Re: Yoga Beyond Religion
Namate Atanu.
It is good that someone from the Muslim community has the wisdom to speak for yoga sAdhana as not against the precepts of Islam. Muslims need more such people so they can live in peace with other religious communities.
That said, the term and concept of yoga with all its beautiful variety of meanings and connotations is certainly of Hindu origin. Both the theory and practice of yoga have originated from our Rishis of yore, though it was only much later codified into a system of philosophy by Patanjali. In other words, there is no such thing as Islamic yoga or Christian yoga for the simple reason that their scriptures do not speak of yoga as ours do in identical terms. The gnostic Christians, the Sufi Muslims and the progressive and open minded communities of other religions--all learnt their yoga only from Hindu gurus. Yogananda's Autobiography speaks of how a Muslim yogi who learnt his sAdhana from a Hindu guru tried to misuse it by coveting objects of others when he entertained them with a sumptuous dinner in golden vessels materialized by spirits at his command. When he learnt about this incident, the Hindu guru took back the yogic powers that he conferred on his Muslim disciple; when finally the disciple realized his mistake, his guru asked him to go to the mountains and do tapas, with the assurance that he would get his sustenance there for life.
I don't mean to discourage the efforts of our Muslim and Christian brethren when they try to seek the concepts of Hinduism in their religion or try to follow them together with their religious practice, but in all fairness they must acknowledge the origin and source of concepts like yoga without trying to portray it by different interpretations of their scriptures, as otherwise it might amount to extrapolation of their scriptures. The eight limbs of yoga as given by Patanjali as a complete, intensive system of Self-Realization is not to be found in other religious scriptures in the same measure or in the same arrangement, IMO. However, the concepts of Asana, japa and even mantra might be found in the scriptures and rituals of western religions but they are not yoga per se.
Here is my take on some of the points in the interesting article by Firoz Bakht Ahmed:
yoga and namaz are almost identical.
...
Yoga, according to Ashraf F Nizami’s book Namaz, the Yoga of Islam (published by D B Taraporevala, Mumbai 1977) is not a religion. Rather, it is a set of techniques and skills that enhance the practice of any religion. Nizami writes that in namaz , various constituents like sijdah is like half shirshasana while qayam is vajrasana in the same way as ruku is paschimothanasana.
It is a common misunderstanding that yogAsana and breathing practices are just all that is to the yoga--far from it. They are only tools to prepare the body for the rigours of yogic meditation and samAdhi, wherein lies the core of the yoga. Of course yoga is not a religion but a science that originated in Hinduism.
The purposes of yoga and Tariqat-e-Naqshbandi (Sufi lifestyle) are apparently similar since both aim at achieving mystical union with the ultimate reality namely Brahma or Allah. Islamic mysticism is undoubtedly impacted by the uncanny Vedic and Buddhist influences desiring to achieve mystical union with the Supreme Being or as one may also call nirvana or fana (a term used by the Sufis).
This is plain-spoken, and I gladly agree with the author.
Quite interestingly, the word Ohm, according to Urdu or Arabic alphabet, is formed from three alphabets — Alif, Wao and Meem. If we consider the abbreviations of these, Alif means Allah, Wao or wa means ‘and’ while Meem means Mohammed. It shows that Ohm is a confluence of Allah and Mohammed. May be some super-pious will also frown upon me on this word play
Incidentally, the holy number 786 of the Muslims was a backward misreading of the Sanskrit letters of AUM! As the author has stated, his derivation of 'ohm' is more of a word play than the equivalent of the Hindu AUM. If 'Ohm' is a confluence of Allah (the Brahman) and Mohammed (his prophet), what about the common Musim person (not to speak of persons who are not Muslims)? Are they not the same as Allah or Mohammed? In fact, equivating a common Muslim with Allah or Mohammed would be deemed blasphemous in Islam, (as in Christianity for God-Jesus-Man) though in Reality, the God is the Common Man and vice versa.
Despite such reservations, I appreciate the efforts of Muslims who seek the knowledge and wisdom to realize the unity of the Self in the followers of all religions. On a personal note, Atanuji, you are more like YudhiShtra who sees only good and good people everywhere; whereas some of us like me choose to be more like Arjuna, with all our misgivings and premonitions.
रत्नाकरधौतपदां हिमालयकिरीटिनीम् ।
ब्रह्मराजर्षिररत्नाढ्यां वन्दे भारतमातरम् ॥
To her whose feet are washed by the ocean, who wears the Himalayas as her crown, and is adorned with the gems of rishis and kings, to Mother India, do I bow down in respect.
--viShNu purANam
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