People say that we live in a “time of fear and uncertainty.” Historians note that there have been few periods in human history when people have been as anxious as they are today. All of humanity, it seeks a way out of this modern chaos, a way out of the moral and spiritual misery, the waste, the sickness, and the inner emptiness that makes so much of a burden and torment for all men. People are looking for a solution, a way to overcome the great stress of this modern age. One of the many solutions to all human problems, which is offered, is YOGA.
What does yoga promise?
The word yoga comes from the Sanskrit word Yug, which means “unity” (with the divine, with higher consciousness). Yoga promises health, thought, psychosomatic balance, affirmation in society. It tries to deal with stressful situations and negative influences in our lives. It is recommended as a way out and a solution to the spiritual emptiness that results from rationalism, materialism and atheism.
Yoga is an elaborate group of methods, which, through asceticism, physical exercise, spiritual technique and meditation, should liberate the human soul from everything that is earthly. It is based on the practical experiences of many generations who have practiced yoga.
The liberation that yoga strives for is achieved through the “soul journey” – reincarnation. The untreated soul must constantly enter the cradle of life – to live, to perfect, and after death, to re-enter the womb and to be reborn. Only then, when the soul manages to be completely and perfectly purified, does it attain redemption by its own power, and thus liberation from further incarnation (reincarnation). Atonement at the same time means the union of the individual soul (atman) with the world soul (Brahma).
Some people are blindly enthusiastic about yoga and Hindu religion, they embrace it without much spiritual analysis. They study Eastern philosophies, Zen teaching, some also become followers of the teachings of the Hare Krishna sect, not knowing what their ultimate goal is. With enthusiasm and perseverance, they chant various mantras and chant the hallowed word Om. They rejoice that they can believe in reincarnation, exclude themselves from the world, society, and family, and live in the illusion that they have solved their greatest life problems.
Yoga leaders and its propagators
One of the first yoga propagators in the west was Swami Vivekananda (in the 19th century). He started his activity through the organization Vedenta Society, which still exists today. For yoga he was able to gain many influential personalities of the time. He taught four types of yoga: raja, jnana, bakti and karma yoga. His book was published in Calcutta: Will Vedanta be the Religion of the Future ?.
A little later (1920), Paramahansa Yogananda (Paramahansa Yogananda) came to the west. He worked for the Self-Realization Fellowship, which today offers correspondence yoga courses. He wrote the Autobiography of a Yoga Teacher, which in the West is considered a classic in yoga literature.
Also known is Paramhaansa Sivananda (Paramahansa Sivananda), who has described various types of yoga through about 200 books. One of his closest disciples, Swami Vishnu Devananda, has operated more than 40 Sivananda yoga centers (ashrams) around the world, teaching hata, raja, bakti and karma yoga. Another significant representative of yoga is Paramahansa Muktananda (Paramahansa Muktananda), the most influential kundalini yoga teacher in the world. Muktananda calls its consecration process shaktipat (shakti – snake power), a secret method of transmitting one’s spiritual energy to a new disciple. This means that students are completely in their lives dependent on their guru (teacher) and on his spiritual power.
Other movements have emerged such as Divine Light Mission, Krishna Consciousness and Transcendental Meditation.
The Religious Roots of Yoga
Yoga comes from India and has its roots in Hinduism. It combines a colorful array of methods, exercises and life practices with spiritual – religious goals. The term yoga cannot be understood to mean only hatajoga, which concentrates only on physical exercises (asanas). Hatajoga is one of the beginning levels of Rajojoga (royal yoga). There are various purification techniques (neti, dauti), spiritual training (pranayama), concentration and meditation. Also known to us is a dactyogi – worship of various deities, including the living gurus. Mantraoga is also practiced, in which mantras are repeated – magical formulas that express divine, cosmic primordial powers.
According to one definition, yoga is the orthodox Indian system, which, through systematic concentration, immersion in meditations, asceticism, spiritual exercises, nervous and muscular control of body posture, special states of consciousness (mystical visions) and power, tends to unite a perishable man with the universe ( divine).
The short definition above indicates the danger of this oriental spiritual influence. Physical exercises and meditations are inseparably linked to the spiritual realm – the very spirit of man must necessarily be covered. In its initial stages, the hatajoga exercises the motor system, influences various organs, enables better blood circulation through them, and thus provides for their better activity, much like other physical exercises and movements in general. Makes the body slimmer and more supple. Yoga therefore, in the initial phase, really causes an improvement in physical fitness and therefore a mental state (this is precisely its deception).
Yet, by no means is it just health-enhancing gymnastics. Those who think like this are fooled, because ultimately yoga cannot be separated from the occultism that is always behind it. Through meditation we enter a territory that is difficult to control. Meditation often resembles a trance. One can become a medium during meditation without being aware of it. Some people later experience psychological distress.
Asian Religion Expert, Frotz Blanke, in The Asian Religious Current in Europe (Asiatishe religiosen Stromungen in Evropa)
says the following: “Yoga appears as a series of exercises, but it actually introduces people, although they are not even aware of it, into the new spiritual world, into a new form of religion. It wants the man to forget even though he was only briefly taken away from his sensory world. “
According to the same author, one has to make a mental effort to finally connect with the divine mystically. This mental effort combined with yoga has proven to be dangerous because people do not become happier but fall into severe depression. With this we come to the worst aspect of this oriental pseudo deity, which is the complete opening of body and soul to demonic influence. Who through the Hindu methods opens his soul to the forces of darkness, falls under the tyranny of occult rulers.
The old Atharva-veda scripture states: “All these physical exercises, combined with spiritual gymnastics, produce supernatural forces (sidis).”
In India, yoga teachers – like those who possess occult skills and magical powers – are considered magicians. Although reaching these forces is not the reason for many practicing yoga, they cannot avoid the consequences.
Transcendental meditation
The aforementioned transcendental meditation (TM) is a form of yoga adapted to the Western world. It was proposed by Guru Dev and elaborated by his disciple Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
Everyone who wants to participate in TM must first undergo a consecration ceremony, which invokes the spirit of guru Deva and Hindu deities. During the introductory ceremony, the student receives a personal “mantra” from his teacher. Most often it is the name of some Hindu god.
The mantra must remain secret, otherwise it loses its power. When meditating, the mantra must be constantly repeated. TM strives to expand consciousness, and gain cosmic, divine consciousness. As with other forms of yoga, TM often results in the acquisition of paranormal abilities.
Transcendental consciousness is only the first new TM. There are four other levels of consciousness that end with “God consciousness”, “oneness with God” and “Brahma consciousness”. Learning TM is undoubtedly Hindu. Even their basic textbook The Science of Being and the Art of Living says that TM is the true “eternal truth” that underlies all religions. Like Hinduism, it teaches that God is impersonal; life is a cycle of rebirth; one can become perfect; sin can be overcome by meditation; Jesus Christ was only a prophet and not the Savior of the world.
A Biblical View of Yoga
Of course, yoga itself is not mentioned in the Bible, but the Bible takes a precise view of its teaching and practice. Yoga and TM are completely incompatible with Christianity. Biblical faith knows no self-realization, no elevation to cosmic-divine consciousness, or equalization of self with divinity as a consequence of immersion in “consciousness.”
The Christian faith knows about sin, its consequences and the possibility of its forgiveness, it knows about Jesus Christ and about the path through him to God, about devotion and obedience to Him, communion with Him. Hinduism is again learning about reincarnation. The Christian is hoping for eternal life – he may already have the security of salvation by faith and obedience. Yoga and TM are paths that lead to an expansion of consciousness, but do not lead to the encounter with Jesus Christ, to the knowledge of God the Father and His Son as a person, nor to the possession of the Holy Spirit. Biblical faith involves receiving the Holy Spirit, which our spirit releases, fulfills, equips with spiritual gifts, and gives it strength for a new, better life.
As we see it, yoga is the pursuit of self-salvation – the way down from above. Christianity, however, is the path of salvation that leads from the bottom down, from God to man (see John 3: 3,7). Only the grace of God, which He gives us through Jesus Christ, brings us into contact with God. Therefore, it is quite clear that there can be no Christian yoga. So, yoga is a path that leads nowhere, and is very dangerous. It causes an inner void, creates a spiritual vacuum in man. German scientist Loc (Lotz) says about the Eastern forms of meditation as follows: “Man opens himself, but not for God, but becomes the prey of demonism.” of other, even worse spirits (Matthew 12:45).
Bible teaching tells us very accurately that there is a spiritual world that is inhabited by various forces, hostile to human beings and yet very cunning. “For we do not fight against blood and flesh,” says the apostle Paul, “but against the supreme chiefs, against the powers, against the cosmic rulers of darkness of this age, against the evil spiritual powers in heaven.” (Ephesians 6:12) they possess people and dwell in them, and Scripture warns us of all that aids the action and invasion of these forces of darkness.
Can yoga be combined with Christianity?
Throughout the world, there is a growing interest in yoga and even among some Christians, and is expanding to other esoteric and New Age practices such as: reincarnation, acupressure, acupuncture, prana treatment, reflexology and the like.
For some, yoga is just a way of relaxing and reducing tension, while for others it is a form of exercise that benefits health and improves endurance; For some, yoga is a way of treating illness. There is a lot of confusion in the mind of the average person because yoga is generally not portrayed as either a wholly health or a fully spiritual discipline – a religious Hindu discipline. Namely, either as one kind or another and often as a mixture of the two disciplines.
The fact is that yoga for the Indians is primarily a spiritual discipline and has a deep root in Hinduism and Buddhism. In this light, a sincere Christian should certainly consider how appropriate it is to combine yoga with Christian spirituality and how wise it is to incorporate its techniques into Christian prayer and thinking.
The essence of yoga
The word yoga means “unity.” The goal of yoga is to unite the transient “I” or “JIVA” with the immortal “BRAHMAN”, the Hindu concept of God.
This God is not a personality but an impersonal, impersonal spiritual substance that is one with nature and the universe. Brahman is an impersonal, impersonal divine substance that permeates and envelops everything and is the foundation of everything.
Yoga has its roots in Hindu Upanishads dating back to 1000 BC and describes the purpose of yoga as “the union of light within with the light of Brahman.” , “TAT TUAM ASI” or “IT’S YOU”. The divine resides within each of us in his micro-cosmic representative, the individual “I” who is called Jiva. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna describes Jiva as “my own part of the eternal” and says that “the joy of Yoga comes to yoga when one is with Brahman.” One hundred and fifty years after Christ, the Yogi Patanjali explained eight paths like steps that lead a yoga student from ignorance to enlightenment:
1) Self-control (yama),
2) the practice of piety (niyama),
3) postures of the body (asana),
4) breathing exercises (pranayama),
5) control ie restraint of the senses (pratyahara),
6) concentration (dharana),
7) deep contemplation (dhyana) and
8) Enlightenment (samadhi).
It is interesting to note here that the exercises of body posture and breathing, which in the west are usually understood to be all yoga, are only the third and fourth degrees of unity with Brahman! Yoga is not only an elaborate system of exercise for the body, but also a spiritual discipline for the purpose of bringing the soul to samadhi, complete oneness with the divine being.
Samadhi is a state in which the natural and divine beings unite man and god become one without any difference.
Christian Yoga !?
Such spiritual views are in stark contrast to biblical Christianity, which quite clearly sees the difference between Creator and creature – man and God. God is always “someone else” and never a human. It is sad to see that some people who propagate yoga and other disciplines of meditation support their arguments by misquoting some isolated Bible quotes taken from a general context such as “you are the temple of God,” “living water flows from you,” “you will be in me and I will be in you, “” I no longer live, but Christ lives in me … “without understanding the meaning these statements have in the whole context of Scripture. Some people even represent Jesus Christ as a yogi. Thus, it is not uncommon for Jesus to be portrayed as a yogi in a meditation position!
Such spiritual views are in stark contrast to biblical Christianity, which quite clearly sees the difference between Creator and creature – man and God. God is always “someone else” and I am never human. It is sad to see that some people who propagate yoga and other disciplines of meditation support their arguments by misquoting some isolated Bible quotes taken from a general context such as “you are the temple of God,” “living water flows from you,” “you will be in me and I will be in you, “” I no longer live, but Christ lives in me … “without understanding the meaning these statements have in the whole context of Scripture. Some people even represent Jesus Christ as a yogi. Thus, it is not uncommon for Jesus to be portrayed as a yogi in a meditation position!
To call Jesus a “yogi” means to deny His divine essence, His holiness and perfection, while assuming that He had a fallen human nature subject to ignorance and delusion (maya), that He also needed deliverance from human captivity through the exercises and disciplines of yoga .
Yoga is incompatible with Christian spirituality because it is pantheistic (God is everything and everything is God) and because it believes that there is only one reality and everything else is illusion or maya. If there was only one absolute immutable reality and everything else was illusory then there would be no relationships and love.
The focus of biblical Christianity is faith in the Father and the Son, which is the perfect model of the relationship of love and in Christianity is focused on relationships with God and among men.
Jesus said to him, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your thoughts. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the other is like this: Love your neighbor as yourself. ”(Matthew 22: 37-39).
In Hinduism, good and evil, as well as pain and pleasure, are apparent (maya) and therefore unreal, imaginary. Vivekananda, one of the most revered icons of modern Hinduism said, “Good and evil are one and the same.”
In Christianity, the continuing problem of sin as an insult to God’s holiness is inseparable from our faith because sin is the reason why we need a Savior. Jesus’ incarnation, life, torment, death and resurrection is our only way of salvation – that is, deliverance from the “gravity of sin” and its consequences. We cannot negate this fundamental difference with the intention of introducing yoga and other Eastern meditation techniques into Christianity.
Practicing yoga is, in the “most baseless” case, pure paganism and at worst deep occultism. As one of the spiritual disciplines of New Age, yoga is widely practiced throughout the modern world. It is ridiculous and annoying that many yoga teachers declare themselves to be Christians, seducing and deceiving people that yoga has nothing to do with Hinduism and that it is merely an acceptance of “the good” from other cultures, that is, religious tolerance. Some even cover yoga with Christian phrases or gestures and call it “Christian yoga.” This is not about accepting the culture of other nations, but about embracing another religion that is incompatible with biblical Christianity.
Playing with fire ...
It is unfortunate that yoga has spread from kindergartens to various educational institutions in medicine, psychology, etc., so it is even called “Eastern medicine” and in essence it is not “medicine at all”; however, it has been successfully marketed under the label “relaxing” therapy, “” self-hypnosis, “” creative visualization, “” centering, “etc.
Hatha yoga, the most widespread form of yoga as a relaxation exercise and anti-stress therapy, is one of the six recognized systems of orthodox Hinduism and, with its mystical and religious roots, is the most dangerous form of yoga.
The truth is that many people are seemingly healed through yoga and other Eastern ways of meditation or prayer. However, this is not a benchmark because there are cases like this in all religions or beliefs. The Apostle Paul warns, “No wonder, because Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).
We need to take a serious approach to this problem today and see if sick people seek only healing of the body and material things, or God and Jesus Christ, who is first and foremost interested in saving the human soul, and only then to give other bodily and material blessings.
The desire of yoga to become like a god is the first and ever-present sin. Satan himself wanted this for himself: “And you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven. Above the stars of God, I will raise my throne and sit on the choir mountain in the far north. I will rise above the clouds. I will be equated with the Most High. ” (Isaiah 14: 13-14)
And then the first people also wanted it: “The serpent said to the woman, ‘No, you will surely not die. For God knows that the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened and you will become like gods, knowing good and evil. ”(Genesis 3: 4-5).
The desire to be like gods is still very much alive in modern materially egoistic man, and this makes yoga very desirable in achieving this goal.
The philosophy and practice of yoga is based on the belief that man and God are one. Yoga teaches that one should focus on oneself instead of the One True God. It encourages her followers to seek answers to life’s problems and questions within their own mind and consciousness, rather than finding a solution in God’s Word through the Holy Spirit. Yoga finally leaves man open to the deception of God’s enemy, seeking the sacrifices he can take from God (1 Peter 5: 8).
Christianity is unique
Some people think that there is nothing wrong with practicing yoga as long as we do not believe in its philosophical background. Those involved in the propaganda of yoga, reiki, etc. claim that philosophy and practice are inseparable.
The Bible Christian cannot in any way accept the philosophy and practice of yoga because yoga and Christianity are two totally different spiritual views. Christianity sees the main problem of man in his sinfulness and inability to conform to the nature and standards of the morally perfect (Holy) God. Man is estranged from God and in need of reconciliation, and that Atoner is Jesus Christ. After Jesus’ death on the cross, God reconciled the world to Himself. He calls on man today to receive freely all the benefits of His salvation by faith in Christ Himself.
Unlike yoga, Christianity sees salvation as a free gift that is not earned or attained by a person’s own efforts and deeds but already bestowed. “By this grace you are saved through faith. And it is not of you, it is a gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. ”(Ephesians 2: 8-9)