REBUTTLE TO: Christian Yoga? C-mon!
By Letters To The Editor Gurumeet Kaur Khalsa (12/24/06)
Dear Marsha West,
Thank you for posting your article, “Christian Yoga? C’mon!” on The American Daily. I was intrigued by your comments because yoga and Christianity is one of my favorite topics. I have taught yoga for 35 years to hundreds of Christians. You have made some inquiry into yogic teachings and Hindu traditions in India, so I am curious about what you think of many peoples’ claim in India that during the “missing years” (unaccounted for in Jesus’ life in the bible) that Jesus went to India. There are meditations that we teach in yoga, which are attributed to Jesus, which are for forgiveness and healing. When Jesus said (Matthew 6:22), “Therefore let thine eye be single and your whole body will be filled with light,” it is highly reminiscent of yogic technology. Yoga teaches students to focus at the third eye or the inner eye, which is considered the consciousness of intuition and fills our being with the light of understanding when we meditate at that point. It is written that Jesus wore white, not a common practice at that time, which is also a yogic technology that magnifies the aura or electromagnetic field because it reflects the light.
You did not mention that the goal of yoga is ‘union’ and the experience of the interdependence of the creation and the entire universe. This idea may not fit well with the claim that yoga belongs only to the Hindus, if its goal is unity. As yoga teachers, we welcome and teach students of every religion and encourage people to worship as they choose. In fact, yoga teachers themselves represent people of all religions. Yoga is known for helping people to embrace and enhance their experience of their religion, whatever it may be. The claim that yoga is the sole domain of Hindus is not born out historically or geographically, since yogic practices have been found in many ancient cultures and, even in India, yoga is practiced by people of hundreds of different religious sects. In fact, Patanjali, the author of the Yoga Sutras, was a follower of the Sankhya philosophy. The Sankhya doctrine was not incorporated into any religion. It never obtained wide acceptability among Hindu philosophers. Guru Nanak, 1469-1539, the founder of the Sikh religion had many dynamic discourses that have been recorded with the yogis, and he admonished them for refusing to share the technology of yoga with the masses, when people could be healed through yoga and experience its many other benefits. That is why my yoga teacher, Yogi Bhajan, 1929-2004, who was raised in a Catholic school by Nuns (http://www.3ho.org/YogiBhajan.html) and was not Hindu, came to teach the masses in America. He believed that the technology should be shared openly with all people. He said those who practice yoga cannot be deceived or controlled and that keeping the technology secret was a power play. He said yoga is not a religion, although it does give us the experience and consciousness that our bodies are sacred temples. Let’s see, where have we heard that before? Oh yes, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? …Therefore honor God with your body," (1 Cor. 6:19-20).
Yogi Bhajan also said the following about the popularity and growth of yoga: “By the year 2013 the world population will be seven billion. The change in technology, psychology, and sociology will be huge. The chaos of information in the computer age will make it difficult for people to cope with their day-to-day lives. The body, mind, and spirit will have to be organized to meet these natural human phenomena. Every human, no matter to which religion they belong, will face a reality in the future where they will need a strong, healthy nervous system. They will need mental clarity and the back-up of spiritual strength to face this coming world. We can say with confidence, the only way to do this is through yogic techniques by which body, mind, and spirit can be enhanced. To sustain themselves, tomorrow’s individual must have yogic training. It is a need of the times. By 2013, forty to sixty percent of the population will be practicing yoga. People will see that those who practice yoga are bright and beautiful, calm and blissful. They will recognize that the yogic community is sincere and dependable, serving and giving. Yoga, with its every system is gong to prevail. We clearly see this trend, and it will lead to the end of human insanity and the prevalence of yogic glory. Yoga is the science for all humanity. It is the custodian of human grace and radiance. It holds a great future for every human being. It brings mental caliber for purpose and prosperity of life. The future of yoga is bright, bountiful, and blissful.”
The history of yoga in America has been filled with claims that it represents everything from the devil worship to sexual perversion to black magic and mind control and more. Today, the latest statistics say that 20 million people across America are practicing yoga and they have found all of these claims to be false, many of them being very devout, practicing Christians.
It looks like yoga is here to stay for awhile.
God bless you. Sat Nam (Truth is God’s Name).
Gurumeet Kaur Khalsa
Minister of Divinity of Sikh Dharma and Kundalini Yoga Teacher
(Printer friendly version) Email: Letters To The Editor
