In this episode we welcome Pamela Frost, a truthXchange board member, staff researcher, and good friend of our ministry for years. Pam has spend many of these years studying interfaith spirituality, contemplative practices, and their effects on the culture and the church. During our time together we talked about yoga, and specifically, addressed questions presented to us by followers on our Facebook page. After our talk, Joshua sent Pam a followup question via email and Pam shared, at length in response. You’ll here some of the content in a special portion of the podcast, but we wanted to share the text with you in its entirety here.
Joshua:
The question was asked if you could practice yoga with out the meditation and philosophy. Yogis/gurus have said that you can’t. Today, many have said, “So what? That’s their expert opinion, but they can’t control what I think or do. It’s my body, and I am going to do yoga to the glory of God.”
How would you respond?
Pam:
In response to the question, the late nineteenth century brought a religious revival of Hinduism in India and thus a revived interest in all the forms of yoga (the basis of Hindu religion). The goal of each of the different forms of yoga is self-realization through mystical absorption into the ocean of impersonal divinity called Brahman. There are many schools of yoga and each one is designed to lead to self-realization (samadhi). The word “yoga” means “yoked,” with the idea of attaining union or yoking with universal divinity, the Hindu version of the gospel. Some of the prominent paths of yoga are: karma yoga (self-realization through good works to end the cycles of reincarnation due to bad karma), bhakti yoga (enlightenment and union through devotion to a chosen Hindu deity), jnana yoga (experience of union through esoteric knowledge of the Vedas), raja yoga (royal yoga, following Patanjali’s 8-limbed path of ashtanga, including bodily postures, breathing, meditation, toward self-realization), kundalini or laya yoga (based on the Hindu tantric tradition seeks to awaken the serpent goddess kundalini to ascend the spine opening the chakras, cosmic energy centers, until the serpent takes over the mind in the crown chakra above the head resulting in self-realization of the serpent’s spirituality), and hatha yoga (incorporates ashtanga yoga and kundalini yoga to attain self-realization through bodily postures, breath control, and meditation).
To Read More Click the Link: https://truthxchange.com/podcast/9-a-discussion-about-yoga-and-christianity-2/