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Thread: There is no Christian Yoga.

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    There is no Christian Yoga.

    There is no Christian Yoga.
    By Yogi Baba Prem, Vedavisharada, CYI, C.ay, C.va

    It was quite astonishing to see on the flyer “Christian Yoga! This Thursday night….” I could feel the wheels spinning in my brain. “Christian Yoga”, I thought. Now while Christians can practice yoga, I am not aware of any Christian teachings about yoga. Yoga is not a Judeo/Christian word! It is not a part of the Roman Catholic teachings and certainly not a part of protestant teachings. It is not found within the King James Version of the bible. It is a Hindu word, or more correctly a Sanskrit word from the Vedic civilization. So how did we get “Christian Yoga”?

    From this I could conclude that “Christian Yoga” could only indicate one of two possibilities:

    1) Christianity is threatened by yoga and is attempting to take over this system that is expanding and successfully teaching spirituality to the masses.
    2) Christianity is subconsciously attempting to return to the spiritual roots of civilization—the Vedic civilization.

    I thought to myself, “why would they want to take over yoga?” Could it be due to the decline of members within the Christian church within the last 60 years? Is this an extensive marketing plan cooked up in some New York marketing guru’s head? Is it an attempt to water down the teachings of yoga and import their own teachings into the system? Or is it that they cannot stand not to own everything spiritual?

    I think the best reason might be that yoga, and eastern spirituality, offered answers to the spiritual questions that the spiritually hungry masses had. It offered a practical, rational, logical, and truthful approach to spirituality. It did not contain any form of self-righteous condemnation, but offered love and acceptance to all. It did not prey upon victims with terms such as “Sin” and “eternal damnation”. But most importantly, it had answers! It offered a practical approach to cultivating a relationship with divinity. It offered a systematic approach and an abstract approach to meet the varying temperaments of the spirituality hungry.

    The second possibility was that Christianity was itself looking for answers. Possibly the fundamentalist view, inflexibility, and condemnation was no longer fulfilling the needs of the masses or the leaders of the church. Offering yoga classes allowed the Christian to secretly practice Hinduism without having to renounce their Christian tradition.

    Possibly by embracing the technology of yoga and meditation, the Christian church could finally return to the idea of love and acceptance that it believed it was founded upon. It is ironic that one religion would need to look to another religion to teach them about love, peace, harmony, and forgiveness. If successful, it could embrace these ancient teachings and save itself from what has been a steady decline in church attendence of the past few decades.

    But possibly in their wisdom, the current fathers of the church realized that their time as a dominte religion was coming to a close. So within America they must absorb yoga before they are absorbed by it. This is a common religious view that has appeared numerous times within world history. Absorbing yoga would allow the church to more quickly move their resources to India. Taking over the country would allow them to own all the spirituality, and then ‘pick and chose’ which tasty spiritual treats they would share. After all they have 2000 years practice with this.

    Indian being a loving, peaceful people, openly embraced their brothers from the west. They looked the other way as their temples were torn down. They accepted it as karma as their families were torn apart over differing religious beliefs. The Indians thought it was thoughtful of the missionaries to dress up just like swami’s, to be “just like them” and to share in their kindred spirit.

    Modern day scholars from India frequently present the attitude of “let them have yoga, I am interested in protecting Hinduism.” I have heard this sentiment on numerous occasions, but the reality is that yoga is a part of Hinduism. Allowing one part to be taken from Hinduism opens a door for the distortion of the teachings. We must remember that the roots to modern day yoga comes from Vedic Yoga. The same Vedic Yoga that is the authority of Hinduism. Allowing one branch to be severed from the tree of knowledge will not necessarily kill that tree, but it can produce strain and have an unbalancing effect upon the tree.

    Hinduism should reclaim its full heritage and not allow other groups to rename its sacred teachings under their banner, especially when they have no history of those teaching within their own system. If they wish to ‘borrow’ and say this comes from our brothers and sisters in Hinduism, then that is another thing. But frequently groups attempt to privatize the information and present themselves as the original authority. Hinduism should guard against its sacred traditions becoming distorted and taken away.

    Scholars at universities should take the stand that yoga is part of Hinduism, though one is one required to be a Hindu to practice yoga. It is important to acknowledge the roots of the tradition; after all we are expected to give credit to the orginial sources within books and research papers, but yet Hindu scholars have ignored this fundamental western view when it comes to their own heritage.
    One does need to be Hindu to practice yoga, but it is clear from historical evidence that Yoga comes from Hinduism.

    http://yogibabaprem.sulekha.com/blog...a/comments.htm

  2. #2

    Re: There is no Christian Yoga.

    Saying Yoga is Christian is like saying the Eucharist in a Catholic ceremony is Hindu.
    How can I put this in a sentence? Try next time.

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    Re: There is no Christian Yoga.

    Quote Originally Posted by Kismet View Post
    Saying Yoga is Christian is like saying the Eucharist in a Catholic ceremony is Hindu.
    Well, it's a bit like prashad, isn't it?

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    Re: There is no Christian Yoga.

    Namasté,

    Sahasranama, thanks for posting this link; the argument is really well-written, firm and solidly-reasoned, yet calm. Reading the comments now.

    Saying Yoga is Christian is like saying the Eucharist in a Catholic ceremony is Hindu.

    Well, it's a bit like prashad, isn't it?

    Haha, I'm glad I wasn't the only one thinking about the origin of the Eucharist and mentally replying, "Well, actually, now that you mention it..." My first thought was the Sautrāmaṇī-yajña, for the basic idea if not the exact form.

    "That immortal form of him three deities, bestowing their gifts, have made with their powers...the parched grains became like his skin and flesh."

    Indraneela
    ===
    Oṁ Indrāya Namaḥ.
    Oṁ Namaḥ Śivāya.

  5. #5

    Re: There is no Christian Yoga.

    Vanakkam,

    In Indonesia i have read book Christian Meditation
    They also said Christian Sadhana
    Christian Chinesse New Year
    etc
    Buddhist Four Heavenly Kings originaly is Four Great Angel of Bible (Michael , Raphael, Gabriel, etc)
    even they are claimed that Chinesse character is from bible
    Chinesse Legend of creation originaly is from bible but chinesse ancestor is dont know how describe it properly, so now look like not from bible
    actualy they try to guide persons : "The right way to respect your culture and ancestor is walking with us." LOL
    I not wrote walking with Jesus, because they only use the name of Jesus to claim their own thought .

    OM. VAJRA. VISHNUYA. SVAHA
    OM. VAJRA. GARUDA. CALE CALE. HUM PHAT


    OM. AMOGHA VAIROCANA. MAHA-MUDRA. MANI PADMA JVALA PRAVARTTAYA. HUM

    Om Saha Nau-Avatu |
    Saha Nau Bhunaktu |
    Saha Viiryam Karava-Avahai |
    Tejasvi Nau-Adhii-Tam-Astu Maa Vidviss-Aavahai |
    Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih ||


  6. #6

    Re: There is no Christian Yoga.

    Christianity is a vast religion, and not all of them feel Christians should practice yoga and accuse it of being an occult and so forth. http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/yoga.htm

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    Re: There is no Christian Yoga.

    Quote Originally Posted by shantiseeker View Post
    Christianity is a vast religion, and not all of them feel Christians should practice yoga and accuse it of being an occult and so forth. http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/yoga.htm
    For once, I think the fundamental Christians are actually right, yoga definitely is occult/ religious/ pagan. More liberal Christians will not admit it.

  8. Re: There is no Christian Yoga.

    Christians have even called Yoga as Satanic. Vatican's chief exorcist Gabriele Amorth described Yoga promote black magic just like the Harry Potter books. Christians are feeling unsafe with Yoga and even Harry Potter. Many stupid Christians like Bede Griffiths are trying to 'modify' it for Christianity. They do not even understand what is Yoga.
    [CENTER][B][FONT=Arial Black][SIZE=7][COLOR=Yellow] ॐ[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
    [/CENTER]

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    Re: There is no Christian Yoga.

    Quote Originally Posted by Divine Kala View Post
    Well, it's a bit like prashad, isn't it?
    When Hindus do pujas, everyone is strongly encouraged to eat the prasadam, and the spiritual benefit that one gets isn't necessarily contingent on devotion to God. Example: when my mom used to do pujas when my friends were over, she'd make them eat the prasadam. All my white friends got a bit confused by this, but none of them were evangelical Christians so they never turned down fruit and sweets.

    In Christianity, only Christians are supposed to eat the eucharist. Works for me; why would I want to participate in a Christian rite?

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