YOGA IS NOT HARMLESS
Question: Recently I joined a yoga class for fitness
and relaxation. During the class, mantras are used. The teacher
explained the meanings such as “all is truth.” Is it wrong to
participate in these mantras? Can I just substitute Christian words such
as “Jesus”? Or should I not participate in the class at all? Everyone I
have asked seems to think there is no problem with this but I feel
uncomfortable and do not know why.
Response: I am glad that you feel uncomfortable
about being involved in yoga. Drop the class immediately! Yoga is the
very heart of Hinduism. It is sold in the West as science but in fact is
religion. It is promoted in the West as beneficial to health, but in
the East it is a technique for dying. The goal is to reach moksha, allegedly escaping the world of illusion (maya) of time and sense into liberation from the endless cycle of birth and death and rebirth through reincarnation.
The latter is another of Satan’s appealing lies that offers endless
chances by denying God’s declaration that it is “appointed unto man once
to die” (Heb 9:27). Many Roman Catholic priests and nuns practice yoga,
and some who have become deeply involved in Eastern mysticism of
various kinds, such as Thomas Merton, are highly honored among
Catholics.
Yoga is a sanskrit word that means “yoking” and refers to union with
Brahman, the ultimate god in Hinduism. The goal of yoga is
“self-realization,” to realize that atman, the individual soul,
is identical with Brahman, the universal soul, i.e., that you and god
are one; indeed, that you are god but just don’t know it and need,
through yoga, to discover this great “truth.”
Your yoga teacher will probably deny all of this, but he (or she)
cannot deny that this practice comes from Hinduism. It was not invented
in the West. Yoga was introduced by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita as
the sure way to the Hindu heaven. Shiva, one of the most feared Hindu
deities, known as The Destroyer, is addressed as Yogeshwara, which means
“Lord of Yoga.”
Hatha yoga, known as physical yoga, is alleged to be devoid of the
mysticism in other forms. Not so. One of the most authoritative hatha
yoga texts, the fifteenth-century Hathayoga-Pradipika, declares
that Lord Shiva was the first hatha yoga teacher. As for the mantras,
if one of them means “all is truth,” that should give you the
pantheistic Hindu connection. You know that all is not truth; indeed,
this very idea is a satanic lie!
Substitute “Jesus” as your “Christian mantra”? No! Any mantra (like
the Catholic rosary) violates Christ’s command to “use not vain
repetitions as the heathen” (Mt 6:7). I don’t know what mantras you have
been taught, but the fact is that true yoga mantras are all the names
of Hindu gods. Furthermore, the greatest yoga teachers all declare that
the repetition of a mantra is a call to that god (i.e., the demon it
represents) to come and possess the meditator. I have interviewed people
who became demon possessed through yoga. The great yogis all warn of
the grave dangers involved, even though at the same time they promote
the alleged benefits.
Yes, you could benefit physically from stretching your muscles, etc.
However, the spiritual price you pay is not worth it. If you are
interested in physical fitness, then practice exercises designed for
that, not those designed specifically for achieving union with Brahman!
One of the most popular forms of yoga in the West is Transcendental
Meditation (TM). Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at first introduced TM to the
West as a Hindu religious practice. He openly taught that its purpose
was to produce in the meditators’ bodies “soma,” a legendary substance
that would allegedly feed and awaken the pantheon of Hindu gods. But
when TM was excluded from public schools and government funding,
Maharishi quickly and dishonestly deleted all reference to religion and
began presenting TM as pure science.
Former TMers have filed lawsuits asking millions of dollars in
damages because of the traumas they suffered through the practice of TM.
More recently, TM has practically taken over the town of Fairfield,
Iowa, where Maharishi University of Management is located.
The latest push in the promotion of TM comes from television
personality Dr. Mehmet Oz. This protégé of Oprah Winfrey is a national
spokesman for Transcendental Meditation, as well as being a medical
advisor/teacher in Rick Warren’s “Daniel Plan,” an alleged biblical
health and fitness program begun at Saddleback Church. The curriculum
features occult meditation advocated by Oz and two other medical
consultants.
excerpt from The Berean Call website:
https://www.thebereancall.org/content/avatar-gospel-newsletter-classic
