The word kriya means "action with awareness", "sacred rite" and is a form of energy in the universe ie. "kriya shakti". It also refers to a number of cleansing yoga techniques or practices. Patanjali describes kriya yoga in his sutras II-1 as constant practice consisting of (intense practice, self study and devotion to the lord) combined with detachment.

In the context of this website Kriya yoga is the name given to techniques of yoga by Babaji sometimes called Mahavatar Babaji, Kriya Babaji, Babaji Nagaraj, Shiva Babaji, Mahamuni Babaji and other names, which were first brought more into the public view starting in the 1860s with the intiation of Lahiri Mahasaya, then others from whom a number of subsequent lineages of kriya yoga evolved. Babaji's Kriya yoga represents one of these lineages.

Babaji synthesized what he learned from his gurus or teachers being a synthesis of classical yoga, raja yoga or ashtanga yoga as described by Patanjali and Kundalini yoga and Saiva Siddhantha. Babaji's Kriya yoga is a fivefold path comprised of Kriya Hatha Yoga, Kriya Kundalini Pranayama, Kriya Dhyana Yoga, Kriya Mantra Yoga and Kriya Bhakti Yoga. Techniques once learned are practiced as an ensemble and are designed to hasten the development of ordinary human consciousness into cosmic consciousness, the ultimate goal of all yoga - union with the divine.

Babaji's Initiation from Agastyar