{{Short description|Yoga technique}} {{redirect|Kriya}} {{EngvarB|date=July 2015}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2015}} {{italic title}} '''{{Transliteration|sa|Kriyā}}''' ({{Langx|sa|क्रिया|lit=action, deed, effort}}) most commonly refers to a "completed action", technique or practice within a yoga discipline meant to achieve a specific result.
==Etymology== {{Transliteration|sa|Kriyā}} is a Sanskrit term, derived from the Sanskrit root {{Transliteration|sa|kri}}, meaning 'to do'. ''{{Transliteration|sa|Kriyā}}'' means 'action, deed, effort'. The word ''karma'' is also derived from the Sanskrit root ''{{IAST|√kṛ}}'' ({{Transliteration|sa|kri}}) {{lang|sa|कृ}}, meaning 'to do, make, perform, accomplish, cause, effect, prepare, undertake'.<ref name=mmw>see: * [http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/mw/0300/mw__0334.html kṛ, कृ] Monier Monier-Williams, [http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/monier/ Monier Williams Sanskrit–English Dictionary (2008 revision)], pp. 300–301; * Carl Cappeller (1999), Monier-Williams: ''A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, Etymological and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European Languages'', Asian Educational Services, {{ISBN|978-8120603691}}</ref><ref>Mulla & Krishnan (2009), "Do Karma-Yogis Make Better Leaders? Exploring the Relationship between the Leader's Karma-Yoga and Transformational Leadership", ''Journal of Human Values'', 15(2), pp. 167–183</ref> ''Karma'' is related to the verbal Proto-Indo-European root {{Lang|ine-x-proto|kwer-}} 'to make, form'.<ref>John Algeo and Thomas Pyles (2010), ''The Origins and Development of the English Language'', 6th Edition, {{ISBN|978-1428231450}}, pp. 54–55</ref>
The root {{Transliteration|sa|kṛ}} ({{Transliteration|sa|kri}}) is common in ancient Sanskrit literature, and it is relied upon to explain ideas in Rigveda, other Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, and the Hindu epics.<ref name=mmw/><ref>See Rigveda 9.69.5, 10.159.4, 10.95.2, Svetâsvatara Upanishad 2.7.v.1, Mahabharata 1.5141, etc.</ref>
==Practices== The ''Yoga Sutras of Patanjali'' 2.1 defines three types of {{Transliteration|sa|kriyā}}, namely ''tapas'' (ascetic devotion), ''svadhyaya'' (study of the self or the scriptures), and {{Transliteration|sa|Isvara pranidhana}} (devotion or surrender to higher consciousness).
The yogic purifications or ''shatkarma''s are sometimes called the Shatkriyas ("the six actions").<ref name="YogaMag">[http://www.yogamag.net/archives/1991/cmay91/shat.shtml Shatkarmas – Cleansing Techniques] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161013085055/http://www.yogamag.net/archives/1991/cmay91/shat.shtml |date=13 October 2016 }}, in ''Yoga Magazine'', a publication of Bihar School of Yoga</ref>
The Kriya Yoga school, established by Yogananda, is centered on pranayama techniques.
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
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