Kriya Yoga by Swami Yogananda (1930)

Kriya Yoga sets out a method of breathing and meditation practice that its author presents as a route to rapid spiritual growth. According to the teaching, a specified sequence of kriya exercises, combined with particular seated gestures called mudras, can compress years of development of body, mind and spirit into a short session. The author argues that yoga is the most effective means of speeding up this inner evolution, and that the awakening and wisdom usually expected to take countless lifetimes of ordinary development might be reached within a single life. Written in the early twentieth century, the book lays out the practice for serious students who want a disciplined path toward self-realization.