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Christians & Yoga?
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HI GENE; I think that I’ll be up all night reading. gary; – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Christians and Yoga? Yoga is an object of growing interest in our Western society today. It is hailed by many as the solution for the human mind and spirit in the barren wastes caused by rationalism, materialism and atheism. However, yoga originated in India and is rooted in Hinduism. It is not a single uniform concept; rather its manifestations make up a colourful palette of methods, exercises and disciplines; it also includes psycho-religious objectives. Those who practise yoga form an equally diverse group. In the West today it consists of people of all ages and strata of society prompted by very different motives. In West Germany alone 100,000 people are at present estimated to be practising yoga. One specialized technique among the yoga schools is transcendental meditation, also known as the science of creative intelligence. Originally an offshoot of the magic mantra yoga, this movement received its particular features as it spread among western people. In the year 1974 the movement was calculated to have altogether half a million adherents in the West. The founder and leader, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who has been travelling throughout the U S, Great Britain and West Germany since the early sixties, began to proclaim a world plan in 1972. Through 3,600 centres – one for each million of the world’s population – transcendental meditation and the science of creative intelligence are to be spread by means of a snowball system (that is, everyone who is initiated into transcendental meditation is obliged to tell others about it). Yoga in its different forms is literally on its way to conquer Europe, making headway even in many Christian circles. It is remarkable, however, that it plays only a subordinate role in India today, as Indian friends have informed us. In many cases the people there have realized that yoga cannot give them what they desire in their plight. Consequently, Indian Christians emphatically reject a combination of yoga and Christianity. The fact, however, that the teaching of yoga is gaining such a foothold here in the "Christian" nations of the West, where apostasy and rebellion against Jesus Christ is widespread, clearly shows how anti-Christian the teaching is. What is yoga? Yoga, as Hinduism sees it, is a collection of methods designed to release the human soul from all that is earthly with the aid of asceticism, physical exercises, breathing techniques and meditations. This aspired liberation has a twofold significance, involving more than the present life of the individual who practises yoga. The main emphasis is placed on the cycle of rebirth, also called the transmigration of the soul. According to ancient Hindu doctrine the unpurified soul of man is forced by its past actions (karma) to enter a mother’s womb ever anew and be re-born. Only when it succeeds in purifying itself by its own efforts, does it attain release and thus liberation from any further reincarnation. At the same time this release implies the realization that the individual soul, the real self of man (atman), is ultimately identical with the universal spirit (Brahman). Accordingly, Indian yoga is based on the theory that each soul in its nature and substance is essentially one with the divine. Herein lies the subtle allurement of yoga – it teaches the deification of man. According to yoga, man is not a fallen being, a distortion of the image of God, but rather God Himself. The various schools of yoga differ from each other mainly in their choice of practices. Hatha yoga, for instance, attaches great importance to physical techniques, such as the purification of the intestines, to certain postures (asanas) and to breathing control (pranayama). In the last item mentioned the main objective is that the breathing be deliberately slowed down. This is known to lead to a slow-down in the thought process and a self-induced emptying of the mind. Other schools placed greater emphasis on meditative techniques, for example, mantra yoga with its loud, soft or silent repetition of mantras. These mantras are magic formulae, which often have no linguistic or grammatical meaning, for instance, the mantra OM. They are supposed to represent divine or cosmic forces such as the gods Vishnu and Shiva or the universal spirit, Brahman. Hindus believe that through the continual repetition of such formulae they can identify themselves with the powers these formulae represent. Thus man no longer approaches his Maker in humility; instead by means of mantras he attempts to realize his hidden identity with God – or rather with a heathen deity. Most of the yoga schools in the West today are influenced by hatha yoga. The exercises taught are above all intended to invigorate the body, keep the limbs supple, remove waste products and impurities from the organs, and calm the nerves thus helping the individual to lead a harmonious life, so that he will be better equipped to stand the modern-day struggle for existence. In many instances, even children are introduced to such yoga courses. In these western schools of yoga there is little mention of the liberation of the soul from the cycle of reincarnation. The main emphasis is placed on success in this life. As a result of this new interpretation in the West yoga is erroneously considered to be a sort of sport or gymnastics. Sometimes the beginner does experience certain beneficial effects at first, feeling more at ease and better able to cope with situations of extreme stress. These initial, but only seemingly positive experiences with western yoga lure many to become more involved with yoga and to derive into this teaching at greater depth. Many are being enticed in this way and are falling into the trap. These physical excises, however, cannot be separated from a mental process. The human mind is inevitable involved. The actual initiators of the yoga courses are the yogis, who are trained in the yoga of Indian Hinduism and whose ultimate goal is to lead the students on to Indian yoga. Therefore, it necessarily follows that the external physical, breathing and relaxation exercises will lead to further exercises to attain self-knowledge and the technique of controlling mind and soul. This self-realization and control are acquired through a type of asceticism and ethical discipline, which ultimately end in the heathen religion of Hinduism. With that the often-posed question is answered: yoga cannot be separated from Hinduism. That which is practised here in the Western nations is not merely a health-promoting exercise, and whoever thinks of it as such is greatly deceived. Contrary to the claims of many, yoga exercises, in the final analysis, cannot be separated from the special philosophy of Hinduism and from the occult concepts behind it. Even advocates of yoga openly acknowledge this. Together with its physical exercises taught during gymnastic courses the seemingly harmless and non-religious hatha yoga, which concentrates purely on heightening the awareness of physical powers, is actually preparation for the "royal road", raja yoga. Certain aspects of the Hindu way of thinking also have to be accepted in hatha yoga. What seems to be gymnastic exercises has been arranged with ulterior motives and has effects on the mind. This is obvious from names such as, "the perfect posture", "the hero posture" and "the lotus posture". Moreover, not only are certain parts of the body and certain limbs activated, but internal organs and glands as well as certain nerve centres are affected. What are the goals of yoga? The different yoga schools have their specific teachings, but the primary concern of "classical yoga" is to discover one’s self, to rediscover one’s pure and divine nature, in other words, the god in man. It is maintained, according to the basic teaching of yoga, that nature – especially human nature – is essentially good and worthy. All yogis believe in themselves as a god or as a part of the deity. The "gurus" the leaders who pass on this teaching, are considered to be personified deities and they make use of this authority. This accounts for their uncanny influence, which is also evident in the western world today, where people even prostrate themselves before a seventeen-year-old boy. How do people think that through yoga they can find the god in themselves and liberate their true self, the divine in man, which is, so to speak, only imprisoned? The way is to empty oneself entirely in order to admit the forces of the universe, the physical exercises also serving to this end. Man will then be able to unite with the all-pervading life-force of the universe – present, for instance, in the air, in water and in food. In this way man is to become God, that is, he is to rise to his original, perfect, guiltless state – to become a superhuman person. With that he attains, so it is claimed, the aspired goal – bliss, complete harmony and supreme consciousness, a state of "God-consciousness". Thus yoga in its very nature is self-redemption! But in attempting to liberate the individual soul from a supposed imprisonment and to care for it as if it were something good, yoga actually pampers the sinful ego and thus fosters egoism. As a result, the yoga student is constantly preoccupied with himself. He revolves round his ego and becomes increasingly unsociable.
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Christians and Yoga? Yoga is an object of growing interest in our Western society today. It is hailed by many as the solution for the human mind and spirit in the barren wastes caused by rationalism, materialism and atheism. However, yoga originated in India and is rooted in Hinduism. It is not a single uniform concept; rather its manifestations make up a colourful palette of methods, exercises and disciplines; it also includes psycho-religious objectives. Those who practise yoga form an equally diverse group. In the West today it consists of people of all ages and strata of society prompted by very different motives. In West Germany alone 100,000 people are at present estimated to be practising yoga. One specialized technique among the yoga schools is transcendental meditation, also known as the science of creative intelligence. Originally an offshoot of the magic mantra yoga, this movement received its particular features as it spread among western people. In the year 1974 the movement was calculated to have altogether half a million adherents in the West. The founder and leader, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who has been travelling throughout the U S, Great Britain and West Germany since the early sixties, began to proclaim a world plan in 1972. Through 3,600 centres – one for each million of the world’s population – transcendental meditation and the science of creative intelligence are to be spread by means of a snowball system (that is, everyone who is initiated into transcendental meditation is obliged to tell others about it). Yoga in its different forms is literally on its way to conquer Europe, making headway even in many Christian circles. It is remarkable, however, that it plays only a subordinate role in India today, as Indian friends have informed us. In many cases the people there have realized that yoga cannot give them what they desire in their plight. Consequently, Indian Christians emphatically reject a combination of yoga and Christianity. The fact, however, that the teaching of yoga is gaining such a foothold here in the "Christian" nations of the West, where apostasy and rebellion against Jesus Christ is widespread, clearly shows how anti-Christian the teaching is. What is yoga? Yoga, as Hinduism sees it, is a collection of methods designed to release the human soul from all that is earthly with the aid of asceticism, physical exercises, breathing techniques and meditations. This aspired liberation has a twofold significance, involving more than the present life of the individual who practises yoga. The main emphasis is placed on the cycle of rebirth, also called the transmigration of the soul. According to ancient Hindu doctrine the unpurified soul of man is forced by its past actions (karma) to enter a mother’s womb ever anew and be re-born. Only when it succeeds in purifying itself by its own efforts, does it attain release and thus liberation from any further reincarnation. At the same time this release implies the realization that the individual soul, the real self of man (atman), is ultimately identical with the universal spirit (Brahman). Accordingly, Indian yoga is based on the theory that each soul in its nature and substance is essentially one with the divine. Herein lies the subtle allurement of yoga – it teaches the deification of man. According to yoga, man is not a fallen being, a distortion of the image of God, but rather God Himself. The various schools of yoga differ from each other mainly in their choice of practices. Hatha yoga, for instance, attaches great importance to physical techniques, such as the purification of the intestines, to certain postures (asanas) and to breathing control (pranayama). In the last item mentioned the main objective is that the breathing be deliberately slowed down. This is known to lead to a slow-down in the thought process and a self-induced emptying of the mind. Other schools placed greater emphasis on meditative techniques, for example, mantra yoga with its loud, soft or silent repetition of mantras. These mantras are magic formulae, which often have no linguistic or grammatical meaning, for instance, the mantra OM. They are supposed to represent divine or cosmic forces such as the gods Vishnu and Shiva or the universal spirit, Brahman. Hindus believe that through the continual repetition of such formulae they can identify themselves with the powers these formulae represent. Thus man no longer approaches his Maker in humility; instead by means of mantras he attempts to realize his hidden identity with God – or rather with a heathen deity. Most of the yoga schools in the West today are influenced by hatha yoga. The exercises taught are above all intended to invigorate the body, keep the limbs supple, remove waste products and impurities from the organs, and calm the nerves thus helping the individual to lead a harmonious life, so that he will be better equipped to stand the modern-day struggle for existence. In many instances, even children are introduced to such yoga courses. In these western schools of yoga there is little mention of the liberation of the soul from the cycle of reincarnation. The main emphasis is placed on success in this life. As a result of this new interpretation in the West yoga is erroneously considered to be a sort of sport or gymnastics. Sometimes the beginner does experience certain beneficial effects at first, feeling more at ease and better able to cope with situations of extreme stress. These initial, but only seemingly positive experiences with western yoga lure many to become more involved with yoga and to derive into this teaching at greater depth. Many are being enticed in this way and are falling into the trap. These physical excises, however, cannot be separated from a mental process. The human mind is inevitable involved. The actual initiators of the yoga courses are the yogis, who are trained in the yoga of Indian Hinduism and whose ultimate goal is to lead the students on to Indian yoga. Therefore, it necessarily follows that the external physical, breathing and relaxation exercises will lead to further exercises to attain self-knowledge and the technique of controlling mind and soul. This self-realization and control are acquired through a type of asceticism and ethical discipline, which ultimately end in the heathen religion of Hinduism. With that the often-posed question is answered: yoga cannot be separated from Hinduism. That which is practised here in the Western nations is not merely a health-promoting exercise, and whoever thinks of it as such is greatly deceived. Contrary to the claims of many, yoga exercises, in the final analysis, cannot be separated from the special philosophy of Hinduism and from the occult concepts behind it. Even advocates of yoga openly acknowledge this. Together with its physical exercises taught during gymnastic courses the seemingly harmless and non-religious hatha yoga, which concentrates purely on heightening the awareness of physical powers, is actually preparation for the "royal road", raja yoga. Certain aspects of the Hindu way of thinking also have to be accepted in hatha yoga. What seems to be gymnastic exercises has been arranged with ulterior motives and has effects on the mind. This is obvious from names such as, "the perfect posture", "the hero posture" and "the lotus posture". Moreover, not only are certain parts of the body and certain limbs activated, but internal organs and glands as well as certain nerve centres are affected. What are the goals of yoga? The different yoga schools have their specific teachings, but the primary concern of "classical yoga" is to discover one’s self, to rediscover one’s pure and divine nature, in other words, the god in man. It is maintained, according to the basic teaching of yoga, that nature – especially human nature – is essentially good and worthy. All yogis believe in themselves as a god or as a part of the deity. The "gurus" the leaders who pass on this teaching, are considered to be personified deities and they make use of this authority. This accounts for their uncanny influence, which is also evident in the western world today, where people even prostrate themselves before a seventeen-year-old boy. How do people think that through yoga they can find the god in themselves and liberate their true self, the divine in man, which is, so to speak, only imprisoned? The way is to empty oneself entirely in order to admit the forces of the universe, the physical exercises also serving to this end. Man will then be able to unite with the all-pervading life-force of the universe – present, for instance, in the air, in water and in food. In this way man is to become God, that is, he is to rise to his original, perfect, guiltless state – to become a superhuman person. With that he attains, so it is claimed, the aspired goal – bliss, complete harmony and supreme consciousness, a state of "God-consciousness". Thus yoga in its very nature is self-redemption! But in attempting to liberate the individual soul from a supposed imprisonment and to care for it as if it were something good, yoga actually pampers the sinful ego and thus fosters egoism. As a result, the yoga student is constantly preoccupied with himself. He revolves round his ego and becomes increasingly unsociable. Thus this alleged self-redemption is a misconception. If the inflowing forces of the universes are supposed to accomplish this self-redemption, one point is important to remember: There are no neutral forces. Behind every inflowing power is a supernatural being, a deity. But the question is – which one? Jesus declares that He, the Son of God, came from above, but there is also an adversary of God, a powerful anti-God, who is from below (John 8:23). The latter also can imbue a person with his powers and grant him special abilities. Where do the powers come from
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Response:
Notice how the word fundamentalist has in it the word "mental". Read through and you will see what I mean.
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Christians and Yoga? Yoga is an object of growing interest in our Western society today. It is hailed by many as the solution for the human mind and spirit in the barren wastes caused by rationalism, materialism and atheism. However, yoga originated in India and is rooted in Hinduism. It is not a single uniform concept; rather its manifestations make up a colourful palette of methods, exercises and disciplines; it also includes psycho-religious objectives. Those who practise yoga form an equally diverse group. In the West today it consists of people of all ages and strata of society prompted by very different motives. In West Germany alone 100,000 people are at present estimated to be practising yoga. One specialized technique among the yoga schools is transcendental meditation, also known as the science of creative intelligence. Originally an offshoot of the magic mantra yoga, this movement received its particular features as it spread among western people. In the year 1974 the movement was calculated to have altogether half a million adherents in the West. The founder and leader, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who has been travelling throughout the U S, Great Britain and West Germany since the early sixties, began to proclaim a world plan in 1972. Through 3,600 centres – one for each million of the world’s population – transcendental meditation and the science of creative intelligence are to be spread by means of a snowball system (that is, everyone who is initiated into transcendental meditation is obliged to tell others about it). Yoga in its different forms is literally on its way to conquer Europe, making headway even in many Christian circles. It is remarkable, however, that it plays only a subordinate role in India today, as Indian friends have informed us. In many cases the people there have realized that yoga cannot give them what they desire in their plight. Consequently, Indian Christians emphatically reject a combination of yoga and Christianity. The fact, however, that the teaching of yoga is gaining such a foothold here in the "Christian" nations of the West, where apostasy and rebellion against Jesus Christ is widespread, clearly shows how anti-Christian the teaching is. What is yoga? Yoga, as Hinduism sees it, is a collection of methods designed to release the human soul from all that is earthly with the aid of asceticism, physical exercises, breathing techniques and meditations. This aspired liberation has a twofold significance, involving more than the present life of the individual who practises yoga. The main emphasis is placed on the cycle of rebirth, also called the transmigration of the soul. According to ancient Hindu doctrine the unpurified soul of man is forced by its past actions (karma) to enter a mother’s womb ever anew and be re-born. Only when it succeeds in purifying itself by its own efforts, does it attain release and thus liberation from any further reincarnation. At the same time this release implies the realization that the individual soul, the real self of man (atman), is ultimately identical with the universal spirit (Brahman). Accordingly, Indian yoga is based on the theory that each soul in its nature and substance is essentially one with the divine. Herein lies the subtle allurement of yoga – it teaches the deification of man. According to yoga, man is not a fallen being, a distortion of the image of God, but rather God Himself. The various schools of yoga differ from each other mainly in their choice of practices. Hatha yoga, for instance, attaches great importance to physical techniques, such as the purification of the intestines, to certain postures (asanas) and to breathing control (pranayama). In the last item mentioned the main objective is that the breathing be deliberately slowed down. This is known to lead to a slow-down in the thought process and a self-induced emptying of the mind. Other schools placed greater emphasis on meditative techniques, for example, mantra yoga with its loud, soft or silent repetition of mantras. These mantras are magic formulae, which often have no linguistic or grammatical meaning, for instance, the mantra OM. They are supposed to represent divine or cosmic forces such as the gods Vishnu and Shiva or the universal spirit, Brahman. Hindus believe that through the continual repetition of such formulae they can identify themselves with the powers these formulae represent. Thus man no longer approaches his Maker in humility; instead by means of mantras he attempts to realize his hidden identity with God – or rather with a heathen deity. Most of the yoga schools in the West today are influenced by hatha yoga. The exercises taught are above all intended to invigorate the body, keep the limbs supple, remove waste products and impurities from the organs, and calm the nerves thus helping the individual to lead a harmonious life, so that he will be better equipped to stand the modern-day struggle for existence. In many instances, even children are introduced to such yoga courses. In these western schools of yoga there is little mention of the liberation of the soul from the cycle of reincarnation. The main emphasis is placed on success in this life. As a result of this new interpretation in the West yoga is erroneously considered to be a sort of sport or gymnastics. Sometimes the beginner does experience certain beneficial effects at first, feeling more at ease and better able to cope with situations of extreme stress. These initial, but only seemingly positive experiences with western yoga lure many to become more involved with yoga and to derive into this teaching at greater depth. Many are being enticed in this way and are falling into the trap. These physical excises, however, cannot be separated from a mental process. The human mind is inevitable involved. The actual initiators of the yoga courses are the yogis, who are trained in the yoga of Indian Hinduism and whose ultimate goal is to lead the students on to Indian yoga. Therefore, it necessarily follows that the external physical, breathing and relaxation exercises will lead to further exercises to attain self-knowledge and the technique of controlling mind and soul. This self-realization and control are acquired through a type of asceticism and ethical discipline, which ultimately end in the heathen religion of Hinduism. With that the often-posed question is answered: yoga cannot be separated from Hinduism. That which is practised here in the Western nations is not merely a health-promoting exercise, and whoever thinks of it as such is greatly deceived. Contrary to the claims of many, yoga exercises, in the final analysis, cannot be separated from the special philosophy of Hinduism and from the occult concepts behind it. Even advocates of yoga openly acknowledge this. Together with its physical exercises taught during gymnastic courses the seemingly harmless and non-religious hatha yoga, which concentrates purely on heightening the awareness of physical powers, is actually preparation for the "royal road", raja yoga. Certain aspects of the Hindu way of thinking also have to be accepted in hatha yoga. What seems to be gymnastic exercises has been arranged with ulterior motives and has effects on the mind. This is obvious from names such as, "the perfect posture", "the hero posture" and "the lotus posture". Moreover, not only are certain parts of the body and certain limbs activated, but internal organs and glands as well as certain nerve centres are affected. What are the goals of yoga? The different yoga schools have their specific teachings, but the primary concern of "classical yoga" is to discover one’s self, to rediscover one’s pure and divine nature, in other words, the god in man. It is maintained, according to the basic teaching of yoga, that nature – especially human nature – is essentially good and worthy. All yogis believe in themselves as a god or as a part of the deity. The "gurus" the leaders who pass on this teaching, are considered to be personified deities and they make use of this authority. This accounts for their uncanny influence, which is also evident in the western world today, where people even prostrate themselves before a seventeen-year-old boy. How do people think that through yoga they can find the god in themselves and liberate their true self, the divine in man, which is, so to speak, only imprisoned? The way is to empty oneself entirely in order to admit the forces of the universe, the physical exercises also serving to this end. Man will then be able to unite with the all-pervading life-force of the universe – present, for instance, in the air, in water and in food. In this way man is to become God, that is, he is to rise to his original, perfect, guiltless state – to become a superhuman person. With that he attains, so it is claimed, the aspired goal – bliss, complete harmony and supreme consciousness, a state of "God-consciousness". Thus yoga in its very nature is self-redemption! But in attempting to liberate the individual soul from a supposed imprisonment and to care for it as if it were something good, yoga actually pampers the sinful ego and thus fosters egoism. As a result, the yoga student is constantly preoccupied with himself. He revolves round his ego and becomes increasingly unsociable. Thus this alleged self-redemption is a misconception. If the inflowing forces of the universes
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