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YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED: F.A.Q. 1
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YOGA AND RELIGION QUESTION: Some Yoga instructors advertise their
classes as non-religious. Are we to understand that Yoga is not a religion? ANSWER: Yoga defines itself as a Spirituality, that
is, a field of experience that operates in direct relation to a higher
Reality, called Spirit. In theory, this should also be the definition of
genuine religion. In practice, however, religion is often based on personal
beliefs about a higher Reality and about objects and persons regarded as
holding a special connection to that Reality, which beliefs may sometimes be
erroneous. Ordinary religion operates within the field of psychological
experience and, in consequence, can rarely lead to genuine Spiritual
experience as defined above. In terms of the evolution of human
intelligence, Spiritual or Yogic experience constitutes an advancement from
the stage of belief or psychological experience. So the answer depends on two factors: on the meaning given to
the term "religion", and on the enquirer's capacity to assimilate
the distinction between belief or psychological experience on one hand and
Spiritual experience proper, on the other. For the purposes of the present consideration, we may classify
human experience according to three degrees or levels, biological,
psychological and Spiritual. The first concerns the body, being based on
fundamental biological functions such as breathing, eating, sleeping or
moving about; the second concerns the mind, being based on thought and
thought-induced emotion; the third and highest level concerns the Soul or
Spirit, being based on direct experience thereof. Returning to the conventional, or official definition,
religion is the belief in a superhuman, controlling Being (or Power) and in
the need to obey and worship that Being (or Power) according to certain
rules. It seems proper for a created being to obey and worship his Creator.
In Yoga, therefore, we have no problem with that. The problem arises from the
fact that the rules whereby God is obeyed and worshipped by the believer vary
with each believer's social and cultural environment. The fact is that ordinary religion is nothing but a
culture-specific expression of belief. Cultures vary from country to country and
from one social group to another. Even within the same religious
denomination, degrees of variation may be observed in matters of belief and
ritual. Conventional Scriptures are not always capable of setting a standard
of religious practice. Religious leaders are equally incapable of direct
communication with God and therefore unable to settle religious disputes. Belief vs. Spiritual Experience As observed earlier, belief is a function of our psychological
field of experience, often entailing an elaborate culture-specific
ideological system on the basis of which the believer lives his life. Since
most Yogis, in this World, do not live in a cultural and psychological
vacuum, this definition of religion may, at least externally, apply to some
aspects of Yoga, yet it is by no means the central element to Yoga Practice
or Teaching, all the more so in the case of those who are more advanced on
the Path. This, of course, is not to say that Yogis are atheists.
Yogis do accept the existence of a Higher Reality and a Supreme Spiritual
Principle, or God (Shiva). However, they do this on the basis of direct experience of
that Reality rather than mere belief in it. A Yogi is, by definition,
somebody who has consciously established a direct link with a Higher Reality
and realises his Unity with It on the basis of his own personal experience of
It. The Spiritual experience of genuine Yogis goes far beyond both
belief and ritual worship therefore leaving religion - in its conventional
sense - far behind. Followers of Yoga, who have not yet attained any higher
experience, may well be described as "believers" as they still have
to rely on belief in the Teachings of Yoga until such time when they
experience Spiritual truths for themselves. However, even Spiritually inexperienced
Yogis do not blindly accept cultural traditions or the opinion of religious
authorities but tend to follow the guidance of Spiritually Realised Souls
known as Siddhas (Perfected Ones), Mahatmas (Great Souls) and Sat-Gurus (True
Teachers of Spirit) who generally speaking enjoy a greater degree of
Spiritual Knowledge than the leaders of other faiths. Yoga, therefore, must
be admitted to be closer to Divine Truth than established religion. Yoga - the True Religion Moreover, if religion (from Latin, religare) be taken
to mean the process of re-linking, re-connecting, or re-integrating the
individual Soul with the Higher Reality from which he has become separated,
then this is precisely what Yoga is. In this sense, Religion (Re-Union)
becomes synonymous with Yoga ( Given that man's perception of Unity and Harmony with the
Supreme Being constitutes the very essence of all genuine religious
experience, Yoga which is Unity must be admitted to be the Essence of
Religion and the Ultimate Foundation of all religious effort. And since Yoga,
that is, the Experience of Universal Unity, already existed long before the
coming into being of present-day religions, it logically follows that Yoga is
the Original Religion. This being so, instead of regarding Yoga as a religion,
it would be both more appropriate and more useful for conventional religions
to be regarded as modified forms of Yoga which is and will always remain the
Supreme Spirituality. This fact will become evident if all cultural and
ideological prejudices and uninformed opinions are left behind and the true
relation of Yoga to other systems is examined within its proper historical
and Spiritual context (see also The World's Oldest
Faith). To sum up, Yoga being a very practical system, the life of a
genuine Yogi revolves not on belief about a Higher Reality but on his
personal and direct experience of that Reality. Thus, while an ordinary
person may content himself with the thought, "I believe so and so, and
what I believe is correct - and sufficient - by virtue of my believing
it", a Yogi concerns himself with discovering and exploring a progressively
higher and more direct experience of reality. This means that Yoga is both the essence and the culmination
of a Spiritual Process that begins with religion or faith, representing
therefore the natural and logical progression from the latter. The
superiority of Yoga over conventional religions is also borne out by the fact
that conventional religion tends to render its adherents psychologically
dependent on belief and ritual whereas the fundamental function of Yoga is to
emancipate its followers from all automatic or habit-induced patterns of
life. In any event, the growing number of people abandoning conventional
faiths and turning to Yoga (or Yoga-inspired systems) speaks for itself. At the same time, while Yoga views certain religious beliefs (for
example, the Western belief in the Resurrection of the physical body) as
false, it is undeniable that other beliefs are true (for example, the belief
in Angels or Gods, the power of prayer, etc.). In consequence, Yoga naturally
acknowledges certain conventional religious beliefs and observances to the
degree to which they possess social, psychological, aesthetic or Spiritual
value and often incorporates these in its own practices and teachings. In
practice, therefore, we find three aspects or degrees of Yogic activity
leading to Re-Union with the Highest Reality:
Yoga may be practised on any of these levels according to the
practiser's inclination, needs or capacity, physical, psychological and
Spiritual. It becomes evident from the above that conventional religion
belongs to the incipient phases of Yogic activity (Phase 1) after which the
practiser advances to higher stages of experience belonging to True Religion
or Yoga proper. Yoga therefore, is much more than just a Religion. It is a
Way of Life that leads to a Higher Experience. What is important to understand is that, as the Unique
Spirituality of Universal Unity, Yoga naturally embraces and at the same time
completes and surpasses, all other forms of Spirituality. Similarly, Parama
Shiva, the Supreme Principle of Yoga, represents the God of Christianity, the
Buddha of Buddhism, Allah of Islam, Yahweh of Judaism and Odin or Zeus of
Paganism while being at the same time much more than all these, either
individually or jointly. This being so, it is not surprising that the modern
World is increasingly accepting Yoga as the Spirituality of the future. In fact,
since life outside of, or out of Unity with, the Supreme Being's
all-inclusive Sphere of Universal Intelligence and Energy is logically
impossible, it follows that all living beings in the Universe already are
consciously or unconsciously practising various degrees of Unity with the
Supreme, that is, Yoga. This realisation will sooner or later dawn on every
intelligent being in the natural course of his or her Spiritual development. To repeat, Yoga is certainly not atheistic or even
"secular" - secular being basically the same as atheistic or
godless. Indeed, if Yoga were to exclude True Religion - as defined above -
from its teachings, this would amount to excluding itself, which is absurd. While we are aware that individuals unconnected with The Yoga
Council or the true teachings of Yoga may have their personal motives in
qualifying their classes as non-religious, it would be beyond the scope of
the present consideration to comment on these. We may merely observe that,
historically speaking, established religions have been often misunderstood
and worse even, misused for political and other wrong purposes. It is
understandable, in the light of this, that some followers of Yoga wish to
distance themselves from official religion. As regards Yoga Teachers associated
with the Council, they may be safely assumed to fully agree with its
principles and, in consequence, to share our views on this matter. Having clarified this important point, we may now
address the real issue: what truly matters from a practical point of view -
and it is hoped that the enquirer is a practical person - is not whether Yoga
is a religion but the undeniable fact that Yoga leads to Enlightenment, that
is, an experience of reality that to our knowledge has remained unmatched by
other systems, religious or otherwise. |