HAVING a slim and healthy body is very much on people鈥檚 minds today. This has caused many to turn to gymnasiums and health clubs for help. For the same reason, thousands of people in the Western world have turned to the Eastern art of yoga.
People suffering from stress, depression, and frustration have also turned to yoga for solace and solutions. Particularly since the 1960鈥檚, the decade of hippies and flower children, has interest in Eastern religions and their mystic practices spread throughout the West. Transcendental meditation, a close adjunct of yoga, has been popularized by film stars and rock musicians. In view of the growing interest in yoga, we might ask: 鈥業s yoga simply an exercise routine that will give the practitioner a healthy, slim body and some peace of mind? Can yoga be practiced without any religious overtones? Is yoga suitable for Christians?鈥?br>
The Background of Yoga
The origin of the word 鈥測oga鈥?is related to that of the English word 鈥測oke.鈥?It can mean to join or yoke together or to bring under a yoke, to harness or control. To a Hindu, yoga is a technique or a discipline that leads to union with a great supernatural force or spirit. It has been described as 鈥渢he yoking of all the powers of body, mind and soul to God.鈥?br>
How far back in history can yoga be traced? Figures of people seated in various yoga positions appear on seals found in the Indus Valley, in present-day Pakistan. The Indus Valley civilization is dated by archaeologists to between the third and the second millenniums聽B.C.E., very close in time to the Mesopotamian culture. Artifacts from both areas portray a man, representing a deity, crowned with animal horns and surrounded by animals, reminiscent of Nimrod, the 鈥渕ighty hunter.鈥?(Genesis 10:8,聽9) The Hindus claim that the figures sitting in yoga positions are images of the god Siva, lord of the animals and lord of yoga, who is often worshiped through the lingam, a phallic symbol. Thus, the book Hindu World calls yoga 鈥渁 code of ascetic practices, mainly pre-Aryan in origin, containing relics of many primitive conceptions and observances.鈥?br>
The methods of yoga were at first handed down orally. Then they were put into detailed, written form by the Indian yogic sage Pata帽jali as the Yoga Sutra, which remains the basic instruction book of yoga. According to Pata帽jali, yoga is 鈥渁 methodical effort to attain perfection, through the control of the different elements of human nature, physical and psychical.鈥?From its inception until the present time, yoga has been an integral part of Eastern religions, now particularly Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism. Some practicers of yoga believe that it will lead them to attain moksha, or liberation, through a merging with an all-pervading spirit.
So once again we ask: 鈥楥an yoga be practiced simply as a physical exercise to develop a healthy body and a relaxed mind, without any involvement with religion?鈥?In view of its background, the answer would have to be no.
Where Can Yoga Take You?
The objective of yoga as a discipline is to lead a person to the spiritual experience of being 鈥測oked鈥?to or merged with a superhuman spirit. But which spirit would that be?
In Hindu World, author Benjamin Walker says of yoga: 鈥淚t may have been an early system of magical ritualism, and yoga still retains in its meaning an overtone of occultism and sorcery.鈥?Hindu philosophers admit that the practice of yoga can give supernatural powers, even though they usually claim that this is not the ultimate goal of yoga. For example, in the book Indian Philosophy, former president of India, Dr.聽S. Radhakrishnan, says of the yogi that 鈥渃ontrol of the body through postures results in an indifference to the extremes of heat and cold. .聽.聽. The yogin can see and hear at a distance .聽.聽. Transmission of thought from one individual to another without the intervention of the normal communicating mechanisms is quite possible. .聽.聽. The yogi can make his body invisible.鈥?br>
The image of a yogi sleeping on a bed of nails or walking on hot coals may appear to be a hoax to some and a joke to others. But these are common occurrences in India, as is the practice of standing on one leg while staring directly at the sun for hours and breath control that allows a person to be buried in sand for long periods of time. In June聽1995, The Times of India reported that a three-and-a-half-year-old girl lay in a trance as a car weighing more than 1,600聽pounds [750聽kg] was allowed to run over her abdomen. To the amazement of the crowd, when she awoke she was totally unharmed. The report added: 鈥淚t was sheer yogic power.鈥?br>
Without a doubt, no normal human is capable of performing any of these tasks. Hence, a Christian must ask: Of what are these feats an indication? Are they from Jehovah God, 鈥渢he Most High over all the earth,鈥?or are they from some other source? (Psalm 83:18) The Bible is clear on this point. When the Israelites were on the verge of entering the Promised Land, which was oc ONLY ABOUT 10-20% OF YOGA IS PHYSICAL THE REST IS MENTAL/SPIRITUAL. ITS ABOUT LEAVING YOUR EGO BEHIND MOVING FORWARD TO STUDY YOURSELF. ITS ABOUT SELF HEALING AND SELF REALIZATION!
WHAT YOU SEE IN THE WEST IS FAR AWAY FROM WHAT YOGA ACTUALL IS ALL ABOUT!
EVERY YOGA "MASTERS" STARTING HIS/HER OWN YOGA "STYLE"...
THE GREATEST JOKE, THEY HAVE EVEN PATENDED 150 YOGA POSTURES IN USA, UK AND OTHER COUNTRIES!!!
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