Yoga
by
Vishal Mangalwadi
Provided by Kurt Van Gorden of
Jude 3 Missions
PO Box 780, Victorville, CA 92393-0780
Vishal Mangalwadi, is a citizen of
India and philosopher in his own right. He has long had a fruitful ministry among Hindus.
As America increasingly turns to Hinduism and New Age gurus, we need to
be prepared to counteract this counterfeit gospel.
Man’s basic problem, according to Hinduism, is not moral but metaphysical. It is not that man is guilty of having broken God’s moral law, but that he has somehow forgotten his true nature and he experiences himself to be someone other than what he is. Man is not a sinner; he is simply ignorant of his true self. The problem is with his consciousness. His salvation consists in attaining that original state of consciousness, which he has lost.
Man’s true nature, or original consciousness, is defined differently by monistic and non-monistic gurus. The monistic gurus, who believe that God, man and the universe are ultimately one, teach that man is Infinite Consciousness or God, but has somehow become entangled in finite, personal, rational consciousness. So long as he remains in this state, he is born repeatedly in this world of suffering. Salvation lies in transcending finite, personal consciousness and merging into (or experiencing ourselves to be) the infinite Impersonal Consciousness, and thereby getting out of the cycle of births and deaths.
In different words, salvation is a matter of perception or realization. You are already one with God, you have to perceive or realize this fact. Perceiving, in this context, is not cognitive activity. It is not a matter of intellectually knowing or logically deducting that we are God, but rather transcending this cognitive, rational consciousness and experiencing a “higher” state of expanded consciousness, which is believed to be God and our true self.
The non-monistic gurus and movements, such as Hare Krishna, do not believe that man is or ever becomes God. God, according to the Hare Krishna movement, is a personal Being--Krishna. Man’s original state is Krishna Consciousness and his true nature is to be a loving servant of Krishna. But man has forgotten this and become entangled in this material world. He has to reestablish his link with Krishna and gain Krishna-Consciousness. Only then will man get out of the cycle of births and deaths and live forever with Krishna in Goloka or heaven.[i]
Thus, to sum up, salvation in Hinduism consists in the realization, perception or experience of our so-called “true nature.” This realization takes place when we are able to alter our consciousness and attain what is called a “higher” state of consciousness.
How can we alter our consciousness? Through the manipulation of our nervous system, because the consciousness is dependent upon the nervous system.
During the preceding millennia numerous techniques have been developed to manipulate one’s nervous system in order to alter one’s consciousness. These are generally called yoga.[ii] Here we can discuss only a few of the techniques that have been popularized by the modern gurus.
Hatha yoga, which consists of physical and breathing exercises, is a very ancient method. The belief that one can attain “salvation” through physical exercises rests on the fact that salvation is believed to be a matter of perception. This perception relies upon the state of one’s nervous system, which is caused by one’s physical condition. By physiological manipulation of one’s body, the nervous system can be affected and consciousness altered.
The problem with Hatha yoga is that it is a long and tedious process requiring much discipline and a competent teacher.
The question is frequently asked whether a Christian can practice Hatha yoga. Many Christians see nothing wrong in practicing it because it is often advertised as nonreligious in nature and sold for its therapeutic values. But once a person experiences the alteration of consciousness and has a “vision of possibilities” (cf., Maharishi Mahesh Yogi), he becomes open to the Hindu philosophy upon which Hatha yoga rests. There may be some teachers of Hatha yoga who are not interested in propagating its philosophical basis at all, but only in teaching it to make money or impart health. The supposed therapeutic benefits of Hatha yoga are quite debatable among qualified persons. It seems, though, that if a person is practicing certain exercises developed in India for health, then he should not say that he is “practicing yoga.” For the physical exercises become yoga only when they are practiced to alter consciousness, or to merge into God. For yoga means union of soul with “God.”[i]
It may be asked, “What is wrong with artificially altering consciousness?” By itself I do not think there is anything evil in an altered state of consciousness. Madness, sleepwalking, and hallucination are all “altered” states of consciousness that are not morally evil, even though they are undesirable. But to consider your own altered consciousness to be God is certainly evil from the biblical viewpoint. And to ascribe spiritual significance to physical exercises is to become prey to the deception of Satan.
The use of hallucinogenic drugs has been an accepted method of altering consciousness for ages in India. But many of the modern gurus discourage their use because their results are unpredictable, they are addictive, and harmful.Japa[i] is the repetition or chanting of a mantra (usually a name for God or an evil spirit). The Hare Krishna movement chants the names of Krishna and Rama. The monistic gurus prefer to use a symbolic name of God, such as “Om,” or a mantra whose meaning is the meditator does not know, so that name or mantra may not crate any thoughts or images in the mind by association.
Constant repetition of a sound eliminates all other stimuli, thus concentrating the mind and eventually itself becoming a non-stimulus. This induces a state where the mind is aware or conscious, but is not aware or conscious of anything or any thought. One may say that it is only conscious of consciousness. This is what is called Pure Consciousness or Transcendental Consciousness.
In order for this technique to be effective in “God-realization,” one has to practice for three to four hours a day. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who popularized Transcendental Meditation in the West, prescribes it only for 40 minutes a day to the new initiates. This is meant to give them a taste for it and to help them obtain a “vision of possibilities.” In advanced stages the Maharishi prescribes as much as one full week of silent meditation.
An initiate is asked to bring flowers, sweets, a white handkerchief, camphor, etc., along with a fee for a puja ceremony. During the ceremony the teacher worships a photo of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s own guru and also asks the initiate to bow before this photo. The teacher invokes the blessings of various gods and goddesses and then gives a mantra to the initiate. Usually the mantra is a short word, a name of some deity, such as Ram, Om, Hrim, Sring, or Aing. The disciple is asked to sit in a comfortable position, close his eyes and silently repeat the mantra, like “Ram . . . Ram . . . Ram . . .” for 20 minutes. He is told that he will first forget the rest of the world and be aware only of the mantra. Then he will forget the mantra too and transcend all thoughts and feelings and becomes aware of awareness. This is the Transcendental state of consciousness.
After some time, the meditator reaches a higher state of consciousness, called Cosmic Consciousness, in which he is aware both of the world and of the Pure Consciousness. After years of meditation, one can attain God Consciousness, in which he comes to perceive the subtler levels of the objective world, which appear as personal. In this state, it is said that one can even communicate with birds, animals, plants, and rocks. The final state is Unity Consciousness, in which one perceives oneness of himself with the universe. This is liberation.
Mahesh Yogi calls this path
the “Mechanical Path to God-realization.”
He says that it is possible to realize God in a mechanical way because
“God-realization” is a matter of perception and “the process of perception
is both mechanical and automatic” . . . Perception in the outward direction is
the result of a progressive increase of activity of the nervous system.
And perception in the inward direction is the result of diminishing
activity . . . until the entire nervous system ceases to function and reaches a
state of stillness, a state of restful alertness.
This brings the realization of >Be still and know that I am God.’”[ii]
THE
SURAT-SHABD YOGA: THE PATH OF LIGHT AND SOUND
“God is Light,” many gurus affirm, and add that this light
is within us.
“In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was
God,” declare many sects. They
add that this word is within us. When
the soul establishes a contact with this word, the word takes it back to
Godhead, its original home.
The Divine Light Mission[i] and Radha Soami Satsang[ii] (Beas) have been chiefly responsible for popularizing Surat-Shabd yoga in the West. Surat means soul and Shabd means Word or Sound; so Surat-Shabd yoga is union of soul and the Word.
The sects that teach this path try to keep their techniques completely secret. The techniques are called by various names, such as Nam (name) and Updesh (knowledge), to deliberately mislead noninitiates. The “name” and “knowledge” actually refer to techniques of physiological manipulation of the senses and meditation on one’s breathing.
Unlike TM, the sects that teach the path of sound and light do not initiate everyone who asks for it. One has to be spiritually “ready” for initiation. There is no definite criterion for judging whether or not a person is ready; it depends on the arbitrary feelings of the initiator. Some sects stipulate a few objective conditions, too, such as giving up liquor, non-vegetarian food, drugs, etc.
After one has been
chosen for initiation, he is taken into a closed room, where the initiator
explains the importance of the “knowledge,” Satsang (the weekly gathering
for fellowship and teaching), and the Satguru (the True Teacher).
The would-be initiate takes a vow of secrecy and to follow no other guru
except his own. Then he bows,
kneels, or generally prostrates before the guru or his photo, and worships
him/it. The initiator teaches him
the techniques of meditation.
Sects which teach salvation through this path describe
their experiences differently. According
to some sects, such as the Radha Soami Satsang,during mediation the “third
eye” is opened, the soul leaves the body through this eye with the Sound
Current (Logos), and travels up to heaven.
On the way it has many wonderful experiences, and finally it merges into
God.
KUNDALINI
YOGA: SALVATION THROUGH THE SERPENT POWER
Hindu psychology teaches that in the human body, three centimeters
above the rectum and three centimeters below the genitals, at the base of the
spine, is a beautiful triangle in which lies the Kundalini
Shakti, or the “Serpent Power.”
What Kundalini really is, nobody knows, but it is supposed to be red and
white in color. It is also
described as “coil power” or the “creative sex energy.”
Normally, it is taught, the Kundalini lies coiled and dormant, but when
it is awakened, it arises and begins to travel upward.
In its journey from the base of the spine to the top of the head, it
passes through six psychic centers called chakras.
When it passes through a chakra, it gives a various psychic experiences
and powers. When at last it reaches
the top chakra, called the sahasrara
chakra, one can supposedly attain the power to perform miracles and achieve
liberation.
Many means are used to awaken the Kundalini. They range from breathing exercises, like Pranayam, to the homosexual handling of the genitals. The most influential guru in the last decade who preached Kundalini yoga was Swami Muktananda of Ganeshpuri, near Bombay. He described Kundalini yoga as “Maha yoga” (Great yoga) or “Siddha yoga” (Perfect yoga), for he said it was the only yoga in which the aspirant does not have to do anything. He just surrenders to the guru and the guru’s grace does everything for him.
Thousands of people have testified that Muktananda had awakened their Kundalini, but the method he used is still secret. Often it gives the impression of being demonic. Kundalini yoga has not been very popular in India because many of the experiences it gives are what William James calls “diabolical mysticism.” It gives pain, makes people depressed, and even produces madness.TANTRA: SALVATION THROUGH SEX
Tantra is often said to be the opposite of yoga, but they both aim at the
same end. It is opposite of Hatha
yoga because the latter is the path of great discipline and effort, whereas
Tantra is the way of free indulgence.
The tantrics claim that Tantra is the original and easiest way of
salvation. The possibility of Samadhi or Unity Consciousness must have
appeared to sages during sexual intercourse, for in orgasm you transcend
rational consciousness in a pleasurable experience of oneness.
Tantra is, in part, a system of techniques of prolonging orgasm in order
to experience “God” or Unity Consciousness.
St. Paul writes that when men suppress the truth in unrighteousness and begin to
worship the creation instead of the Creator, God gives them up to a base mind
or, “in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their
bodies among themselves” (Rom. 1:24). And
their base minds and lusts lead them to unbelievable depths of filth and
foolishness.
Before the spread of Christianity in India and the consequent Hindu renaissance,
Tantricism had sunk to such levels of crudity and cruelty, witchcraft and
superstition, that in any sophisticated society the descriptions would appear
unthinkable. But now that the
Christian influence has diminished in India, the old Tantric cult is coming back
openly on the surface. The number
of centers in India where Tantra is being taught and practiced is rapidly
increasing. In its crudest forms it
includes worship of sex organs, sex orgies which include the drinking of blood
and human semen, black magic, human sacrifice, and contact with evil spirits
through dead and rotting bodies in cremation grounds, etc.
In its more sophisticated forms it is being advocated by the gurus like
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and authors such as Professor Aghenanda Bharati, and
Italian convert to Hinduism who lectures in anthropology at Syracuse University
in America.
Both Rajneesh and Professor Bharati are among the most brilliant of Hindu thinkers. Before becoming a guru, Rajneesh was a professor of philosophy for nine years. His writings have been at the top of the best sellers’ list in India for many years, and he has published over two hundred books. This, to me, is an indication that the sexual path of salvation will be one of the most popular paths in the coming days.
In his lectures, Rajneesh asserts that Jesus taught the way of salvation was through sex. His discourse on the “new birth,” published in his book The Mustard Seed, would be a typical example of his thesis.
Reality is one, he says,
but we perceive other things to be different from ourselves.
This is our fundamental problem; we perceive reality as dualistic.
The ultimate duality is sexual. We
see everyone either as a man or woman. We
realize Oneness only when we transcend this duality.
Jesus taught that the way to enter the Kingdom of God is through the new
birth. And we experience this new
birth, or the Kingdom of God when the two “become one flesh.”
He writes, “when you make the male and female into a single one . . .
then you shall enter the kingdom” (ibid.,
p. 140).
THE ROLE OF THE GURU IN GRANTING LIBERATION
Each sect describes the role of the guru in the liberation of a devotee
differently. Generally speaking, the guru’s task is only to teach the
technique of achieving liberation. The
devotee has to achieve liberation by his own efforts in practicing the
technique.
However, some sects also teach that at initiation the guru will take the karma of a disciple upon himself. Karma is defined as “action,” or the some of one’s good and bad deeds. Without getting rid of his bad karma, the disciple must face repeated rebirths in order to repay his karmic debt. According to the law of karma, each person must reap the consequences of his actions through continual reincarnations into this world. But if the guru takes the karma, the need for a future reincarnation vanishes and one can be delivered from the cycle of repeated births and deaths. The guru claims to take the disciples karma upon himself out of love and grace. And therefore, it is believed that without the guru’s grace, once cannot be saved.
This concept of grace and
the guru taking the disciples karma is a recent development in Hinduism directly
borrowed from Christianity. The
only difference is that Jesus took our sin and its consequence (death) upon
himself. The guru says he takes our
karma upon himself, but he does nothing about it.
The devotee is acquitted of his karma without anybody paying the penalty
of reaping the consequences. Thus,
the law of karma is not satisfied but simply set aside.
It is not fulfilled but broken. The
Hindus do not see the need for atonement or the necessity for Christ’s death
because they do not view the law of karma to be an absolute moral law, rooted in
God’s character, whose demands have to be met.
They believe God is not a moral being, man is not morally guilty, and therefore, the need for propitiation
does not arise.
THE TALKING POINT
The Hindus often consider our “one way” preaching to be narrow-mindedness[i]
because if salvation is what they think it is, then there truly are many ways to
alter consciousness and thus attain “salvation.” Therefore, a meaningful conversation about salvation must
come to grips with two questions:
What is man’s problem, and what is salvation?
Once we can help a
Hindu to see that man’s basic problem is moral, that we are guilty of braking
God’s law and deserve punishment, it will be easier for him to see that Christ
is the only way to salvation, forgiveness, and reconciliation because he is the
only one who has died for sin.
______________________________________________________________________________
Permission to reprint granted to Jude 3
Missions by Cornerstone Magazine, 1999.
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[1].
Other dualists or qualified monists explain man’s problem and salvation
differently, but in almost all sects the problem is metaphysical, and the
solution in terms of realization.
[1].
The word yoga has, for many
Westerners, become synonymous with the physical exercises of Hatha
yoga. Physical yoga is only one
form of yoga. Yoga means union, the union of soul with God or the merging of
finite consciousness into the infinite.
[1].
Originally yoga was associated with a dualistic philosophy called Sankhya.
Its goal was separation of Purusha (soul) and Prakriti (nature).
But ever since yoga has been accepted by monistic schools, its goal has
been defined as union, not separation.
[1].
Japa yoga is also called Mantra yoga.
Some forms of Japa yoga come close to the principle of raja yoga or
Patanjali yoga.
Raja yoga consists of eight steps. The
first five are external and preparatory. The
last three are internal: concentration, meditation, and experience of alteration
of consciousness. One may
concentrate and mediate on a photo, an idol, a name or a thought. Such concentrated focus may eventually give an experience of
void or emptiness, which is supposed to be the experience of Pure Consciousness
or God.
[1].
The Science of Being and Art of Living (New York: New American Library,
1968), p. 291.
[1].
DLM has not split into two groups. One
is headed by Bal Yogeshwar (popularly known as Guru Maharaj Ji) and the other is
headed up by his elder brother, Bal Bhagwan.
[1].
Radha Soami Satsang started in Agra (North India) in the middle of the
last century. Later a breakaway
group was formed at the bank of the river Beas in the Punjab (West India). The latter is more influential today.
[1].
However, many current Hindu sects also claim uniqueness and exclusivity.
Although they may not believe theirs is the only path, they often claim
that Ain this age, our way is the best and the easiest.”