where people live, work, and meditate with God at the center. Kriyananda received not only the vision of such communities but also the charge to help carry forward Yogananda’s work—spreading Kriya Yoga, sharing these teachings through writing, lecturing, and creative channels, and integrating yoga into every facet of modern life.