"Is there anything in the Yoga Sutras that would contradict any religion? "
Certainly, it contradicts the whole history of mainstream Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - which have no place whatsoever for the expansion of consciousness, nor do they have any place for the process of seeking. You simply cling to a belief system without question, and rather than allowing your intelligence to blossom on it’s own according to ones own unique pace of evolution. That is the fundamental difference between a seeker and a believer. A believer has already come to a conclusion, and because of ones clinging to a conclusion, has in the same breath denied oneself of the possibility of ever seeing anything else beyond it. If you already think you have come to the Truth, then the very desire to seek for it disappears. A seeker is one who has not come to any conclusions whatsoever, who has set aside all of ones assumptions and belief systems, and has simply come to a recognition of ones own ignorance. Only then can you start inquiring and penetrating deeper into the mysteries of existence, which cannot be grasped into your fist, but which reveal themselves spontaneously when your inner atmosphere is prepared for it. Nor is the seeking something which is to be pursued outwardly, it is none other than coming to know yourself, through and through. It is only out of coming to know yourself that there is a possibility of coming to a transformation, and the freedom that arises out of transformation. This has no place at all in Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. And those aspects of those religions which have focused on methods for the expansion of consciousness have always been condemned - the Sufis were condemned by the Muslims, the Gnostics were condemned by the Christians, and the Qabalists were condemned by the Jews, because even according to their own religion - there can be no place for coming to a direct perception of the so called “divine”. That which is divine is always somewhere far away, projected light years apart from where you are - either in some otherworldly paradise, or to some imaginary Supreme Being which transcends the universe. The very idea of coming to a direct experience of ones divine nature, or that even you yourself are the divine, is simply absurd according to those religions. The declaration of the Upanishads, “aham brahmasi” (“I am Absolute”) is simply blasphemous. And that is why unless one abandons such belief systems - it is almost impossible to become involved in the yogic sciences. Although certainly, one may be a Christian and practice yoga, or be a Muslim and practice yoga, or a Jew and practice yoga. But sooner or later, because part of the whole process of the expansion of consciousness is to come to a more penetrating clarity into things as they are - those belief systems are certain to be abandoned sooner or later, simply because they are none other than the projections of the mind, creating things in its own image.
