So you would deny that the ancient knowledge of the rishis, the wisdom of the Vedas did gradually decline to a state where today, it became exoteric, written, ritualistic practice, as a form of tradition, an exoteric religion ?
No, I would not. The Yugas have changed. However, you can still get in touch with the ancient Vedic part of Indian history in the authentic Yoga traditions in India. This what I have decided to do as well.
You do not need to practice the spiritual or religious aspects of Yoga, you can do purely the physical aspects.
Yoga or Hindusim is NOT compatible with Christianity, not in the slightest! (not saying Yoga is Hindusim but if you are really practicing the spiritual or religious aspects then it is like a branch of Hinduism) despite what some writers have said or try to advocate such as Yogananda.
Of course such writers will spin some cosmic New Age philosophy - Jesus was really an advanced Yogi he was not God or part of a Trinity, in the missing years not accounted for in the New testament he travelled to India to learn Yoga, Hinduism & Christianity are one and the same just slightly different teachings due to location and people originally following them, etc, etc. Akin to saying all political parties - Liberal , Democrat, Conservative, Labour , KKK, BNP, etc are all one and the same as they all have the same purpose - eh no they aren't! Bahai Faith attempts the same all major 9 world religions are all from God just taught differently depending on the time period and location, all have the same purpose.
If Jesus was what he claimed, and truly rose from the dead, he was far above any Yogi that has ever lived. Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me (John 14:6) note it does not say except through Yoga, Buddhism, Hindusim, New Age, Wicca, or anything else.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/tcw/2005/002/14.40.html The Truth About Yoga
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/juneweb-only/123-22.0.html Take A Pass On Yoga
It is unequivocal Jesus claimed to be the son of God, and part of a Trinmity equal to God. In the Old Testament more than 500 prophecies refer directly to him, long before he was born. Not saying I agree with everything above links state but for sure Yoga with full spiritual aspects is not compatible with Christianity, only someone spouting some cosmic universal new age philiosophy could say to the contrary.
[QUOTE=AmirMourad;57356]These deities need not be understood in the sense of objective beings which have a consciousness of their own. …
These “deities” can simply be understood as symbolic of different aspects of the energy of nature. And because the same forces of nature which function everywhere also function through one’s own being, it can also be said that these deities are also functioning through man’s own being. That is why in yoga, along with the chakras there are various corresponding deities to each of the energy centers. This was just a method to help preserve certain knowledge, and try to transmit in an accessible form an understanding of the different kinds of energies which are working through each of these chakras. So, these deities are far more of a tool for transformation rather than things which are to be taken too literally. If you want, you can even create your own deity - and there is in fact a whole science in yoga which involves the creation of thought-forms at the level of the mind, and projecting these energy forms outwards to manifest certain objectives. In Tibet, they call them tulpa’s. Any tulpa can be created with enough will and imagination in such a way that if it gathers enough intensity, they may even start functioning as independent entities of their own.[/QUOTE]
This elaborate response just shows that those who undertake the spiritual path as an ascent from the root chakra, will expereince first the pranic world. Thus, they will perceive the “energies” flowing but they will little know whence, where to, and why.
Deities are not creations of human mind, only their images and descriptions are so. Those descriptions need to be expressed by sensorial means. But this does not deny their beingness ! By describing them as impersonal forces of nature, you just denote that kind of materialism, what is common to many yogis. In your quest toward truth, you rightfully dismiss figurative pictures of the gods if they come from the outside (aka descriptions, myths religions). But in the case of certain ripeness of the soul (what a materialst yogi would call activating some chakras) an imaginative knowledge of the world will become possible. First, one sees and experiences the suprasensible nature of earthy things and beings, later on, one will experience beings what do not manifest at all to the ordinary senses. These are beings, pretty much endowed with consciusness, will, personality traits as humans, only that they are much more evolved.
PS. In the case of this imaginative knowledge, two disciples having the same spiritual experience will experience the same “vision”. This is not hallucination, creation of their minds, but a suprasensorial experience, had using the “eyes of the soul”, aka opened and revolving combination of chakras.
[QUOTE=MindNinja;57361]You do not need to practice the spiritual or religious aspects of Yoga, you can do purely the physical aspects.
Yoga or Hindusim is NOT compatible with Christianity, not in the slightest! (not saying Yoga is Hindusim but if you are really practicing the spiritual or religious aspects then it is like a branch of Hinduism) despite what some writers have said or try to advocate such as Yogananda.
…
If Jesus was what he claimed, and truly rose from the dead, he was far above any Yogi that has ever lived.
…
It is unequivocal Jesus claimed to be the son of God, and part of a Trinmity equal to God. In the Old Testament more than 500 prophecies refer directly to him, long before he was born. Not saying I agree with everything above links state but for sure Yoga with full spiritual aspects is not compatible with Christianity, only someone spouting some cosmic universal new age philiosophy could say to the contrary.[/QUOTE]
Well, well, what do we have here ? 
A lost sheep ? What are you doing here ? If yoga is unsuited to christians, what are you trying to accomplish here ? Saving some souls ? Get in the line.
Now, seriously.
It always puzzled me, how can some people believe in Jesus to the extent they do. The faith you express and stand for here. I mean … what made you believe in Him ? Raising ? Tough life experiences ? Divine intervention ? Fate ?
I am really interested.
[QUOTE=Hubert;57362]This elaborate response just shows that those who undertake the spiritual path as an ascent from the root chakra, will expereince first the pranic world. Thus, they will perceive the “energies” flowing but they will little know whence, where to, and why.
Deities are not creations of human mind, only their images and descriptions are so. Those descriptions need to be expressed by sensorial means. But this does not deny their beingness ! By describing them as impersonal forces of nature, you just denote that kind of materialism, what is common to many yogis. In your quest toward truth, you rightfully dismiss figurative pictures of the gods if they come from the outside (aka descriptions, myths religions). But in the case of certain ripeness of the soul (what a materialst yogi would call activating some chakras) an imaginative knowledge of the world will become possible. [B]First, one sees and experiences the suprasensible nature of earthy things and beings, later on, one will experience beings what do not manifest at all to the ordinary senses. These are beings, pretty much endowed with consciusness, will, personality traits as humans, only that they are much more evolved.[/B][/QUOTE]
Yup.
And they pose for pictures!
I’m not even kidding.
They are bloody amazing.
Flabbergasting.
Not saying I agree with everything above links state but for sure Yoga with full spiritual aspects is not compatible with Christianity, only someone spouting some cosmic universal new age philiosophy could say to the contrary.
Then why post them? You might as well post a link to a fundamentalist religious organization. Praise moves has been started by a Christian fundamentalist nutjob, who has a new age past and when she realised the new age could not give her spiritual fulfillment, she turned to Christianity to fill that vacuum.
I fully intend that when India finishes the project to patent Yoga that we bring law suits against these nutjob organizations like Praise Moves and Christian Yoga and get them shut down. Most of the Yoga demographic stays away from these nutjobs, even the Christians.
Surya Deva,
The point of posting them was to show what should be blatantly obvious to anyone - Christianity is not compatible with Yoga (if spiritual practice not just exercise) nor is it compatible with Hinduism. Also to show how Christians that believe in Christ and the Bible view Yoga.
It is about as compatible as Wicca or Spiritualism/Mediumship is with Christianity, such practices are expressly and unequivocally forbidden in the Bible. Of course you get Christian spiritualists and everything else, the gloss over the contradictions or are in denial.
I am not saying Christianity is right nor is everything some Christians say about Yoga is right but for certain if you are a practicing Christian then Yoga is not compatible with it. Anyone that believes Yoga, Buddhism, Fortune Telling (Tarot. Astrology, etc) , Wicca, Taoism, Mediumship/Spiritualism, etc is truly compatible with Christianity is simply not a true Christian.
The beliefs and scriptures in Hinduism are polar opposites from Christianity, looking at them from some hokey cosmic new age perspective of course you could say they are one and the same both seeking God, yeh and the KKK or BNP are one and the same with the Conservative party or Democrats they are both seeking political aims.
The Bahai Faith tries similar approach too - all 9 major religions are one just minor variations in teachings due to the time period and lands, reality check - they are vastly different.
If you really believe in Christianity and what Christ taught it leaves zero room for Mediums, Yogis, Fortune telers, other religions, Gurus, etc Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me (John 14:6)’’ note it does not say ‘‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. You need not only believe in me and can believe in me and any other Gods, Gurus or spiritual practices all are one.’’ If the latter was the case then there was zero point Jesus coming and certainly no need for him to die for our sins.
On that “Truth about yoga” article … it’s the experience of one.
An interesting thing caught my eye: that she, the PraiseMoves author, found surya namaskar to be wrong as idolatry toward the Hindu Sun God.
Little she knows, that the Being what was such praised in the sun by the ancient indians, was the same Being what did incarnate at the baptism of Jordan in the carefully prepared body of Jesus of Nazareth, and came to be know to westerners as Jesus Christ. ( was also know to the ancient indians as Visvakarman)
Thus, truly, ancient indians was as much as christians, if not more than we are today, as most christians today only believe in Jesus’ name and his hystoric personality, and believe blindly in the words of the gospels.
The tragedy is that those clinging to the ancient indian heritage cannot open to a new manifestation of the same deity they worshipped thousands of years ago, and those clinging to the heritage of what did happen 2000 years ago do the same.
http://www.experiencefestival.com/visvakarman
PS. More info prepared, pm if interested
[QUOTE=MindNinja;57371]Surya Deva,
The point of posting them was to show what should be blatantly obvious to anyone - Christianity is not compatible with Yoga (if spiritual practice not just exercise) nor is it compatible with Hinduism. Also to show how Christians that believe in Christ and the Bible view Yoga.
It is about as compatible as Wicca or Spiritualism/Mediumship is with Christianity, such practices are expressly and unequivocally forbidden in the Bible. Of course you get Christian spiritualists and everything else, the gloss over the contradictions or are in denial.
I am not saying Christianity is right nor is everything some Christians say about Yoga is right but for certain if you are a practicing Christian then Yoga is not compatible with it. Anyone that believes Yoga, Buddhism, Fortune Telling (Tarot. Astrology, etc) , Wicca, Taoism, Mediumship/Spiritualism, etc is truly compatible with Christianity is simply not a true Christian.
The beliefs and scriptures in Hinduism are polar opposites from Christianity, looking at them from some hokey cosmic new age perspective of course you could say they are one and the same both seeking God, yeh and the KKK or BNP are one and the same with the Conservative party or Democrats they are both seeking political aims.
The Bahai Faith tries similar approach too - all 9 major religions are one just minor variations in teachings due to the time period and lands, reality check - they are vastly different.
If you really believe in Christianity and what Christ taught it leaves zero room for Mediums, Yogis, Fortune telers, other religions, Gurus, etc Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me (John 14:6)’’ note it does not say ‘‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. You need not only believe in me and can believe in me and any other Gods, Gurus or spiritual practices all are one.’’ If the latter was the case then there was zero point Jesus coming and certainly no need for him to die for our sins.[/QUOTE]
The shortsighted interpretation of any sacred tradition will inevitably lead to conflicts in comprehension. But the conflict is not between the actual traditions or teachings or revelations, but it is always between those superficial views. See my former post.
The problem lies in human pride, what thinks that his ordinary knowledge, his ordinary analytical, logical, and lazy mental attitude is able to comprehend reality. Most people who argue the way you give as example do not even have the ability to think for themselves. They just spit whatever they heard, or found out as byepassers. Reality is complex, rich, colorful, grand, everything that exists has it purpose, good or bad alike, seemingly incomprehensible religiuos statements become hymns of glory and wisdom once approached by the necessary preparation, study, love and openness. Truth is, 99 % of what people find as granted today, is actually wrong. The less it makes sense, the more the chances for it being true grows. Thus, Tertullians “Credo quia absurdum est” makes more sense then avarage Joes opinion.
Mind Ninja is technically correct, Yoga and Christianity are not compatible because if we examine the tenets of Yoga and Christianity, we will find they are mutually opposed.
The only way to circumnavigate this is to reinterpret Christianity. Such as when Jesus said, “I am the way, life and the truth, nobody comes to the kingdom of heaven except through me” as Jesus being in christ-consciousness, and only through christ consciousness can one get to the kingdom of heaven within. Then it can easily meld in with Yoga teachings of how we can attain to certain consciousness states.
But reinterpretations are always inauthentic. I tell this to all my kabbalist friends. I do not accept kabbala as authentic, because it is a reinterpretation of the bible. You can’t just twist something to mean what you want it to mean, especially using hocus pocus like this letter means this number, and this number added to his number, and squared, and the digits added together refers to this part of the tree of life 
The fact is Yoga and Christianity are mutually opposed. This cannot be denied. Just as the British major political parrities Left Labour and the Right Conservative are mutually opposed. Nowhere in the bible does it say do Yoga to achieive enlightenment. Instead it says pray to god, follow the ten commandments, and then we will face judgement.
Just because a Christian is feeling guilty or insecure about practicing Yoga they have no right to go twist the bible to mean what they want it to mean, and much less to go twist Yoga.
I think the differences between the two lie in this:
Perversions introduced by the Roman Empire in-order to control the people.
Blatant alterations made down the line - to the widely disseminated text in - order to promote agenda.
Poor English Translations.
So from my view - we have a corrupted text - which is many times - again and again - taken literally by those of the faith.
and also dismissed as folly by those ‘not of the faith’ just as much.
Whoops.
When the aspirant is sufficiently ‘along the way’ - so to speak - he will be able to pierce through the outer forms and perversions to the underlying unity of all religious systems.
Those who deny this unity are simply not far enough yet.
[QUOTE=Surya Deva;57395]
The only way to circumnavigate this is to reinterpret Christianity. Such as when Jesus said, “I am the way, life and the truth, nobody comes to the kingdom of heaven except through me” as Jesus being in christ-consciousness, and only through christ consciousness can one get to the kingdom of heaven within. Then it can easily meld in with Yoga teachings of how we can attain to certain consciousness states.
[/QUOTE]
Bingo !
But reinterpretations are always inauthentic. I tell this to all my kabbalist friends. I do not accept kabbala as authentic, because it is a reinterpretation of the bible. You can’t just twist something to mean what you want it to mean, especially using hocus pocus like this letter means this number, and this number added to his number, and squared, and the digits added together refers to this part of the tree of life
WALL OF TEXT WARNING - NOT FOR THE FAINT MINDED
So much things you touch in so little space. If you’d only concentrate on one thing at a time … what does kabbala have to do with it ? But it serves mu purpose nevertheless. Kabbala is just one of those esoteric schools from what some things surfaced, few enough to not be taken seriously, just as they want to. It is an esoteric school in it’s full right, of a depth few really have an idea.
You say it is inauthentic to re-think christianity. But who says, the tradition what we know as christianity is authentic, in the first place ? If one reads the gospels and, through that alone one will find conflict in what the christian spirit really is and what, the church has become as an institution. Yes. Astounding hypocrisy and alan ever increasing tendency towards materialism dominates the Church’s theology since the early ecumenical councils. She does not pick up the glove thrown down by materialist science, but tries to protect her turf by compromises. And the bigottry of those who defend it’s tenets literarly denaturates and confuses people even more, and turns the sound mind away from christianity alltogheter as nonsense.
I could go on how the materialist word-view today is the result of christianity’s evolution as an institution. I won’t, those interested pm me.
But you see, the power of christianity lies not in it’s teaching or it’s outer form. It is based on a Deed of God. Now, this is hard to grasp for the easterners (it’s hard for anyone), but only those superficial, because those more knowledgable knew Christ before he came to Earth, and were expecting Him. Jesus of Nazareth indeed was a spiritual healer and a teacher, but not just that. Indeed there was an incarnation of the future Maitreya bodhisattwa as Jesus ben Pandira 100 years before Christ. Eastern esoterics often make the mistake of taking him for the Jesus we know. This ben Pandira (not to be mistaken with our dear member, Pandara) was stoned to death, because he tought that the Self, or Christ, God Himself as part of the Trinity, will incarnate, and he will openly perform the misteries so far performed in secrecy.
Yet, Jesus of Nazarteh was something special and Christ Jesus even more so. It requires great wisdom and knowledge of supersensible realities to realise the depth and complexity what did happen in Palestine 2000 years ago. For example, the genealogy of Jesus shows that there were actually two Jesus children, one preparing the phsyical and vital vehicle, and another bringing the astral-mind nature, and these two were merged into one at the age of twelve of these boys. (one of them died) And this is just the beginning, because the so constituted perfected human sheats did make possible the incarnation of the Son, Christ, at the baptism of Jordan. And this is not even the end of it, because we need to picture this very high, for ages descending Being (whom I identified as the ancient hindu Sun God), as maturing in the womb of Jesus of Nazareth soul, transforming his human nature, sheats, spiritualizing them, for the three years up until His crucifiction. For example on mount Tabor, the Christ in Jesus achives the glorification of his vital body, or Buddhi, as it is called in eastern esoterism. Remember that Buddha did achieve the same on his deathbed. But this times there is more to it ! Because at the Crucifiction happens the greatest mistery, that of the death of Jesus, and following that, His resurrection. The Resurrection is actually the birth of a now earth-bound Christ, and since then, Christ is present for those who pass the threshold as a figure of light, love and grace. Indeed, This great mistery is much more than what people can make of it today, and christianity in it’s current form will never be able to make us this understand, beside the blind fate of in the external tradition of this Event. Christ is not a man, he is Spirit. The Holy Ghost (believe in spirit as a human constituent was declared heretical at the 869 8th Ecumenical Council of Constatinople) is Christ’s heritage. And through all these, the very base of any really christian feeling is Pauls’ “If Christ has not risen, our faith is in vain”. This very much alive Christ spirit makes works and saves peopels and elevates them to where they belong, if one let’s this happen.
And also, “not me, but the Christ in me”, shows how humanity as a whole, regardless of nationality, ethicity, place or beleif, recieved a supersensible impulse, one that it is acting and very much alive the very moment we speak, in each of us. Indeed, christianity is not an institution, not a belief system, not a tradition, but the living Spirit working in hindu, muslim, christian, and even atheists and agnostics.
So, do we need to re-think christianity ? If we only re-think it, you are right, it’s silly. But if we do not re-think it, but we comprehend it, understand it, experience it, through a real spiritual discipline, through developing the ability to read the cosmic library, to actually becoming able to aquire knowledge not by the means of our brain or senses through some tradition, but through the well developed forces of our inner being, great depths of wisdom and knowledge will reveal themselves to us. People able to do just this, always existed, and they do exist today. These esoteric schools of what only superficial, and distorted informations circulate today nevertheless are active in the world.
So while stating the conflict and contradiction, you only show the inability to overcome the superficial aspects of external traditions. You cannot transcend the conflict because you interpret the tradition in a short sighted way. I have shown that the salvation through Christ alone is true, and eastern esotericism, and tradition needs to realise this truth. You indeed need to change, not because some bigot christian demands it, but you very own spirit cries for recognition. And so need to change the bigot christians, to raise themselves from believeing in words they don’t understand, from their emotional childhood, to the maturity of consciunsess required to comprehend the great riddles of human existence, and in this, they pretty much need the support and methods of eastern traditions. They even need the uncompromising nature of the scientific approach, something not alien from yoga.
PS. I will always continue to speak for unity and will never accept any conflict what would make one chose who to embrace and whom to reject. The very man killing my body and soul is nevertheless, my brother in need.
I don’t expect anyone to believe what I have confessed here, as I know the time, grace and misfortunes needed to bring this knowledge accesible to me. I can only confess my unshaken faith in humans being able to come to an agreement, if they really desire that, as free, conscious, and reason endowed beings, if they do not shy from work on themselves, instead of just feeling comfy in some soft and safe seats others have prepared for them.
[QUOTE=Surya Deva;57395]Mind Ninja is technically correct, Yoga and Christianity are not compatible because if we examine the tenets of Yoga and Christianity, we will find they are mutually opposed.[/QUOTE]Jesus spoke about Kundalini:
[B]John 7:38 (New International Version, ?2011)
38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.?[/B]
[QUOTE=Seeker33;57407]Jesus spoke about Kundalini:
[B]John 7:38 (New International Version, ?2011)
38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”[/B][/QUOTE]
Oh my friend there are many such allusions to esoteric things (i.e. yogic things) within the christian bible.
This is another reason why, if every thing is taken at face value within the text, there is much that is nonsensical. And there are some things that make sense in a story form - like jesus in the synagogue over turning the tables of the money lenders (greed) - which can be read as “yogic” or ‘spiritual’ allegory if one has the eyes to see it.
I must admit to you however that I don’t think the passage you quoted is referencing ‘kundalini.’
Hubert,
I am of a man of rationality. I need to see evidence. You have provided none, but a reinterpretation of the bible according to your beliefs. You also added that one who can see the supersensible reality will know what you are saying is true. Okay, well unfortunately I cannot see your supersensible reality to see if it valid or not. So you won’t convince me.
You prove my point there is only one way you can make Yoga and Christianity compatible. Reinterpret the bible by twisting and torturing its words and descriptions, until it means what you want it to mean. Sure go ahead, but bible experts and Christians are going to have a problem 
This reminds me of my friend who makes statements, and when you ask him for evidence, he tells me to go the astral plane and I will find the answers
Hubert,
“PS. In the case of this imaginative knowledge, two disciples having the same spiritual experience will experience the same “vision”. This is not hallucination, creation of their minds, but a suprasensorial experience, had using the “eyes of the soul”, aka opened and revolving combination of chakras.”
It is not really the case. The mind is such, that it will see whatever it wants to see according to it’s identifications. That is why, in a so called mystical vision, a Christian may see Christ, a Buddhist may see Buddha, a Hindu may see Krishna. But the Buddhist will never see Christ or Krishna - he has no space within himself to manufacture such a thing. And if dogs and cats could create religions - all of their deities would be woofing canines and meowing felines.
“These are beings, pretty much endowed with consciusness, will, personality traits as humans, only that they are much more evolved.”
This is an absolutely unecessary hypothesis, and quite useless. What is important is not whether such things are true, but whether they can be useful as a means towards one’s enlightenment. And those who are attached to the idea of these deities possessing a personality and consciousness are just interested in affirming their own beliefs, even though deep within oneself one is as ignorant as ever. It gives great consolation that there are perhaps some beings which can look after your affairs, all pouring forth from the Supreme Being himself, but that is just an attempt to create a support for the ego and it’s existence. That is how one’s ego functions, it is not interested in anything else except self-preservation. And it may do so even under the disguise of so called “spirituality”.
As far as I am concerned, I do not see these “deities” in any other way except tools to come into contact with certain forces of nature both within and without oneself. Beyond this, nothing more is needed. That these “deities” do work as a method is not just a belief. You can experiment. There is a whole science as to how to awaken and channel certain forces of nature both within and without oneself, which are usually what has been called the occult sciences. And once you understand the basic principles of it - then you can witness it again and again, just as scientist in a laboratory, and see whether these are just coincidences or not, although I would not recommend simply tampering with these things for the sake of tampering. But the problem is that the moment you try to interpret as to why these methods work - then you are more than likely to become entangled in your own imagination, the reasons as to why these methods work are far too complex for one’s intellectual understanding. What is relevant is not why they function, but simply that certain causes create certain effects.
It is not really the case. The mind is such, that it will see whatever it wants to see according to it’s identifications. That is why, in a so called mystical vision, a Christian may see Christ, a Buddhist may see Buddha, a Hindu may see Krishna. But the Buddhist will never see Christ or Krishna - he has no space within himself to manufacture such a thing. And if dogs and cats could create religions - all of their deities would be woofing canines and meowing felines.
That was not his point, he in fact admitted to that. He said that our images of them may differ, but the fact that there are such principles at work in the universe is real. I am called Surya Deva, my avatar is an image of a sun. There are hundreds, if not thousands of images of the sun. The fact that there is a real sun cannot be denied. Similarly, as everything is divine consciousness and intelligence, there is a divine intelligence and consciousness in everything. My name refers to the divine consciousness and intelligence in the sun.
“Deities are not creations of human mind, only their images and descriptions are so”
The problem is that the mind is incapable of seeing anything else beyond it’s own subjective lenses. To see beyond it’s subjectivity would require you to come to know of a dimension which is not of the mind, in which case all mental activity has become arrested. And all of these deities, in the sense of beings with personality and consciousness, are just man’s own projections - creating everything in his own image. Can be useful as just symbolic of certain aspects of the energy of existence, but can also be a hindrance if one is too much attached to these models. A thousand and one religions have done it, and they are there in history as evidence of the mind’s capacity to fashion things as reflections of itself. That is not a scientific phenomenon. If you bring any person and ask him to boil water, you will find that regardless of who it is - the water will always boil at one hundred degrees. That is a scientific discovery. But the different systems of correspondences of different traditions and religions are far more of useful devices rather than things which are scientific. For some yogic traditions, Sahasrara is violet. For others, it is white. In some traditions, the yantra for the muladhara is a yellow square. For others, it is a red triangle. In some traditions, it has been said that there are 72,000 nadis. In other traditions, some have stated far more than that. For the Jews, they are as convinced that Hebrew is a divine language which has come from the angels of God, as the Hindus are convinced that Sanskrit is a divine language revealed by Brahman. In the Jewish Qabalah - the center of the heart, Tiphareth, corresponds to the Sun and is of a golden colour. For the chakra-system, it is not so - the heart corresponds to Venus and is of a green colour. The mantra for the heart center in Qabalah is YHVH ALOAH VE DAATH, while in the yogic systems it is the seed mantra YAM. In most traditions - there are different elements which are corresponding to the four cardinal points in space, and different traditions have created different correspondences. In some traditions East is Air, in others, East is Fire. Amongst the Christians - it is only through faith in Jesus that one can enter into paradise, amongst the Pure Land Buddhists - it is only through faith in Amitabha Buddha that one can enter into the Pure Land.
These are all the different capabilities of the mind to project things according to it’s own identifications. And if one is interested in Truth at all, then one is not going to form any attachment to these models whatsoever, even the so called “deities”.
“That was not his point, he in fact admitted to that. He said that our images of them may differ, but the fact that there are such principles at work in the universe is real”
As forces of nature, there are such energies. But he has also said that they possess a personality and a consciousness of their own. That is a hypothesis which is absolutely unecessary.
“Similarly, as everything is divine consciousness”
One may just be wearing the worn out uniform of a certain stream of Indian philosophy. Otherwise, I would question this. If you understand that the original nature of things is not something that belongs to the realm of language, that it is inexpressible by all means, then you would not be stating such a thing.
[QUOTE=Hubert;57375]On that “Truth about yoga” article … it’s the experience of one.
An interesting thing caught my eye: that she, the PraiseMoves author, found surya namaskar to be wrong as idolatry toward the Hindu Sun God.
Little she knows, that the Being what was such praised in the sun by the ancient indians, was the same Being what did incarnate at the baptism of Jordan in the carefully prepared body of Jesus of Nazareth, and came to be know to westerners as Jesus Christ. ( was also know to the ancient indians as Visvakarman)
Thus, truly, ancient indians was as much as christians, if not more than we are today, as most christians today only believe in Jesus’ name and his hystoric personality, and believe blindly in the words of the gospels.
The tragedy is that those clinging to the ancient indian heritage cannot open to a new manifestation of the same deity they worshipped thousands of years ago, and those clinging to the heritage of what did happen 2000 years ago do the same.
http://www.experiencefestival.com/visvakarman
PS. More info prepared, pm if interested[/QUOTE]
Wow!
What a leap of faith!!
Why does it matter to you whether hindus were “christian” or not? It’s not as if christianity is somehow better than hindus’ native spiritual systems, right? Or do you think that it is? If so, how and why?