Mantra / TM · International + Home Study
The home study course in Kriya Yoga meditation founded by Paramahansa Yogananda in 1934. Students progress through ~3 years of lessons before formal Kriya Yoga initiation; SRF Meditation Group leaders are appointed from the international student body. Considered the foundational lay-practitioner pathway in the Yogananda lineage.
Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons are the home-study course in Kriya Yoga meditation founded by Paramahansa Yogananda in 1934. Yogananda established SRF as the international expression of his guru lineage, which he traced through Sri Yukteswar, Lahiri Mahasaya, and Mahavatar Babaji. The Lessons remain the formal entry pathway into the Yogananda lineage and have been continuously offered for nearly a century from SRF's international headquarters at Mount Washington in Los Angeles. The Lessons are not a teacher training in the conventional sense. They are a graduated home-study course that introduces students to Kriya Yoga preparation, the foundational techniques of energization exercises, the Hong-Sau concentration meditation, and the Aum technique of sound-based meditation. After roughly a year of study and consistent practice, students who feel called may apply for formal Kriya Yoga initiation, which is the central transmission of the lineage and is only available through the Lessons pathway. The pathway to teaching within SRF is distinct and quite restrictive. SRF Meditation Group leaders are appointed from the international student body after sustained study, demonstrated practice, and discernment by SRF's monastic order. There is no application track to become a teacher; the role is offered. The lay-practitioner pathway through the Lessons is the primary credential the lineage offers most students, and it leads to participation in local Meditation Groups and Centers worldwide. The Lessons are highly affordable, with a one-time enrollment fee of roughly USD 175 covering the full multi-year course. SRF is a non-profit and offers waivers based on need. The format is paper-based with online supplementary materials, reflecting the lineage's preference for slow, settled study at home rather than digital-first learning. Lessons arrive every two weeks across roughly three years. Graduates of the Lessons who go on to receive Kriya Yoga initiation become formal Kriyabans of the Yogananda lineage. The lineage is one of the most influential in twentieth-century yoga in the West, in part through the wide reach of Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi.
The Lessons sequence through several phases. The introductory series covers Yogananda's framing of yoga as a science of self-realization, the foundational philosophy of Sankhya and Kriya Yoga, and the preparation for advanced practice. Energization Exercises are introduced early; these are a set of thirty-nine subtle physical exercises Yogananda developed for awakening and directing prana through the body. Concentration meditation comes next, centered on the Hong-Sau technique of watching the breath with the silent mental syllables Hong on inhalation and Sau on exhalation. The Aum technique introduces meditation on inner sound, the cosmic vibration heard at the medulla. After roughly a year of consistent study and practice, students may apply for Kriya Yoga initiation, which transmits the central lineage technique. Subsequent Lessons deepen Kriya practice and integrate it with daily life, devotion, and service.
The Lessons are home-study, mailed every two weeks across roughly three years, with online supplementary materials and recorded talks by Yogananda and the SRF monastic order. SRF Meditation Centers and Groups across more than fifty countries support students through weekly group meditation, devotional services, and study circles. There's no cohort or instructor; the format is the student in personal study with the Lessons as the curriculum and the practice itself as the work. Students may correspond with SRF for guidance and may attend retreats at SRF's retreat centers. The pace is set by the practitioner.
Students who complete the Lessons and receive Kriya Yoga initiation are recognized as Kriyabans within the Yogananda lineage. Active Kriyabans participate in local SRF Meditation Centers and Groups, attend annual convocations, and engage with the wider international SRF body. SRF Meditation Group leaders are appointed by the SRF monastic order from the practitioner body and are not the result of a teacher track that students apply to. The Lessons themselves carry no external accreditation or teaching license; they are an internal lineage formation in personal practice.
There are no formal prerequisites. SRF requires only sincere interest, basic English literacy, the modest enrollment fee, and a commitment to regular practice. Younger applicants may need a parent or guardian's consent. Kriya Yoga initiation, taken later, has additional requirements set by SRF including sustained Lessons study and demonstrated practice.
The SRF Lessons sit alongside Ananda Sangha's parallel pathway, which is also rooted in Yogananda but flows through Swami Kriyananda. The two streams diverged after Kriyananda's split from SRF and offer different organizational expressions of the same core lineage techniques. The Yogoda Satsanga Society of India is SRF's sister organization in India. Within the wider Hindu meditation field, SRF Lessons differ from movements like Brahma Kumaris, Sahaja Yoga, or TM in their explicit guru-disciple structure, their slower home-study format, and their integration of devotional practice alongside meditation technique.
| Location | International + Home Study |
| Country | United States |
| Tradition | Mantra / TM |
| Format | Self-Paced, Online |
| Duration | 3+ years (home study) |
| Estimated cost | USD 175 enrollment |
| Accreditation | SRF Meditation Group Leader (by appointment) |