Granted... To remove Yoga from Hinduism must be like ripping out the very heart of Hinduism from its very core and placing it elsewhere ...
Because in its very essence, from what I understand of sadhus and yogis, in Hinduism: one cannot reach a full spiritual connection with the gods nor attain spiritual enlightenment without the yogic postures and exercises which are specifically, purposefully, designed, to induce a state of trance "to open the practitioner to visitations by outside spiritual entities" to complement their meditation & worship of the deities.
Thus, yoga, which in Sanskrit also means "to yoke", "to join" or "to unite", is apparently indispensable as a form of Hindu prayer to invoke "inner spiritual awakening" (or consciousness) of the "self" to unite with the "universe" of the gods. In other words, in awakening their gods while seeking their favour and enticing them to control one's body, mind and conscience. As Rabi R. Maharaj cites in his life story "Death of a Guru" "nothing matters anymore to the Yogi except Yoga itself", meaning "yoking with Brahman", the supreme god of Hinduism or the supreme "Atma", “to reach godhood” (also quoting: https://edendecoded.com/blog-2/item/yoga / excerpts from "Seduced by the Serpent" by Mack Jordan). I am by no means a yoga expert but by what little experience I have had and read, this to me is vastly opposed to Christian theology on several accounts apart from the fact that for those who have accepted and received salvation from Christ, inner peace, joy and communion with God is not derived by self-immolation, neither by religiosity, nor through self-penalty. Christ alone has victoriously, FULLY and WHOLLY paid every single debt of our sin, that any veil between God and us was completely torn and shredded the moment that Jesus got crucified on our behalf so that no obstacles stand between our communion with Him, who is God the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
Grace is given to all who have invited and accepted Jesus into their hearts; not by rites nor rituals, but having been already bought by His living blood, by simply confessing and surrendering to Him as the Lord of all, King of Kings, the Light and the Life of all life, throughout all eternity. By faith, and not by any extended postulated petitions as Peter quotes Joel in Acts 2:21: "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved". I do not need to invoke the presence of His Holy Spirit by doing anything "extra" special. He is already present, in and around us, with all victory and glory being His, and His alone.
Salvation: is a free gift. Not earned, but offered: FREE.
Our GOD is also a jealous God (Exodus 34:14) who tells us not to yoke ourselves with anything that is not of HIM but to "come out of them and be separate" (2 Corinthians 6:14-18) and rather, to take HIS yoke and learn from HIM (Matthew 11:28-30). Hence, why should we make ourselves vulnerable at risk of being yoked to anything else apart from Jesus, when Deuteronomy18:9 clearly warns us “not to learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations" lest it defiles us and in Ephesians 5:11 warning us "Have Nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them"?
My aim is not to insult any of my Hindu friends, nor any practitioners, but as a Christian following a certain set of beliefs, I wish to provoke each one of us to ask ourselves as fellow followers of Christ- with all and anything we do, before accepting or rejecting yoga, or anything else for that matter, to think and ask:
If I am following Jesus, what does His Word truly tell me? If I truly believe in God, then the Spirit realm is real; and what I do and don't do here, bears and holds eternal consequences. What are the implications of what I do or don't do however subtle, since per Ephesians 6:12 "we do not wrestle with flesh and blood..."? How "syncretic" am I being, because with Jesus, there is no room for dappling and diluting with "syncretism" (John 14:6), just as He makes no distinction between a "white lie" and a "lie", as they are both lies without compromise, simply meaning, not the truth? A full surrender would then also mean getting rid of all the "altars and Ashtoreth poles" of our lives including those from the "high places" even though far away from the city centre, ("centre" meaning our own hearts), least, that we should be misled.
What does it mean, because everything can bear a certain truth but there is also only One Full TRUTH and there is no "half-truth" with God.
What are the roots I stand on? What are the roots of what I seek? Because those roots will determine the roots we spring from to influence all of the branches and fruits of our lives reaching out to touch and eventually transform every sphere of our society including future generations, no matter how blatantly or subtly.
As I learnt from YWAM's co-founder, Darlene Cunningham: the fruits of our belief tree will be the result of our root belief; the roots upon which our values as the trunk stand on, from which our decisions will branch out, ultimately, bearing fruit that reflect the basic root system from which those same beliefs stem from.
Let's remember that most changes are a process, which don't happen in a snap of a second, overnight. It evolves so slowly in syncretising, like any habit we built, that one is not even aware that any change is happening until one day, we suddenly wake up to the result and impact of that evolution or decision in our lives. In a very similar way, any "temptation" or "misleading diversions" will not happen in a black and white manner but will very subtly lure us away from the heart and core of our beliefs, just as a "stealthy thief" who comes to deceivingly "steal" or "mislead". If in any "gory", "scary" or "recognisable" form of its true intention to cheat, would we embrace it with open arms or would we surely not run away in the opposite direction? A strategic "thief" for sure would not be successful if he showed himself and his tactics for what it is. The purpose of "wooing" us away or tricking us most likely would fail if he revealed his true intent to steal, cheat and rob. His success would depend upon how blind or distracted we are.
In biblical history, it only took one generation of the Joshua-ites to forget their promised heritage, leading them to get influenced by the nations around them, rather than becoming the light of influence that they were destined for; ultimately dragging them to fall into the dark ages of the Judges instead of shining and reflecting the glory of God.
So now my question: What happens to the next generation? What happens to the generation whose educational systems have removed all prayers from schools like in many states in the USA, but have instead endorsed another form of prayer, presented in a different "palatable" package to make it more attractive?
Any marketing does not sell without a perceived benefit for which one of yoga's precepts have been "stress relief and physical wellness". What clarity and demarcation do we provide our next generation of "what is" and "what is not", by endorsing "yoga" for instance, which is originally deeply rooted in Hinduism, into every walk of life right from the infancy of our children into their adulthood, into the heart of the international corporate world and world-wide governmental organisations? Where then lies the boundary and influence over our children and over all the spheres of our society and the entire human race?
A child who is taught and grows up doing something all his life being told it is good and beneficial for him: what chances would there be that as an adult, he would not be tempted to explore deeper beyond simply "physical exercise" to venture into the spiritual realms because the term "Yoga" for him, all his life, was strewn into his lifestyle being portrayed as something "healthy" and "necessary" for his well being? It would probably be harder convincing that same child the contrary or setting the borderline in the later years, because there will be no distinctions or guidelines left for him/her.
Just as when I eat more, my appetite increases with time along with the size of my stomach- so it is too, when we start on something. This is simply the normal tendency of any interest once ignited, arousing a growing passion in us, driving us to dive deeper and deeper to master any art or relationship- We dig deeper to eventually become more and more involved as our curiosity and our hunger to do better gets stirred and aroused within, to perfect it's art, as also in the same way, it is, when we start our journey with God....
As Rabi R. Maharaj, in the same book "Death of a Guru" quotes, “No part of yoga can be separated from the philosophy behind it", if one was simply seeking physical fitness, "exercises designed for the specific purpose ought rather to be chosen".
Hence, in the context of knowing that the root heart of yoga has been Hinduism with the designed intention to yoke with "spirits", let's change perspectives for a minute and view it from the angle of Christianity: what if anyone stripped and trimmed the gospel as they pleased, rejecting the full entire gospel to accept only parts of it: would that not be considered heresy or apostasy, as it has been with the case of the Jehovah's witnesses or the Mormons and many other "cults" that have "stemmed out" of Christianity itself?
To strip off yoga from Hinduism would flow in a similar vein. Except that Hinduism by nature is a syncretic religion whilst Christianity is not. To a Hindu, adding Jesus, as "another god" to a list of a million gods does not pose an issue, but to a true born again Christian, Jesus Christ, who is one with the Father, is the only "way, the truth and the life" (John 14:6).
Bottom-line: remembering that yoga is a physical Hindu prayer, let’s consider another form of prayer, which is a verbal one. Would any born again Christian conscientiously pray aloud to another god or chant black magic spells, which would touch the spiritual world to potentially bear a negative cosmic influence which does not come from God? If actions do speak louder than words, what are we doing if we are with our mouths confessing that Jesus is Lord, but with our bodies, edifying other gods to the extend that our postulations risk opening up our bodies and hearts to other spirits other than the Holy Spirit? 1 Corinthians 7:15 clearly reveal to us that our bodies are the temple of God: "Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!"
As Laurette Willis, the founder of Praise Moves (http://praisemoves.com/) and an ex-yoga practitioner cites: "Christian Yoga is an oxymoron". Whether innocently or not, as some say "Yoga is the missionary arm of Hinduism", seeing where it is rooted and how it has indeed spread to deeply penetrate every walk of life into all realms of society worldwide, I find it hard, not to believe, otherwise.
And if that is the truth, hats off that any guileful strategy has very successfully and masterfully launched off the campaign from the remote temples in India to the point that everywhere in the West, it has been staged and at an accelerated rate, replaced most forms of original belief systems in every conceivable institution including our churches to influence all mind sets; to the point that even my own personal friends in the West, who began yoga as a "simple" exercise almost 20 years ago, very slowly but eventually got pulled so deep into yoga, that one day I no longer recognised their names on Facebook as they adopted Sanskrit names to reflect their spiritual inclinations and had begun following all sorts of yogic gurus attending their various yoga and meditation workshops around the globe!
And let me please reiterate: whether you're doing yoga or not, God does not condemn you, and neither do I. I am neither propagating nor endorsing anything here. I am no better than anyone else and as everyone I am still a "work in progress" as far as my Christian life goes. All I am trying to do is to provoke us all to ask questions as Christians, based on HIS word, and not to simply follow whatever the world is trending towards, on whatever the subject "in trend" without first digging deeper on the wider implications on our society and much beyond simply our own generation. HE loves us. BUT: HE also gives us all a choice and the wisdom of discernment whether it is on this subject or any other subject for that matter.
As Todd White from Lifestyle Christianity states:"God grabbed your heart not for you to be bound by the fear of man anymore! But for you to be possessed by the love of God and if God is for you who cares who is against you"!
Thus I pray, that as Christians when things in the future become blurry, that we would persistently seek the Truth in Him, to shed light wherever we go- that we would continue not simply walking the walk blindly, but also fully living the Word out and examining every aspect of our lives where we are in danger of walking into a blur of syncretic subtleties, invisible to the naked eye, but which in coming generations, could hold dire consequences to our faith in Christ, leaving spiritual strongholds over our children that could hover over for generations in bondage, breaking and completely erasing the full truth and essence of: Why we believe, Who we are, Whom we believe and What He says.
Let us not lose our perspective on what Christ stood for, standing firmly and fearlessly rooted in the fullness of our identity we have in Him here on earth, into eternity. Let us truly be the "salt" and the "light" not simply flowing with the flow but steering to bring a difference; to be the lambs without blemish through Christ; the heads and not the tails; the influencers and not the influenced; example setters through Christ in love and not the other way around; not simply today, but to leave our heritage and the fullness of the TRUTH of Christ for generations to come; being a pleasing aroma to Him without compromise in His steadfast love.
HIM: who IS and always Will BE; the Beginning and the End; the Alpha and the Omega; the Way, the Truth and the Life; the Restorer and Redeemer of our salvation; our most precious Pearl, our Lord and Saviour. May He speak to you and reveal the depths of His Word and love for you. GOD bless you.
Irene Sunup, Kohima
