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Kriya Yoga vs Raja Yoga: The Technique and the Map

Written and reviewed by The Kriya Yogi · Updated 27 September 2026

One is a map, the other a vehicle. Raja yoga names the whole classical path of meditation; kriya yoga names a specific transmitted method for travelling it. Understanding the difference clears up a century of confusion.

The short answers

  • Raja yoga means the 'royal yoga' — the eight-limb path of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, culminating in samadhi.
  • Kriya yoga is a specific family of breath-and-spine techniques transmitted by initiation.
  • Patanjali himself uses 'kriya yoga' differently — for tapas, self-study and devotion (Sutra 2.1).
  • The kriya lineage presents its method as a direct means within the raja yoga ascent.
  • The map is public; the technique is transmitted.

Raja yoga: the map

Raja yoga is the classical name for the path of the Yoga Sutras: eight limbs running from ethical foundations (yama, niyama) through posture and breath (asana, pranayama) to the inner limbs of concentration, meditation and absorption (dharana, dhyana, samadhi). It is not a brand or a class style — it is the most influential map of the inner life ever drawn in the Indian tradition, and it is entirely public. Anyone can study it.

Kriya yoga: the technique

Kriya yoga, in the Lahiri Mahasaya lineage, is a specific method: a precise way of working with breath and life-force along the spine, received through initiation from an authorised teacher. The lineage presents it as a direct accelerant of the very ascent Patanjali mapped — a means of interiorising prana so that the higher limbs become living experience rather than theory. The technique itself is not published and, the tradition insists, cannot be: it is given person to person, and the tradition holds that sincere longing and readiness are what bring the teacher.

The Patanjali complication

Here is the detail that confuses careful readers: Patanjali uses the phrase 'kriya yoga' himself, in Sutra 2.1 — but there it means tapas (discipline), svadhyaya (self-study) and ishvara pranidhana (devotion to the Lord). That is a foundation for practice, not the initiatory technique of the modern lineage. The two usages share a word and a spirit of disciplined practice, but they are not the same thing, and conflating them muddles both.

How they fit together

The cleanest way to hold the relationship: raja yoga describes where the path goes; kriya yoga, as its lineage tells it, is one lineage's engine for going there. A kriya practitioner is, in the classical sense, a raja yogi — working the same ascent from ethical foundation to absorption, with a particular transmitted method at the centre of daily practice.

What this means for you

The eight limbs are yours to study and practise today, and the foundational limbs — ethics, posture, breath, withdrawal of the senses — are the openly taught preparation every tradition honours. If the kriya method calls to you, the tradition's own counsel is patience: practise sincerely, and let the question of initiation ripen in its own time.

Choosing for yourself

  1. Study the map

    Read the Yoga Sutras with a good commentary — the eight limbs frame every later method, kriya included.

  2. Practise the open limbs

    Ethics, posture, breath and sense-withdrawal need no initiation and are the traditional preparation.

  3. Distinguish the two 'kriyas'

    When reading, note whether a text means Patanjali's three disciplines or the lineage's technique.

  4. Let method questions follow practice

    The tradition's consistent counsel: sincere daily practice is the qualification; the rest follows in its time.

Cautions worth reading

  • Beware of sources that quote Sutra 2.1 as proof that kriya yoga can be self-taught — that verse describes different content.
  • The higher limbs are not techniques to force; classical teaching treats them as fruits of preparation.
  • As with all breath-centred practice, never force retention or ignore dizziness.

What research and history say

Patanjali's eight limbs are among the most studied structures in Indian philosophy, with a rich commentarial tradition. The kriya lineage's claim that its method accelerates this ascent rests on practitioner testimony rather than independent verification — a distinction worth keeping clear in both directions.

Questions people ask

+ Is kriya yoga part of raja yoga?
The kriya lineage presents its method as a means within the raja yoga path — a technique for the ascent Patanjali mapped. Raja yoga itself is the broader, public framework.
+ Did Patanjali teach kriya yoga?
Patanjali's 'kriya yoga' (Sutra 2.1) is tapas, self-study and devotion — foundational disciplines, not the initiatory breath technique of the modern lineage.
+ Can I practise raja yoga without a guru?
The foundational limbs — ethics, posture, breath, meditation — are openly taught and widely practised. Traditions differ on how far self-guided practice should go.
+ Which comes first?
The map comes first in study, and the foundations come first in practice. Specific transmitted methods, by their nature, come through a lineage when one seeks them.
+ Is raja yoga a religion?
It is a philosophy and practice framework. People of many religions — and none — have practised within it.

Sources

  • The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, especially Sutra 2.1 and the eight limbs
  • Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi (1946)
  • Classical commentarial tradition on the Yoga Sutras

Comparisons simplify by nature — individual teachers and classes vary more than styles do. Nothing here is medical advice; check with a clinician before starting a new movement or meditation practice if you have a health condition.