Hindus do not have the monopoly on yoga

Spirituality Religion
#2

@IsmailaGodHasHeard,

As someone who has practiced yoga for over 14 years and a teacher for nearly 5, I know of many yogi’s who do not believe in God, but are deeply devoted to the study and practice of Yoga. They are good, caring and compassionate people. With your above logic that yoga is for any patient person who believes in God, they would not be allowed to practice yoga. Buddhism has been a huge influence in my life and for me, has made sense of MY world. I cannot say I believe in God in terms of the Christian view of God. Does that mean I cannot practice Yoga?

And of course you can practice yoga if you are not Hindu. I’m not. But most everything I know of Yoga has been shared with me or taught to me by Hindu’s. I have been blessed to have had several wonderful teachers over the years who, each in their own way, profoundly impacted my life.

Appreciate its roots and origins. Practice it as you see fit. (whether it is for physical benefit only, a spiritual path, a means toward enlightenment or self realization)

#3

[QUOTE=lotusgirl;66793]@IsmailaGodHasHeard,

As someone who has practiced yoga for over 14 years and a teacher for nearly 5, I know of many yogi’s who do not believe in God, but are deeply devoted to the study and practice of Yoga. They are good, caring and compassionate people. With your above logic that yoga is for any patient person who believes in God, they would not be allowed to practice yoga. Buddhism has been a huge influence in my life and for me, has made sense of MY world. I cannot say I believe in God in terms of the Christian view of God. Does that mean I cannot practice Yoga?

And of course you can practice yoga if you are not Hindu. I’m not. But most everything I know of Yoga has been shared with me or taught to me by Hindu’s. I have been blessed to have had several wonderful teachers over the years who, each in their own way, profoundly impacted my life.

Appreciate its roots and origins. Practice it as you see fit. (whether it is for physical benefit only, a spiritual path, a means toward enlightenment or self realization)[/QUOTE]

Fair enough. I am just responding the rumor that yoga is Hindu.

#4

[QUOTE=IsmailaGodHasHeard;66790]Yoga is for any patient person who believes in God. I am tired of some Christians and some Hindus saying that yoga is Hindu. That is not true. I have practiced yoga in the past and I have never been a Hindu. I have been a Christian since I was fifteen years old. So before people of any religion go and assume based on stereotypes, learn the facts. Yoga can be Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, Muslim, Jewish, or Christian. Yoga is what you want it to be. Thank you for listening.[/QUOTE]

I guess it all depends on how you define “yoga”. As far as I understand - and please note that I am a beginner in these matters - the very purpose of “true” yoga is self-realization, i.e., finding “god” [I]within[/I] yourself. This orthodox view of yoga is definitely Hindu since the search for the divine is directed [I]inwards rather than outwards[/I] (to the heavens or what have you).

But you seem to use the term “yoga” more loosely, removing the original purpose of self-realization and orienting it towards contemplation of relaxation of some sort. This latter type of “yoga” or “relaxing” is of course universal. The former and more specific definition of yoga is, however, the polar opposite of the Abrahamic religions - conducting yoga is blasphemous in this sense since you actively deny the existence of an external god in the heavens in order to search for “it” within yourself.

#5

IsmailaGod Has Heard>>>

Are you a Muslim? Hinduism does not teach hate against you, or Jews, or anyone else…

#6

Theseeker has already answered the OP well enough.

Yoga is definitely Hindu, there is no doubt about that. However, is it true that there are similar systems to Yoga in other traditions(Buddhist, Taoist, Gnostic, Shamanic)? Yes, and there is no doubt about that. Is it true that Yoga is the most developed spiritual system on the planet? Yes, doubtless.

#7

Yoga benefits all who practice. You don’t have to be Hindu, to practice. There are many health benefits to practicing yoga. I think that the world would be a much better place if everyone would practice yoga. I happen to be Muslim and have a home yoga practice. It helps me dealing with stress and hormonal balance.

#8

Yoga has been proven to have many positive health benefits. It is too bad that many people don’t want to learn about something that is new.

#9

That the practice of yoga precedes Hinduism by millennia may be
countered by Hinduism ‘rejection’ of linear time line limitations.

And so begins the perennial Big Y little y controversy like the Big-Endian/Little-Endian intra-Lilliputian quarrels over the practice of breaking eggs, or which came first.

To say that Yoga isn’t something might be hurtful to someone that deeply believes it is.

To exclude someone from Yoga because they do not follow your deeply personal views of what it is may also be hurtful.

Even considering the ‘slight’ differences to outsiders of major religions may be viewed as slights to and cause deep, even violently powerful reactions from, to, and between believers.

One of the most constant symbols in Yoga is the lotus.
There are many petals that make up a lotus.

We can at least agree that it is beautiful.

What we experience in our consideration of the lotus is personal.
It is formed by both our past experiences, but also our present even presence, and on to and through our futures. (sic)

In your own time consider the vital and powerful root system, it runs deep.

#10

Ismaila,

The root cause of the problem whether ‘Yoga belongs to Hindus’ is hiding in your own statement in the beginning of this thread.

Can you see that you have a deep-rooted division in your perception that there are “different” religions in the world? Can you see that someone else’s truth bothers you because your truth is relative and fragile? Can you see that a ‘thing’ must belong to ‘someone’ is also your conviction? Yoga too for you is a ‘thing’?

How my friend, in the same breath, you can say that Yoga belongs to all? Only by growing, experiencing subtly can one see the commonality in apparently diverse things. And then, everything appears connected, not divided. Yoga is then realized as all-embracing and nothing/ no one can take it away from you.

#11

[QUOTE=IsmailaGodHasHeard;66790]So before people of any religion go and assume based on stereotypes, learn the facts.[/QUOTE]

Sure, we SHOULD learn facts. Here are some facts from the Yogasutras.

Chapter 1, Sutra 2: Yogashchittavrittinirodhaha - “Yoga is the restraint of mental modifications.”

Yoga can be Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, Muslim, Jewish, or Christian.

Given the definition above of Yoga, do you find any mention of Allah, YHWH, Mohammed, Jesus, etc. here? If not, how can Yoga be Muslim, Jewish or Christian? At the highest levels of Yoga, one discovers the Purusha [soul] as being distinct from Prakriti [matter/nature]. This leads to release from the cycles of birth and death as continuous experience of Samadhi leads to burning the seeds of Karma.

If one believes one particular religion alone leads to eternal heaven and everybody else who doesnt follow this religion is on a fast track to eternal hell, he/she has not understood Yoga.

#12

Very Nicely put, Suhas.

Etymology of the word Yoga :- Sanskrit Root “Yuk” meaning to join or Union. Union of th individual self with the Universal Self. ie Atman with Brahman. Both these terms arise in Hindu philosophy. So to that extent, if you are practicing Yoga with a view to self realisation, I suppose one could be said to have some belief in the Hindu philosophy.
It is, however, perfectly possible to divorce the Atman/Brahman concept and still practice Yoga… but there would be still some concept resembling Brahman.call it what we will…Buddha , Universal Consciousness whatever. But a man who truly practices Yoga and is advanced on the path , goes beyond duality. So when all is one reality, distinctions fall away for it is not possible for the word distinction to have meaning unless there is some “other” which is negated by Yoga. A true Yogi takes no sides for he has none to take. He sees the self in all living and non living things. He has risen beyond Hindu, Christian or Moslem. He is beyond Good and bad… beyond duality.

[QUOTE=Suhas Tambe;67739]Ismaila,

The root cause of the problem whether ‘Yoga belongs to Hindus’ is hiding in your own statement in the beginning of this thread.

Can you see that you have a deep-rooted division in your perception that there are “different” religions in the world? Can you see that someone else’s truth bothers you because your truth is relative and fragile? Can you see that a ‘thing’ must belong to ‘someone’ is also your conviction? Yoga too for you is a ‘thing’?

How my friend, in the same breath, you can say that Yoga belongs to all? Only by growing, experiencing subtly can one see the commonality in apparently diverse things. And then, everything appears connected, not divided. Yoga is then realized as all-embracing and nothing/ no one can take it away from you.[/QUOTE]

#13

I have to say that after reading all of surya deva’s posts I would never want to become a hindu or a yogi. The intention appears to be nothing more than a prideful need to be right, this is most unappealing. Stretching my body and breathing and offering thanks as I do it and being grateful to who I worship as God does not belong to anyone. People have stretched and breathed and worshiped since the beginning of time and will do till the end (whatever that means) If someone wants to read the bible and not become a Christian yet gets good stuff out of it and if they even want to try to sell it, thats their business. I keep my eyes on my own fries~

#14

:-o[QUOTE=yogi33;67779]I have to say that after reading all of surya deva’s posts I would never want to become a hindu or a yogi. The intention appears to be nothing more than a prideful need to be right, this is most unappealing. Stretching my body and breathing and offering thanks as I do it and being grateful to who I worship as God does not belong to anyone. People have stretched and breathed and worshiped since the beginning of time and will do till the end (whatever that means) If someone wants to read the bible and not become a Christian yet gets good stuff out of it and if they even want to try to sell it, thats their business. I keep my eyes on my own fries~[/QUOTE]

#15

[QUOTE=yogi33;67779]Stretching my body and breathing and offering thanks as I do it and being grateful to who I worship as God does not belong to anyone. People have stretched and breathed and worshiped since the beginning of time and will do till the end (whatever that means) If someone wants to read the bible and not become a Christian yet gets good stuff out of it and if they even want to try to sell it, thats their business.[/QUOTE]

Yoga is not just stretching and breathing. Aerobics or warm-up exercises done in the gym are more like it.

Yoga has a philosophy/metaphysics behind it. It is always useful to understand what this is. This metaphysics does not allow for eternal hellfire for pagans, polytheists, graven-image worshippers, idolators, non-believers or proselytization of the infidel.

I have no problem with Christians cherry-picking the “good” verses of their books. Everybody does that with their respective holy books to some extent. But what passes as Abrahamic discourse is “my way only or eternal hellfire for you heathen”. There is no room in Yoga for such hatemongering.

If you really believe that non-Muslims or non-Christians are on a one-way street to hell, you are not a Yogi.

If a Christian/Muslim Yogi loves Jesus/Mohammed so much and they worship their God so much that their heart overflows with hatred of non-Christians/non-Muslims respectively, she is not doing Yoga properly - as simple as that.

So, to be a good Yogi, IMHO, one needs to be secular, broadminded and should give up belief in ideas like eternal hellfire for the heathen, etc.

#16

[QUOTE=IsmailaGodHasHeard;66790]Yoga is for any patient person who believes in God. I am tired of some Christians and some Hindus saying that yoga is Hindu. That is not true. I have practiced yoga in the past and I have never been a Hindu. I have been a Christian since I was fifteen years old. So before people of any religion go and assume based on stereotypes, learn the facts. Yoga can be Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, Muslim, Jewish, or Christian. Yoga is what you want it to be. Thank you for listening.[/QUOTE]
Well said… I have been doing yoga nidra for 25 years and even though some Catholics believe that there is something wrong with Yoga Nidra , I think they are ignorant and do not understand what yoga nidra is. Some people say yoga nidra is a spiritual experience…well good for them…I don’t care…it’s a deeply relaxing experience for me and a great way to relax and relieve anxiety. To me yoga nidra is a formula which can be described as a relaxation practice.

#17

Well put Albert :slight_smile: I have only been practicing yoga for only 18 months. It is very beneficial in calming and relaxing. Also, it has increased flexibility. I also teach young children on the Autism spectrum. I incorporate some yoga with my students. It calms their systems, especially after lunch. When I think of YOGA, I look at how it benefits everyone.

#18

There are many Indian players that are great at Monopoly board game! lol.

#19

Basically the word “YOGA” (a long vowel sound “A”=> “aaaaa” itself is meaningless.

Is it denied the word “Yogam” is a Sanskrit word and it has a specific meaning ?

Yogam is derived from the root word (Dhatup)“Yuj” means Union or Yoke. This is Superficial–there is an Esoteric and Occult meaning–I will discuss it later.

Yogam is Noun and Yoga (short vowel sound “A”) is adjective.

Sahasra Yogam–Medical preparations (Pharmacopeia)
Gaja-Keasri Yogam–planets relative position (Astronomy)
Neecha Banga Raja Yogam–(Astrology)
Asaadhmendriyaartha Sam Yogam=Medical Science(Ayurvedham)
Yoga Paathanjalam==what is irrelevantly and irresponsibly used World Wide as "YOGA"
Yoga Vaasistam=Metaphysics
Yoga Ratnaavali=Medical preparations.

is it denied that Yoga Paathanjalam is NOT one of the “Shat Dharsanas” of Sanaathana Dharmam(a.k.a.Hindu Religion) ?

the other Dharsanas being Nyaayam–Vaiseshikam–Saankyam–Yogam–Poorva Meemaamsam–Utthara Meemaamsam (or Vedhaantham)

is Dr.S.Radhakrishnan’s(former President of India --former Professor of Philosophy in OXford-U.K) full Book on “Shat Dharsanas” and their inter-relationships and their Relevance to Religion, meaningless ?

One may practice or Not practice YOGAA–with the attitude “I don’t care,whether it is Relgion or Not-Relgion”–but one can NOT say that it is NOT a part of a religion
Now let me wait for “Feed-back” and then continue

#20

I practice just for the health benefits, that’s it.

#21

[QUOTE=IsmailaGodHasHeard;66790] Yoga is what you want it to be.
[/QUOTE]

Most certainly, I have heard that for many yoga moghuls it was a way to get rich quick, for many young guys it is a way to pick up chicks, while for others it is way to get in shape without having to do actual exercise. These reasons all supersede whatever the hell it was those silly Indians did for millenia, because objectively yoga is what you want it to be.