The Religion of Yoga (from former TM practitioner)

Hi Dwayna,

Here is a letter I sent to a friend who believes they can be involved in Yoga as a Christian...

I want to make some comments about this practice from my own experience. Truly as a Christian we should not be doing YOGA. There is no such thing as"Christian yoga." The gurus will tell you that you cannot separate the exercise of Yoga from the meditation/ spirituality of Yoga [which is Hinduism].

First off, it comes from a completely different philosophy than biblical Christianity. It...is rooted in pagan religions such as Hinduism (pantheism-all is god), all coming from Babylon. Yoga involves meditation, chanting, postures and breathing exercises which are foundations for the New age and TM, in which I was involved. I do not see Yoga mentioned anywhere in God's holy Word, the BIBLE. The goal of yoga, which I practiced for several years, is to turn inward and find your "inner self" and to have union or unite with "god, Brahman or the universe". Unfortunately, none of this "uniting" is with the God of the Bible. It is actually with Kundalini, Chi, and Python. This is called divination in God’s Word. Interestingly, divination is translated python in the Greek in Acts 16:16-19

In the Bible Acts 16:16 says, "And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying..." (Paul cast this evil spirit out of this girl).

Divination is a spirit from Satan's kingdom that is counterfeit of God's Spirit. Divination's goal is to deceive people and to make them feel they are their own "god". The message of a spirit of divination is "to know". People with this (deceiving, evil) spirit could be called the "knowing ones". Fortune tellers, tarot card readers, mediums all have this evil spirit. This is how they "know" information about people. This is an ungodly gift from Satan’s kingdom sent to deceive people and draw them away from God.

Yoga is truly worshiping of the sun (Ra), not the Son of God. The sun salutation is one of the poses used in Yoga. One of the poses is the corpse pose; this opens a person up to a spirit of death. The meditation and exercise of yoga is used to enter the process of reincarnation. The Bible says resurrection, not reincarnation.

There is an excellent DVD on this subject called "Yoga Uncoiled from East to West" by Caryl Matrisciana who was born in India and has been touted as a leading cult and occult expert. I want to testify that I opened myself up to Satan’s kingdom doing yoga, and I became very ill in the end as a result. I was healed of over 15 diseases when I renounced yoga and other occult philosophies that were intertwined with it.

...the enemy comes as an “angel of light”. The West and the church have been inundated with occult and false religious practices because we have not been founded in the Word of God...

Angel E.

YOGA is an ancient form of physical movement that has its roots in INDIAN HINDU culture and philosophy. The practice of YOGA employs the use of various physical motions that are believed to be essential to achieve a sense of both physical and mental well being. Though YOGA is not usually viewed as a religion, there is no Hinduism a part from yoga and no yoga a part from Hinduism. It has developed over many centuries as a means of strengthening and energizing the physical body, and yoga devotees religiously practice its meditations. The Indian 'darsana' or '...way of seeing' has six fundamental systems - one of them is yoga.

The yoga path is a precise & accurate method for developing a greater clarity in helping us "see" & "know our inner-selves". The word Yoga means "unite" or "yoke". Yoga includes physical exercises to make one reach the ultimate goal of uniting his or her soul with the universe. Yoga is regarded as a divine science of life, revealed to enlightened sages in Meditation. Stone seals in the Indus Valley, which date back to around 3000 B.C. show yogic postures; this is the earliest archaeological evidence of yoga's origin. These yogic postures resemble the Hindu 'Lord Shiva'...Mythical and Hindu tradition suggests that Lord Shiva is said to be the founder of yoga and Paravathi his first disciple. The Vedas - huge collection of ancient Hindu scriptures - dating back to 2500 BC first mention yoga. Yoga was also mentioned in the Upanishads.

In fact, the Upanishads provide the main foundation of yoga teachings. Even the 'Mahabharat' - an epic about INDIAN mythology which contains the Bhagwad Gita has instructions from Lord Krishna to Arjuna in yoga to help him achieve liberation by fulfilling one's duties in life. The yogic science arose at the beginning of human civilization was slowly evolved and developed by ancient sages all over the world. Hindu traditions purport yoga as a divine gift that was given to mankind to help realize its divine nature.