Is Yoga Demonic?

[vajradhara]

GEE I WONDER WHO THE SNAKE IS.....CAN YOU GUESS? He has been given many names and many origins but I like to refer to him as the Father of confusion, Prince of Darkness, Father of Lies, Leader of the demonic pack, etc. He is also very pleasent looking, as a matter of fact he's breathtaking in appearance, he was created by God. Once again, what I am going to say is compromising is the issue here. Let me go through my Bible and see if I can come with anything else. God's word is the only thing that will actuall win here. Rhonda

Namaste Rhonda,

i appreciate your earnestness, it serves you well.

can we agree that Myth does not equate to fact?

i can guess.. but i actually don't need to because the reference you've listed says who they think that it is.. interpetation is not necessary in my case, thank you for asking though.

i realize that westerners try to put everything into their own paradigm and classify it as such, even when such things aren't even concepts in the tradition from which it was taken. no matter though...

God's word, as you say, is still a matter of debate and as such cannot determine for anyone but the Christians the substance of the matter.

we can, if you'd like, continue to post information that supports our particular points of view however i doubt that it will have any real effect on the conversation.

i suppose that the issue for you is compromise, however, that is not a concern of mine there are many other types of yoga than the ones listed here as well.

a salient point to bear in mind is this... these are, so far, all references from the Hindu tradition and not of the other schools of thought of Indian religion (Janism and Buddhism) and as such, it would be incorrect to conclude that this the same for these schools as well.

also interesting to note is the symbology of the serpent. in Christain myth, the serpent is looked upon as "evil" (though there is some debate about this) whilst in the various Eastern traditions the serpent is looked upon as a giver of knowledge... hey.. wait... isn't that what the serpent did in the Garden of Eden also?

eh.. in the end, we choose to belive what we want through a variety of means and unless we experience something different, we aren't likely to change our minds.

 

[Rhonda75]

Are you for real.. I mean c'mon, did you actually read anything I posted or did you skim through it missing the vital parts. I am not here to go back and forth with you, I researched and found that people for and against yoga both agree on what it is. And to make something very clear to you, I believe in the Bible and the young lady who posted was concerned if practicing yoga was something a Christian should be doing? Oh and another thing, what gave you the idea that the snake gave knowledge in the Garden of Eden. I just refreshed my memory by reading the passege where this was spoken of, he actually charmed Eve into eating an apple using God's words to cun and deceive her. If you call that knowledge all the big words that you have been using in these posts of yours can't save you from that one, deceiving and teaching are two different things. God be with you. Hopefully and believe me I am going to pray for you the truth will set you free.

 

[vajradhara]

Are you for real.. I mean c'mon, did you actually read anything I posted or did you skim through it missing the vital parts. I am not here to go back and forth with you, I researched and found that people for and against yoga both agree on what it is. And to make something very clear to you, I believe in the Bible and the young lady who posted was concerned if practicing yoga was something a Christian should be doing? Oh and another thing, what gave you the idea that the snake gave knowledge in the Garden of Eden. I just refreshed my memory by reading the passege where this was spoken of, he actually charmed Eve into eating an apple using God's words to cun [sic] and deceive her. If you call that knowledge all the big words that you have been using in these posts of yours can't save you from that one, deceiving and teaching are two different things. God be with you. Hopefully and believe me I am going to pray for you the truth will set you free.

i did read it completely however with a different understanding of the issue than you currently posses. that's not a knock against you, it's simply the way it is.

i also, researched and posted the same information with a completely different orgination, why should the information that you've posted be given any more weight than the information that i've posted? i suspect that, in this case, it's due to the fact that it meets with your preconcieved notions of what it's supposed to be. much like taking parts of the Bible out of context can lead one to some very wrong conclusions.

it's hard to keep all the various translations of the Bible in my head.. which one are you using?

i thank you for your prayers, they are appreciated.. despite the tension in the emails i honestly appreciate them. i am already free so there is nothing to free me from but i do appreciate the sentiment.

 

[Rhonda75]

Okay I see where you are coming from. The thing is is that there are so many different ones out there, so than the topic here is not compromise is it, it sounds like what is the truth. I guess you could compare yoga to religion there are so many out there. Well then, which one is right? Which yoga is the proper yoga to use. (is use right?) maybe I should say perform. Yoga now seems to me to be like religion, so many out there so many to choose from, but which one is right. They all guarantee the same thing, the way into heaven. So which yoga is the better? Where did yoga really originate from? Somebody had to start it. The thing is....who started it? What was their intentions for the excersise? What were the benifits that they were teaching? What was the ultimate goal of the excersise? Now I am really curious to know. That would be a good thread to start in one of these forums. What do you think? I am game, just say the word.

 

[Stormy]

I practice yoga at home with a video. At some point I hope to have the time to join a class. I do not find any conflict with my exercise, and my faith in God.

 

[vajradhara]

Okay I see where you are coming from. The thing is is that there are so many different ones out there, so than the topic here is not compromise is it, it sounds like what is the truth. I guess you could compare yoga to religion there are so many out there. Well then, which one is right? Which yoga is the proper yoga to use. (is use right?) maybe I should say perform. Yoga now seems to me to be like religion, so many out there so many to choose from, but which one is right. They all guarantee the same thing, the way into heaven. So which yoga is the better? Where did yoga really originate from? Somebody had to start it. The thing is....who started it? What was their intentions for the excersise? What were the benifits that they were teaching? What was the ultimate goal of the excersise? Now I am really curious to know. That would be a good thread to start in one of these forums. What do you think? I am game, just say the word.

Namaste Rhonda,

thank you for the post.

i suppose one could compare yoga to religion in that there are a wide variety of them and they are designed for different people of differing aptitiudes, however it would not be correct to say that yoga is a religion per se.

as for which yoga to practice... my answer is that it depends!

though there is some thought that yoga allows union of the human with the divine i would not go so far as to say that it promises a way to heaven or anything like that really. heaven, as it's commonly used, denotes an after-life place of reward for believers. this concept, though prevalant in Hindu thought, it not part of yoga per se, rather, yoga adapts itself to the various traditions that practice it.

as i said before, many of the yoga are religious in nature and, those that are, typically should not be practiced unless you've had the proper training and so forth. they aren't for lay people nor are they for beginners.. and many have very little to do with physical forms and exercise.

that leaves us with the non-religious ones that we can use for our own beneift, bereft of any cultural or religious taint.

it's easy enough to say... "oh, go get the Rodney Yee one, he's great" and you would have one without the taints of religion or culture, though Rodney is Asian... so some culture will come through anyway.

while those are perfectly valid questions, in a sense, they are irrelevant to Yoga. if i can use an analogy here... it's as if i have a sickness and the medicine has been brought to me and i've been told how to take it and why; yet i refuse to do so until i understand how i've contracted the illness and from whom, all to my own detriment. better to take the medicine and get well.. then figure out where the illness came from, in my opinion.

who can say what the motivations of a person long dead were? who can say what the motivations of a person standing next to us is? these are questions that we can not have an answer to and really cause us to get off track when we become consumed by them. it's important to ask them yet at the same time equally important to be able to leave them aside for the non-intellectual experience, which is the main thrust of yoga.. in my opinion.... it's a practice not a philosophical system.

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