Can a Christian be a Yogi?

Spirituality Religion
#21

He/she can practice whatever they wishes to practice.But yoga is about transformation and change and this may involve having some of your philosphical preconceptions & conditioining about the nature of reality and indeed what s[pirituality might mean challenged. Change is usually a challenging process, that’s why it is’nt always straightforward. But i think once you divorce the other aspects, the breath, the state of mind from asana you may end up rather with somethingm like pilates or calisthenics rather than a complete intergrated mind-body-spirit system/science and philosophy.

The physical and the spiritual are like one neighbour and the next.They’re not divorced. That’s what all the philosophy is about.But yoga takes the vailidity and authority of what’s real to be based on one’s own experrience. In that sense if anything it tries to eschew dogma.In yoga they say you can have whatever ishta you like. The hindu’s certainly don’t mind and if you were in India they may likely warm to you more the fact that you had a religion say said you were a christain than say an atheist.There is indeed some expectastion that you are in fact religious because it permeates their culture.

It’s a non-secular science & philosphy that can be practiced by anyone of any religious persuasion or faith. Indeed some religious pre-ocupation or faith may likely deepen and strengthen one’ spiritual explorations and your faith.The biggest demon is your self and alot of it is based on fear.I’m sure this has gone on for millions of years.

You don’t need to buy any dogma. What seems right and real to you matters over what anyone else thinks or does’nt think…

#22

[QUOTE=thomas;40945]The topic for discussion is “Can a Christian practice yoga?”.[/QUOTE]

Can I make a correction here? It may be subtle, but my thought was “can a christian be a yogi?” I may have used the wrong term, as it is assumed that a yogi is someone who practices yoga. I perceive a yogi as one who is well on the way to enlightenment, as someone whose nadis are purified. I practice yoga and in no way are my nadis close to being purified, therefore not a yogi.

If there is a better term for what I mean, please feel free to bring it to the discussion.

#23

But i think once you divorce the other aspects, the breath, the state of mind from asana you may end up rather with somethingm like pilates or calisthenics rather than a complete intergrated mind-body-spirit system/science and philosophy.

I would be ok with that. That’s what I am hoping to do at this point.

#24

Can a Christian be a Hindu?:stuck_out_tongue:

#25

[QUOTE=FlexPenguin;40952]Can I make a correction here? It may be subtle, but my thought was “can a christian be a yogi?” I may have used the wrong term, as it is assumed that a yogi is someone who practices yoga. I perceive a yogi as one who is well on the way to enlightenment, as someone whose nadis are purified. I practice yoga and in no way are my nadis close to being purified, therefore not a yogi.

If there is a better term for what I mean, please feel free to bring it to the discussion.[/QUOTE]

Can a Christian be a Hindu?:stuck_out_tongue:

#26

[QUOTE=FlexPenguin;40952]Can I make a correction here? It may be subtle, but my thought was “can a christian be a yogi?” I may have used the wrong term, as it is assumed that a yogi is someone who practices yoga. I perceive a yogi as one who is well on the way to enlightenment, as someone whose nadis are purified. I practice yoga and in no way are my nadis close to being purified, therefore not a yogi.

If there is a better term for what I mean, please feel free to bring it to the discussion.[/QUOTE]

OK, I thought anyone who does yoga is a yogi. Or a yogini if female?

I’ll have to do a search to figure out what nadis are and whether mine are pure (but most likely, they need a good scrubbing).

#27

Very good intriguing question Kareng.:wink:

In India any religion goes, for the most part at leasst. If you’re religious then that is respected , partly because Hindu culture likes to se sees divinity within everything. If you are a westerner they will say’ so you’re a christain’ and you say ‘yeh, i’m a christain’ and they think that’s really sound & cool,right on…They warm to you.At least that was my experience 1993 when i went on my own.

#28

Is it true that Gandhi was once asked “What do you think of Christian America?”

And that he answered, “I think it would be a good idea.”

That’s very funny, whether true or not that he said it.

#29

Are there Hindu sects that believe similarly to Christian–that you get only one incarnation, and from there go to Heaven or Hell?

And also that God is a personal God, a creator, and separate and distint from his Creation?

#30

[QUOTE=thomas;40959]Is it true that Gandhi was once asked "What do you think of Christian America?"

And that he answered, "I think it would be a good idea."

That's very funny, whether true or not that he said it.[/QUOTE]

It is true...kinda... but it was not about specifically about Christians or America... it was

What do I think of Western civilization? I think it would be a very good idea.
---Mohandas Gandhi

I have tried very hard not to post the follwing but I can no longer stop myself

Can a Christian be a yogi

Sure...why not :smiley:

#31

hahahah nice one Yulaw

#32

Exactly,Yulaw.Very good.

#33

Well that Yogi was setting a bad example stealing all those pickinick baskets.

Poor Boo Boo. I wonder if he followed him into a life of crime.

#34

Dear FP,

Every Sunday I look at all those yogis and yoginis sitting with me in church and all I see flowing from them is such peace, light, harmony and love that I can only answer YES to your question.

The mind will always divide, draw distinctions, separate and categorise, but what is important is what is in your heart. If you have peace about the truth in your heart, nothing else matters.

#35

[QUOTE=Pandara;40994]The mind will always divide, draw distinctions, separate and categorise, but what is important is what is in your heart. If you have peace about the truth in your heart, nothing else matters.[/QUOTE]

You are speaking my language.

#36

[QUOTE=Pandara;40994]Dear FP,

Every Sunday I look at all those yogis and yoginis sitting with me in church and all I see flowing from them is such peace, light, harmony and love that I can only answer YES to your question.

The mind will always divide, draw distinctions, separate and categorise, but what is important is what is in your heart. If you have peace about the truth in your heart, nothing else matters.[/QUOTE]

Is it yoga that led you to add beliefs about reincarnation to Christian beliefs?

If so, and if your friends are in the same boat, then that speaks against Christianity and yoga being compatable.

Of course we could call yoga Christianity, and then for sure anyone who practices yoga is a Christian, but Christianity is more than a name, and what Christ taught was more than just suggestions.

He came to save, but a belief in reincarnation makes his suffering on the cross to be meaningless, since there is no need to look for salvation if we keep coming back for another chance.

There is zero support for reincarnation in any scripture, the Catholic Church, or in 99% of Protestant churches. It’s a concept that is totally in opposition to Christianity.

So I would have to say that your example proves nothing (if these people are reincarnationists) because they are believing in a corruption of Christianity.

And we are comprised of an intellect and a will (or a mind and a heart).

The heart needs to be informed by the mind, and must not be followed blindly.

#37

No, in my heart I just knew from a very young age about the existence of reincarnation, although at that point I didn’t identify it as reincarnation, [B][I]I only identified is as I have existed before[/I][/B] and has made many claims of this towards my parents. This was based on my many and various visions I had as a young boy and still have about lifes I have lived over millenia. I didn’t know that the word “reincarnation” even existed until I was about 20 and was introduced to it when I attended a lecture at the Theosophical Society one evening on karma and reincarnation and immediately knew in my heart this is my truth. I only started doing yoga when I was 27, I am now 40. Much of my beliefs was formed long before I started doing yoga. When I started doing yoga it only confirmed and strenghtened that which I have come to know in my heart as TRUTH.

Thomas, I care very little wether there is support in Christian literature, including the Bible, for reincarnation or not (according to me there is plenty, but I won’t bore you with it as you have already made it so clear that you are not respectful of other views and continue to judge as if you are God’s representative and utmost emissary on this matter). I care very little for salvation dogma as well and if that constitutes in your books that I am lost, then so be it. What I do care is that I live in harmony with Divine Will for my life. My own will and intellect doesn’t matter much to me at this stage in my life, but what my heart says, that I will follow blindly. Further more I don’t need your permission or approval to belief what I do, I will stand responsible before the Lords of Karma and the Divine for what I belief one day and fortunately you won’t be there and that is all that is important to me.

#38

Karen said, “Can a Christian be a Hindu” :smiley: That is actually the most ironic and most accurate question raised in this thread. I mean what is Yoga if not just another name for “Hinduism” There are plenty of names Hinduism goes under: Yoga, Vedic religion, Santana dharma.

The doctrines of Yoga are all Hindu doctrines and I have already shown this is in “Is Yoga Hinduism” thread. Those doctrines are:

The doctrine of Self and Self-realization as the highest goal of life
The law of karma and reincarnation
The law of dharma
The cosmology of the various planes of reality(prana chakras, nadis included)
The guru-student tradition

We should stop trying to delude ourselves into believing Yoga is anything other than Hinduism. Yoga does not make sense in any other religion. It is a heresy.

Again Yoga cannot be separated from its spirituality. The word itself means the science of self-realization by the union of the individual soul with the universal soul. This itself presupposes the doctrine of karma and reincarnation as the individual soul exists only as insofar as it is not self-realized, and this goes on for many lifetimes. The fact that it is a science itself presupposes the law of dharma as spiritual law. This presupposes the cosmology of the various planes of reality going from spiritual to physical and the complex spiritual anatomy of the individual soul(prana, chakras, nadis) Finally, those who have realised Yoga itself presupposes the guru-student tradition where the enlightened master then teaches others.

Stop being ignorant and insist that this is present in all religions, because it is NOT. This is the Hindu religion and what it teaches. You either accept it or reject it. If you are going to accept it, you cannot escape the label of being called Hindu.

Doing any kind of yoga is an endorsement of Hinduism and what it teaches. Even just doing asanas just for physical benefits. As Hinduism itself teaches that just working on the physical is valid and is a legitimate pursuit of life. But then again even engaging in critical and scientific thinking(viveka) is endorsing Hinduism, because Hinduism itself teaches one to think critically and always weigh the evidence against reason and experience. Yet again, working on your own personal development, is Hindu.

Believing in evolution, big bang theory, cyclic universe, energy, atoms, laws of the universe is yet another endorsement of Hinduism. These are all concepts which are central to Hinduism.

Now one could then say that all of these things are natural. Yeah, and has it occurred to you there maybe a natural religion that goes by the name of Hinduism/Yoga/Vedic religion/Santana dharma.

We are already moving towards a Hindu society. This has been underway ever since the dawn of the modern age of enlightenment. As soon as free and critical thinking divorced from the church was allowed in the West, the move towards a Hindu society was set into motion and is has been gaining momentum for centuries now. I showed in the “Will America become Hindu by the end of the century” that Western society is already Hindu in its character.
Around 20-30 million(10-25%) Americans practice Yoga. Around 25% of Americans believe in reincarnation(higher figures in Europe) Hindu concepts like karma, prana and chakras are widely influencial and pervasive throughout Western society. Almost every bookshop will contain a huge mind-body-spirit section that is literally full of Hinduism. Now Hinduism is being spread by the new-age movement and millions of Americans are being exposed to its ideas and warming to them. The famous motto of India, “unity in diversity” is reflected in the postmodern and multicultural landscape of today.

There is an explanation for why this is happening in Hinduism itself. The Yuga is changing. We are coming out of the age of ignorance(Abrahamic phase) back into the age of truth(dharmic phase) It is inexorable. Hinduism will flourish on this planet again.

#39

How did Hinduism come into being in the first place? Hinduism has been on this planet for a very long time. The current phase of human civilisation started in India more than 10,000 years ago in the Indus valley civilisation. This civilisation is widely considered to be the oldest, largest and most advanced ancient civilisation. It was twice the size of Sumeria and Egypt put together. As this civilisation had an abundance of natural resources, riches and great climate, here flourished first a highly material civilisation. As they had a lot of time to contemplate and pursue higher things like art, culture, philosophy and science, it flourished into a spiritual civilisation whose religion became Hinduism. This was the first age of enlightenment and it took place in the East. It is absolutely clear now that the East were at the top of the world before the West and only people who are historically ignorant of the long history of human civilisation state otherwise.

Then 6000 years ago the decline began and this is reflected in the Indus Valley civilisation itself which deteoriates around 2000BCE. Many religions spring up in competition to Hinduism such as Buddhism and Jainism(known as Smarma tradition) and India splits up into various feuding provinces. It is during this period the great war of the Mahabharata take places which claims the lives of millions of people. This leads to further splits with factions leaving India and going to the West starting up the Sumerian, European and Egyptian civilisations and the beginning of Abrahamic religions.

Then follows the age of empires all over the world. Sumerian empires rise and fall. Egyptian empires rise and fall. Persian empires rise and fall. Indian empires rise and fall. European empires rise and fall. Islamic empires rise and fall. Chinese empires rise and fall. Native American empires rise and fall. This a period of constant war, invasion, colonization.

The second phase of current human civilisation started 500 years ago(yuga has changed) with the age of enlightenment from Europe. This is the beginning of the end of the dark ages on this planet(Abrahamic phase) and it took place because of the transference of Hinduism from India to Europe. First indirectly, via the Arabs and the Greeks where she learned about philosophy, art, science, medicine and culture. Then directly through India when she colonized India and learned about the Vedas, Sanskrit, Yoga, Ayurveda. During this period a flood of Hindu missionaries flooded into America and ever since America has been turning Hindu.

Like India was, America will become the new centre of spiritual civilisation on this planet for our current age. This is why the full transference of Hinduism from India to America is taking place right now. This is also why America and India have become allies and Indians are flooding in from India and taking control of America. America is India in the making. The torch of enlightenment is being passed on. This was already clear when America was set-up as an example of a free country where one could pursue wealth, happiness and pleasure(Hindu values) and it did not take long for Hinduism to come to America thereafter.

Hinduism now goes under a new name - the American avatar - New age spirituality. But America is still an infant and is the process of growing up. According to the Hindu sages such as Sri Yuketsar, there is still another 700 years to go before America becomes a complete spiritual society and the age of truth once again dawns. In this period there will be a period of great tribulation. India will be destroyed and the Abrahamic hold on this planet will be destroyed. Meanwhile, in America many highly evolved souls are incarnating and many gurus have jumped ship to America.

Free will very much is an illusion. Everything is moving ahead according to the laws of nature. By the end of this century the real history of this planet will become clear to everybody and Hinduism will flourish.

#40

I guess the short answer is SD votes no.