Kriya yoga deals more with techniques and principles which are more devotional and claims that it helps to attain eternity to the soul. It states that all actions of us ‘kri’ are done based on ‘ya’ the soul. It combines pranayama and few basics of meditation. Kriya yoga involves a lot of breathe practice. It deals with ways in inhaling and exhaling the air. It also advocates the practice of yoga nidra (a breathless state) which soul to communicate with Divine energies. It is said in Hindu mythologies that Lord Krishna was the person who initially practiced Kriya yoga and this was also mentioned the same in ‘Bhagavad-Gita’. Due to this devotees and disciples of Krishna are attracted towards this.
Kriya Yoga was popular in the olden days but went down unnoticed at one stage. Later it was Lahiri Mahasaya who gave a second innings to this divine practice. The principles of this Yoga were symmetrical and identical with Dahn Yoga which originally is based from Korea. According to Kriya Yoga the air inhaled should be maintained in the vertebral parts and the air should be moved up and down the area. This yoga also explains the laws of Karma. According to this any person will receive his part of punishment or good will base on sins and good things he or she does in the past.