I felt that now was a good time to express my opinion that is well researched. Its yoga thst is the source of most religions in the world including all of the major ones. I gave birth to Hinduism and that gave birth to Buddhism which in turn heavily infuluenced all of the Abrahamic religions and Islam. We find Buddhism tenants through all of this. Yet so many peple are very bewildered about the purpose of yoga and that must be clarified.I think that this educational video sums it up pretty well and should help many of you:
Yoga is just another for for Hinduism, pretty much. What is Hinduism? If not just Yoga philosophy and practice. If you read any Hindu scripture it mentions Yoga philosophy and practice. The Vedas, the Upanishads, the Gita, the Shastras and sutras, the Mahabharata, Ramayana, the Tantras, Agamas. There is no Hindu text which does not mention Yoga.
Yes, I understand that yoga is mentioned in all of these sacred doctrines. However, we must know that the information handed down from Krishna is the source of that whole body of Hindu knowledge. The Gita is most authoritative because it comes from the chief yogi. And that is why yoga is not Hinduism at all and also Hare Krishna is not Hinduism. They are very different. Thanks for the discourse.
Namaste
[QUOTE=davieyogi108;40150]Yes, I understand that yoga is mentioned in all of these sacred doctrines. However, we must know that the information handed down from Krishna is the source of that whole body of Hindu knowledge. The Gita is most authoritative because it comes from the chief yogi. And that is why yoga is not Hinduism at all and also Hare Krishna is not Hinduism. They are very different. Thanks for the discourse.
Namaste[/QUOTE]
You just said yoga is not Hindu!! Prepare for a long battle. I personally don’t care if yoga is Hindu or not. I do yoga, and couldn’t care less about religion. But there are people here who may disagree with you, and dedicate their entire lives to coming across as ‘right’, on this forum. So hold on to your hats and be strong 
You say Yoga was handed down by Krishna and that the Gita is the most authoritative. And then say Yoga is not Hinduism. Krishna is the most popular gods and avatars of Hinduism and the Gita practically considered the Hindu bible.
The Hare Krishna are a sect of Hinduism. They appealed for separate religion status to the Indian supreme court, and their appeal was rejected. Rightly so as well 
Yoga is of obviously associated with Hinduism and India. However, yoga in and of itself is certainly not Hinduism. that is clearly stated in the Gita. Many people speak on these subjects, but have no idea what they are talking about. And the Indian Supreme Court is not the Supreme Lord or the Supreme authority. The International Society of Krishna Consciousness founded by Guru Prabhupada is not merely Indian. It is an international society and factually it is not Hinduism. And who cares about the Indian Supreme court? What in the world do they have to do with God, the Absolute Truth and the precepts of yoga that Lord Krishna clearly lays down in the Gita. They are obviously and naturally more concerned with politics than religion. I prefer separation of church and state like in the US. Hare Krishna people Internationally do not need to lobby any court for any separate or distinct status. We are not Hindu …ask any of us personally. Its an offense to call us Hindu or just a sect of Hinduism because its false information. If anything Hinduism is a denomination of Vedic religion. So you have it the other way around. Hinduism was born from the Vedanta. Namaste.
You say Yoga was handed down by Krishna and that the Gita is the most authoritative. And then say Yoga is not Hinduism.
reply: yes, it was handed down by Lord Sri Krsna as the original form of yoga. And by the way Krsna commands us to abandon all religion and just surrender unto Him. That is the basis of Hare Krishna which makes it totally different than Hinduism and almost more like Christianity! Factually, Lord Krsna gave birth to both yoga and that gave birth to Hinduism. Lord Krsna is not a “Hindu God.” He is God in the flesh…the only one Creator known as Vishnu. He is totsally different from the other Hindu Gods who are referred to as “demigods.” They are all under the control of Lord Krsna all of the time and this is a fact. So no, Krsna is not a “Hindu God”…He is God…and the whole concept of one God in all major world religions came from Him alone. What Im trying to say is that Lord Krsna is not of Hinduism! In the Gita, does he mention a word about Hinduism?? Hinduism is of Krsna and so is everything, not the other way around. the Hindus do not own Krsna, Krsna owns them. India’s only claim to fame is Lord Krsna not the other way around. India is a very poor country and without the influence of Krsna it is basically nothing on the map. Namaste.
who cares about the Indian Supreme court? What in the world do they have to do with God, the Absolute Truth and the precepts of yoga that Lord Krishna clearly lays down in the Gita. They are obviously and naturally more concerned with politics than religion. I prefer separation of church and state like in the US. Hare Krishna people Internationally do not need to lobby any court for any separate or distinct status. We are not Hindu …ask any of us personally. Its an offense to call us Hindu or just a sect of Hinduism because its false information. If anything Hinduism is a denomination of Vedic religion. So you have it the other way around. Hinduism was born from the Vedanta. Namaste.
I am not sure what you understand by the term “Hinduism”. What I understand from that term is the Vedic religion. What is the Vedic religion? It is the religion of the Risis and the sages. There has been a long, unbroken linage of risis from prehistoric times to current times.
Therefore it is not a religion defined by geography or by time.
The reason the Indian supreme court rejected Hare Krishna appeal to be considered a separate religion is because the HK is not different at all from Hinduism. It teaches the same philosophy, practices, has the same rituals, the same mythology, the same scriptures.
I think Western people have a bit of a complex when it comes to being considered a part of Hinduism. I don’t understand why they would love Yoga, Ayurveda, Jytoisha, Gita, Upanishads, Vedas, Krishna, Shiva so much, but hate Hinduism lol
Hinduism is just another name for the Vedic religion.
Yes but the Gita is factually the highest of all of the doctrines you just mentioned and it clearly states what it states. If you dont agree with the Gita’s massage then throw it away along with Krsna. Namaste.
The Gita is one of many scriptures of Hinduism. It contains exactly the same philosophies as other scriptures in Hinduism. Many of the parts of the Gita are exactly directly taken from the Upanishads.
In any case the Gita is considered one of the highest scriptures in Hinduism. It is very popular and I personally love it.
But come on you can’t say to me you are not Hindu, if you love Krishna and consider the Gita one of the highest or the highest of authorities. So do the vast majority of Hindus
I see your point. Its a matter of semantics. However, even the term Vedic and the pre-vedic culture far predated the term or concept of ‘Hinduism.’ That is why we do not appreciate being called Hindu, while we do not mind being labelled as Vedid. this has little to do with a Western complex against Hinduism, but I do agree that such a concept exists. In of and of itself I have no problem with the term Hindu. Its just that you should be well aware that despite the ruings of this Supreme Court, the teachings of HK and Hinduism sare extremely different. Here is why: Hindu’s do not believe it necessary to actually bown to and surrender to Krsna. There is an old saying that in a few years, people will have to learn real yoga in the West( i.e. in the US and Canada because of the mass Indian migration. thats how we know for a fact that HK snd Hinduism have similar concepts and information but are not the same at all. HK and Buddhism have similarities, HK and Christianity and Islam have their similarities as well. Hare Krsna to you Brother. and I hope you had a chance to see the vid which gets more into this at:
youtube.com/watch?v=iem9A0vmQQc
I also want to say I think people need to get over this narrow minded rejection of the term “Hinduism” The term “Hinduism” is simply a foreign name for the Vedic religion of India. It has been in use since the Persians, where it was used to describe the religion, culture, philosophy and way of life of the people of India.
In fact the word India itself is how the Greeks pronounced “Hindu” The actual Sanskrit term is Sindhu. The Persian term is Hindus and the Greek term is Indus.
As India was the centre of this religion, the homeland of the Risis, this is why the Vedic religion is considered an Indian religion.
I totally agree with you on that one.
Its like if you say Hindu people turn red, but if you say Sanskrit of Vedic then their eye’s light up…how superficial!
I see exactly what you are saying! That is very interesting. Its just that Ive met many Hindus who openly reject Lord Krsna as the only one God and as the creator. Also Hindus worship many different Gods but on a psychological level HK people refuse to do that. We only will admit to 'worshipping Lord krsna. I want you to try this and see how your entire life changes. Its crucial to note that the oly reason most of us HK people refuse to be considered Hindu and the outside world considers us so is because our opinions are so different about Krsna and Rama and the whole story. However I do think you make a great point worth thinking hard about and researching a bit further on my end. Jaya Krishna Balarama
Yes I know what you mean Brother and I hope you realize your goals in yoga. The key for me is understanding and experiencing in my life the power of true yoga and knowing perfectly well what it is. That video really helped to guide me in the right direction in terms of understanding the real meaning and purpose of yoga and TM. So I think you should see it and there are more I csn show you too that have brought tears to my eyes! Its at: youtube.com/watch?v=iem9A0vmQQc
Here is why Hare Krishna is considered a sect of Hinduism and not an actual religion itself.
Hinduism simply refers the Vedic religion. The Vedic religion has existed in two phases 1) Vedic phase where there were no temples, no pantheon of gods(in Vedic times they were devas, not separate gods, and the devas were understood to be powers within nature) and no concept of avatars. This was during the period of Sat/krita yuga where people use to go to gurukuls and learn Vedic knowledge under the guru and meditate 2) Puranic phase this is during the period of the Kaliyuga where the temples sprang up, the Puranas were composed and various sects were created to worship a pantheon of many gods. The main gods being: Vishnu(Vaishnavism) Shiva(Shivaism) Shakti(Shaktism).
But irrespective of this beating at the heart of eact sect of Hinduism was the philosophy of Vedanta. This considers the true god to be Brahman who is without name, form, attributes - called Nirguna Brahman. And god with name, form and attribute is called Sadguna Brahman. So it did not really matter ultimately whether you took your Sadguna Brahman to be Vishnu, Shiva or Shakti. It is for this reason why no conflict took place between the various sects in Hinduism, because everybody recognised ultimately everybody was worshipping the same god.
The HK is a sub-sect of Vaishnavism. They reject Nirguna Brahman and take Sadguna Brahman in the form of Krishna to be the true god. They are literalists, they interpret scripture and literally and really believe the way Krishna is depicted is how god really looks. They believe the events in the Puranas as literal and the descriptions within it to be real. Such as believing that the planets are a certain distance from the earth as the puranas say and that the earth floats in the ocean on the back of tortoise.
They are of course very different from other Hindu sects, and most Hindus themselves want to disown them lol, but they are still a sect of Hinduism(a sect of a sect)
If truly in ‘samarpan’ to the divine how come there is a boundary of any kind?
In omnipresent… everything resides…