Relaxation or Occult?*
Yoga
is the "PRAYER" (Communication/Supplication) with a Pagan Deity.
- Yoga
is from the Sankrit word Yug, meaning "union" (with the Divine,
your higher "SELF"). Yoga is a path for transcending the ordinary mind
(who you think you are) in order to merge with your "higher SELF" or "God
SELF." Yoga means "to yoke" -- to yoke with Brahman (i.e., the
"Infinite," the "Universal Spirit," the impersonal force that the Hindus
call "God") via the realization of an altered state of consciousness,
thereby theoretically releasing oneself from the bondage of endless
reincarnation. Yoga comes out of the Hindu Vedas. It can be traced back to
Patanjali, who was a religious leader. Shiva, one of Hinduism's three most
powerful gods, was known as "The Destroyer" -- he's called Yogi Swara or
the "Lord of Yoga."
- Consider the following portion of an article
from a secular newspaper:
"It is estimated that there are 10,000 yoga
teachers in the United States, who teach between 4 and 5 million
students a week. Yoga is a program that involves conscious stretching,
deliberate movements, controlled breathing and relaxation exercises. Its
purpose is to develop strength, flexibility, balance, body alignment,
body awareness, muscular balance, calmness and controlled breathing.
Yoga originated from a school of thought in the Hindu religion, which
suggests that postures can isolate the soul from the body and the mind.
"In the Western world, yoga is used mainly as a
form of exercise. Yoga comes from the original Sanskrit word, 'joga,'
which means 'to join.' Yoga means to join body, mind and breath; to get
them to work together in harmony [This is a lie!]. It's very gentle,
slow and meditative; but it requires concentration. Yoga instructors say
they have received a handful of complaints from people who believe yoga
is intertwined with mysticism and the occult. [We] acknowledge that yoga
does indeed come from a portion of India's Hindu religion, but [our]
classes deal mainly with the physical aspects of yoga, and do not in any
way coerce people to become involved in Eastern religion" [another lie].
(Source: The Bloomington Herald-Times, 1991.) (Emphasis added.)
Sadly, even professing Christians have bought
into this lie. Every Yoga teacher is, in effect, a Hindu or Buddhist
missionary, even though "he or she may wear a cross, insist that Jesus was
a great Yogi, and protest that Yoga is not a religion, but science. This
is the most blatant of lies. Yet it has been so widely proclaimed and
believed that in America's public schools, beginning in kindergarten and
in almost every other area of society today, Yoga and other forms of
Hindu-Buddhist occultism are taught and accepted as science. In contrast,
Christianity has been thrown out of the schools and is being crowded out
of every other area of life in the 'broad-minded' move to replace religion
with the New Age 'science'!" (Source: Peace, Prosperity, and the Coming
Holocaust, p. 147.)
- Yoga is clearly a
New Age concept
that is deeply religious and pantheistic in its origin. It is widely
practiced and supported by New Age proponents. The New Age movement denies
the reality of sin and total depravity, and believes that man is generally
good and is divine. They teach that there is a god within us, and we are
to harness that and develop it through meditation and other metaphysical
techniques. They teach that the only thing people need is enlightenment
regarding their divinity. They believe that through reincarnation man is
reunited with God. They believe in karma, which is a debt
one owes because of his previous life. They also believe and teach the
evolution of man as opposed to the Creation that is taught in the Bible.
Yoga is also associated with imagery, visualization, hypnosis, mind magic,
chanting of mantra, positive thinking, and Silva mind techniques,
which are not only unbiblical, but are potentially dangerous. When
practiced by professing believers, it allows a certain external spiritual
influence in our lives, which is inconsistent with, and disallowed (2 Cor.
6:14-18), in the teachings of the Holy Scriptures (2 Cor. 4:4).
The practice of Yoga is pagan at best, and
occultic at worse. Its teachings emanate from the Eastern religions, all
of which teach that self is God, only we just don't realize it:
"The goal of Yoga is 'self-realization ' -- to
look deeply within what ought to be the temple of the one true God and
there to discover the alleged 'true Self' or 'higher Self' and declare
self to be God. Nothing could be more religious than that, yet with
straight faces all of the Yogis insist that practicing Yoga will not
change anyone's religious beliefs. This is the religion of Antichrist;
and for the first time in history it is being widely practiced
throughout the Western world as Transcendental Meditation and other
forms of Yoga." (Source: The Seduction of Christianity, p. 54.)
- Yoga calls itself science. "By calling
itself science, Yoga (which is the very heart of Hinduism) has
within the last [30] years become an integral part of Western society,
where it is taught in nearly every YMCA or YWCA, in clubs, in public
schools, in industry, and in many churches. Dressed in Western clothes,
Yoga has gained acceptance in medicine, psychology, education, and
religion under such euphemisms as 'centering,' 'relaxation therapy,'
'self-hypnosis,' and 'creative visualization.' Yoga is designed to lead to
the 'realization' of one's true 'godhood' through an inward meditative
journey that finally locates the ultimate source of everything within the
human psyche." (Source: The Seduction of Christianity, p. 110.)
- Hatha-yoga is a popular form of Yoga practiced
today by those looking for a form of relaxation and non-strenuous
exercise. Johanna Michaelsen, however, correctly discerns:
"There is a common misconception in the West
that hatha-yoga, one of about ten forms of Yoga that supposedly leads to
self-realization, is merely a neutral form of exercise, a soothing and
effective alternative for those who abhor jogging and calisthenics ...
[However], Hatha-yoga is 'one of the six recognized systems of orthodox
Hinduism' and is at its roots religious and mystical. It
is also one of the most difficult and potentially [spiritually]
dangerous forms of Yoga.
"The term hatha is derived from the verb
hath, which means 'to oppress.'... What the practice of hatha-yoga
is designed to do is suppress the flow of psychic energies through these
channels ["symbolic, or psychic passages on either side of the spinal
column"], thereby forcing the 'serpent power' or the kundalini
force to rise through the central psychic channel in the spine (the
sushumna) and up through the chakras, the supposed psychic
centers of human personality and power. Westerners mistakenly believe
that one can practice hatha-yoga apart from the philosophical and
religious beliefs that undergird it. This is an absolutely false belief.
... You cannot separate the exercises from the philosophy. ... 'The
movements themselves become a form of meditation.' The continued
practice of the exercises will, whether you ... intend it or not,
eventually influence you toward an Eastern/mystical perspective. That
is what it is meant to do! ... There is, by definition, no such
thing as 'neutral' Yoga" (Like Lambs to the Slaughter, pp.
93-95). (Last emphasis added.)
- Other types or brands of Yoga:
(a) Laya Yoga: Path of
Universal Body -- In Laya Yoga, the Macrocosm (the Universe) is directly
networked with the Microcosm (the human body). There are five centres
(chakras, or "wheels") along the spine and one between the eyebrows
that directly corresponds with some aspect of creation. These chakras
are linked through an etheric channel along the spine. A primordial
creative energy (kundalini) lies dormant at the base of the spine
in the root chakra. The Laya Yogi (someone who practices Laya
Yoga), through meditation and Asanas (posture exercises), will
coax this kundalini energy into traveling up the channel through
each chakra until it reaches its point of origin at the top of
the skull. At that point, the yogi will have merged with the source of
creation. If the yogi then chooses to reverse the process, the
kundalini energy will travel back down the channel recharging each
centre with an increased amount of Prana (life force energy). The
result is that the yogi will then have more understanding of, and
control over, all aspects of creation each time this process is done.
(b) Karma Yoga: Path
of Selfless Action -- Action
performed for the purpose of satisfying a desire has the effect of
generating new desires that require additional actions. Addiction to
pleasure (in any form) is a good example of this. Once the desire is
satisfied, it generates more desire, which then needs to be satisfied
ad infinitum. In Karma Yoga, one seeks to end this cycle by not
being attached to the outcome of anything he does. Actions are thus
performed based on what seems appropriate in a given situation. The
person performing the action has no concern about whether the end result
is "good" or "bad." Since the actions are not performed for
self-gratification, the person is free of them. As a result of not being
attached to the outcome, a person can become completely involved in
whatever he is doing. In this way, yogis seek to end the eternal cycle
of death and rebirth.
(c) Jnana Yoga: Path
of Transcendental Knowledge -- This type of yoga is geared toward those
who have an intellectual curiosity, who like to reason and analyze. The
ordinary mind can never know Ultimately and Absolutely. Therefore, the
goal is for the ordinary mind to realize that and, thereby, get out of
the way. In effect, one uses the ordinary mind to transcend the ordinary
mind. Gradually the ordinary mind reveals its true nature to itself. In
the "Who am I?" inquiry, as taught by the great Indian guru Ramana
Maharshi, the mind's false identities are discounted one by one until it
is exhausted. Once the mind has exhausted all its answers, then the
higher Self may emerge.
(d) Bhakti Yoga: Path
of Devotion -- Bhakti Yoga is considered the simplest of the Yogas.
Bhakti is a practice of self-surrender for the purpose of eventually
identifying with the source of love, or the higher Self. It is not
unlike devotion and service associated with religion in the West. The
yogi selects a Saint, Guru, or another figure to direct his devotional
love. Every act in daily life is done to serve the beloved one.
Visualizations and mantras are also part of Bhatki Yoga practice.
The goal is to visualize the beloved one all the time. At first one may
have a picture or representation to look at as the visualization skill
is developed. A sound is repeated at the same time as the visualization.
Although there are many words that can be selected, the sound of "GM"
(A-U-M) is one anyone can use. This practice is especially suitable for
people with intense emotional natures. Key words are: worship, devotion,
self-surrender, visualization, and mantra.
(e) Raja Yoga: Path of
Stillness -- In Raja Yoga, the
goal is to quiet the mind through meditation where the attention is
fixed on an object, mantra, or concept. Whenever the mind
wanders, it is brought back to whatever is the object of concentration.
In time, the mind will cease wandering and become completely still. A
state of focused, uninterrupted concentration will occur. From this
state, the yogi will eventually merge with the higher SELF.
(f) Kriya Yoga
-- Babaji's Kriya Yoga is a scientific art of perfect God Truth union
and Self-Realization. The great Master of India, Babaji Nagarag, revived
it as a synthesis of ancient teachings of the 18 Siddha tradition. Kriya
Yoga claims to bring about an integrated transformation of the
individual in all five planes of existence: physical, vital, mental,
intellectual, and spiritual. It includes a series of 144 techniques or,
"Kriyas," grouped into five phases, or branches.
1. Kriya Hatha Yoga:
including "Asanas," physical postures of relaxation, "bandahs,"
muscular locks, and "mudras," gestures, all of which bring about
greater health, peace, and the awakening of the principal energy
centres, the "chakras." Babaji has selected a particularly effective
series of 18 postures, which are taught in stages and in pairs. One
cares for the physical body, not for its own sake, but as a vehicle or
temple of the Divine (religious, not just an exercise).
2. Kriya Kundalini
Pranayama: the "potential" technique, is a powerful breathing
exercise to awaken powerful latent energy and circulate it through the
seven principal chakras between the base of the spine and crown
of the head. It awakens their corresponding psychological states and
makes one a dynamo on all five planes of existence.
3. Kriya Dhyana Yoga:
meditation, the scientific art of mastering the mind: to cleanse the
subconscious; develop concentration, mental clarity, and vision; to
awaken the intuitive and creative faculties; and bring about the
breathless state of communion with God, "samadhi" (not the God of the
Bible).
4. Kriya Mantra Yoga:
the mental repetition of subtle sounds to awaken the intuition, the
intellect, and the chakras; the mantra becomes a
substitute for the "I" centred chatter and facilitates the
accumulation of great amounts of energy. The mantra is supposed
to cleanse habitual subconscious tendencies (it is a religious
repetitive chant).
5. Kriya Bhakti Yoga:
devotional activities and service to awaken pure Divine universal love
and spiritual bliss; it includes chanting and singing, ceremonies,
pilgrimages, and worship.
- So if someone's interested in physical
exercises that are designed to help one's body, he should not take
Yoga, which is designed for death, and teaches how to reach this state of
consciousness (see note) where one gets a better reincarnation.
Even the physical positions in Yoga come right out of the Hindu
scriptures, and are designed to put one into this state of consciousness
where you imagine that you're God. Therefore, Christians who think they
think they're getting relaxation and/or exercise, are really getting
Hinduism! They think they're getting science, but they're getting
religion. It's mislabeled and it's dangerous! (Source: a 1988 John
Ankerberg Show program, "The New Age in Society.")
- John Weldon and Clifford Wilson wrote in
Occult Shock and Psychic Forces that Yoga is really pure occultism.
Hans-Ulrich Rieker, in his book The Yoga of Light, also warns that
misunderstanding the true nature of Yoga can mean "death or insanity."
Another little known fact is that virtually every major guru in India has
issued warnings similar to these; i.e., deep-breathing techniques such
as the ones taught in Yoga are a time-honored method for entering altered
states of consciousness and for developing so-called psychic power.
[Note: Yoga is one of the basic means of reaching this altered state of
consciousness. And the altered state is the doorway to the occult. Sir
John Eccles, Nobel Prize Winner for his research on the brain, said the
brain is "a machine that a ghost can operate." In a normal state of
consciousness, one's own spirit ticks off the neurons in his brain and
operates his body. We are spirits connected with a body. But in an altered
state, reached under drugs, Yoga, hypnosis, etc., this passive but
alert state, the connection between the spirit and the brain, is loosened.
That allows another spirit to interpose itself, to begin to tick off the
neurons in the brain, and create an entire universe of illusion. You've
then opened yourself up. It's called sorcery. People are literally
teaching themselves how to be demonized, all in the name of developing
one's full potential.]
*
Unless otherwise cited, parts of this report have been
excerpted and/or adapted from Examining & Exposing Cultic & Occultic
Movements, Jack Sin, “Should a Christian Practise Yoga?,” April 2000,
pp. 79-84.
Biblical Discernment Ministries - Revised
1/2002 |
