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Is Yoga a Religion?
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By some estimates there are more than 10,000 different religions in the world today. Could yoga be one of them? Countless books and DVDs espouse the spiritual benefits of yoga practice, and there are certainly some enthusiasts who find it to be a religious experience. Others though, insist that yoga is no more a religion than jogging. What does yoga truly represent?
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is yoga is a religion?
There are differing opinions as to wheather yoga is a religion. Finding the truth is not that hard but it does take a little time. Lets see what multiple sourses say.
Wikipedia:This terminology involving various yogas has given to the concept of four yogas: karma yoga, bhatki yoga, raja yoga, jnana yoga - in this usage the term yoga ceases to translate to "a system of meditation" and takes on the much more general sense of "religious path"
"suleka.com" a yoga site: In an article "there is no christian yoga" yogi baba prem says: "offering yoga classes allowed the Christians to secretly practice hinduism without having to renounce their Christian faith" "one does need to be a hindu to practice yoga"
@ "hindu wisdom-yoga": on the first page, " there is no yoga without hinduism and no hinduism without yoga".
The "american yoga assn." describes 2 styles of yoga: karma yoga- done with the mind centered on a personal concept of god. bhakti yoga- the practice of extreeme devotion in a one-point concentration upon ones concept of god.
In almost every american style yoga book they either skirt the religious issue or the deny it, but there is "spirituality", "meditation", and "chanting" in a foriegn language. Virtually all, if not all chant "om" or "aum". What does this mean? "om" is the hindu symbol of the absolute, a symbol sacred to them, representing braman. hindus say that to call this concept of braman "god" is in a sense, imprecise. But they say that braman is "the essential building material of all reality" "substance from where all things procede" "material cause and efficient cause of creation". They capitolize "material cause" and "efficient cause" like people do when they refer to their god. When people are chanting "om" in a yoga class they are calling out to a hindu "god".
What do other religions say about yoga? Malaysia's top islamic body, in 2008, passed a fatwa against muslims practicing yoga, saying it had hindu spiritual teachingsand that it was blasphemy. The muslims think it is a religion.
If you are in yoga or are thinking about it you at least owe yourself a close look at yoga before going further. The information is out there.
One last thing: In some yoga styles they sit in the lotus position and chant "sa ta na ma". What is it? Look it up on the net. And be prepared to be shocked.
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not confuciused yet!
Sorry, gentlemen, flicking throught the information universe, it happened that the chariot of awareness sort of got bogged down in this heap... of..a well say intellectul manure, whilst flying by.
The arguments presented here seem very much all arguments for the arguments sake,idle talk, none else!
A significant waste of time, what has been accomplished? Imagine the time would have been spared for community work!
Just killing time gentlemen?
Yoga remains, after all Yoga and the term "Religion" remains what it is, a word to cover a set of a wide varieties of rituals and beliefs concerning the cause and origin of life, nature, the purpose of the universe, designated to explain a rather strange phenomenon in the 21st Century, still alive and kicking, but not by or through itself like a tree, like life itself and all of the phenomenal world around us, these "Religions" claim to represent, nay but on the crutches of intellectual and clerical debate, not to lose control, tohold on to the spider we of unprecedented powerover the feeble, the unaware, the easely exploited!
One has to have faith, believe in a certain set of given boundaries mind is allowed to wander within.
One doesn't need to have faith or believe in Yoga, one has only to practice, as easy as walking inthe park, anyone can practice, breathe, no prayer in breathing, only awareness, no need to imagine anything, young, old, men or women, regardless of nationality, faith or believe, without prayer, without mumbling names of a deity or a perceived god, no need to bow before any image - yoga is the step, kicking in the closed doors of perception, opening the gateway to awareness, out of the bounderies of the dungeon of this perceived "me" and "I", who then will be left to attend the ceremonies and do the prayers, to whom?
NO, Yoga is not a religion.
Yoga is not a religion . Yoga is as much physical as it is mental. There are certain beliefs that can be associated with it but they are not by any means required. I am Catholic and practice Yoga faithfully. I believe in stretching , breathing, relaxing, and working hard to push my physical limits. Yoga is what you make of it.
um..
I believe no because it's just something you do to relax.
Just being healthy with your body. Nothing about religion .
Mirroring of religion
I don't practice yoga myself, but I know a few people who do and they are agnostics/atheists and have nothing to do with religion what so ever. They do it because it relaxes them.
Recently yoga was forbidden for muslims in Malaysia, because they say it is a religious expression.
I think religious people mirror their own religiousness on everything else that people think or do. They say evolution is a religion, atheism is a religion, some even say pot is a competitor of religion. This is all because they can't believe other people can do or think certain things for no religious reason at all, especially when they think it could drive them away from the religion they obey. They want to kill it before it could eventually "harm" their own religion, even when there's no single shred of evidence that it will.
Now they found their next victim: yoga. Probably it makes religious people think that it's a competitor to their way of praying.
Words taken hostage
What's happened is the "big-label religions" - and just a few in particular - have attempted and largely succeeded in taking the word " religion " hostage to their own understanding and usage of it. Of course, their control over the concept and word is rather weak in that all one really has to do is refuse to accept their very narrow and simplistic usage of the word and begin to define and use it as you see fit in your own individual life. One ought not be quick to distance oneself from a word simply because what one believes and practices doesn't fit how others define "religion". I would contend that you in fact have a religion but only if you define the word in ways the "big-label religions" are likely to reject.
So be it. Language is merely a tool. If you are able to use language, you are free to use it in whatever manner you choose provided others understand what you mean in doing so. Their agreement isn't necessary, only their understanding. No one owns the word "religion" exclusively nor can they.
The concept "religion" is too valuable to outright reject as a tool in understanding one's own experiences and life. Because others wish to strangle the word into submission to their own small minds doesn't mean you have to do the same. I personally feel the concepts and words I use to label them must grow as I grow. This is why my definition of "religion" has grown far beyond its common meaning to one that fits the places I need and wish to go, and I'm not alone in doing this.
The word "religion" is not the exclusive property of the "big label religions". It belongs to and can be defined and used by anyone who wishes it.
You hijack everybody yourself
I don't know what exactly you're responding to when you say I do have a religion , the atheism or yoga part, but as I said I'm not into yoga myself I assume it's about my atheism. But either way I disagree with you.
Is not believing in gnomes or Zeus a belief or even a belief system or comparable to a religion? I don't think so. Just like not collecting stamps is not a hobby either. Atheism is not a religion and atheists are not religious just for being atheist.
When you juggle with the meaning of words and extend the meaning of the word religion to your own liking by saying language is merely a tool, you can claim that it doesn't matter what you say, because you're always right and we only disagree about the meaning of a word. By doing so you're hijacking everybody as being religious yourself. "A cage is not just the area limited by bars, but the whole world is a cage". Words do have a particular meaning. A hammer is not a screwdriver nor a peanut. Therefor the lack of belief in a higher spirit, worshiping and devotion (to some spiritual leader) can't be a belief or religion.
If you say I am religious in one way or the other, maybe you should explain yourself some more were I should search for my religion then. I'm getting curious! Not that I am, but just as an example, being (extremely) devoted to something, like a job or a football team is not yet being religious.
As an atheist who practices Yoga...
...I must say that's definitely no. I practice Yoga for the health benefits...flexibility, muscle strengthening, and mind-body balance (which in and of itself might be a spiritual thing, but far from a religion).
The goal of Yoga is to get in touch with one's inner self and bring your body into balance. That doesn't seem religious to me.
You better mark this down.
Cause Gregory is about to agree with you. I can feel the space -time continuum ripping even as I type this.
I been doing yoga everymorning for years, and even though I think all that chakra stuff is BS, I feel the positive effects of the yoga mind and body exercises invigorating. That's important to an old guy.
It helps me focus on my work and gives me the flexibility and energy not to be tired by the end of the day.
Does this mean we can be friends? I sure hope so.
... to you
But would you agree that yoga could be viewed as a religious practice to another? If, in fact, others view their yoga practice as a religion , do you believe them wrong to view it that way? Why? How would your view of their practice be more relevant than their own view?
As you say, "the goal of yoga is to get in touch with one's inner self". As it happens, the root meaning of "religion" is to "connect or re-connect". Wouldn't the claim that one is "getting in touch with self" during yoga practice suggest the usage of the term "religion" if one chooses to do so? As an atheist similar to yourself, I discount the idea of a "supernatural", but I absolutely claim a need of the word "religion" in that I have deeply held beliefs and values which I use as the motivation for things I do on a consistent basis which greatly satisfy me spiritually (again, a naturalistic spirituality). When I was younger, all sorts of physical exercises were deeply meaningful to me and I practiced them consistently and with vigor. Many would not have called what I was doing a "religion". I see why they would not, however, I would and did think of it in that way. I don't believe I was wrong to do so and thus I don't believe it wrong to think of your own yoga practice as a "religion" if you choose to do so. I don't think there's disputing that the experience of many individuals with yoga or with many other consistent practices is spiritual and religious in nature. It think it appropriate if they choose to call what they believe and do a "religion". Of course, it's wrong of them to press their own views of their personal experience and practice onto the choices of others and vice versa.
As I've point out before, many people call themselves "buddhist", " muslim ", "christian", "jew", "taoist", "wiccan", "witch", "druid", "pagan", on and on, but no two individuals using any of these labels, or any other labels you might wish to add to the list, harbor precisely the same beliefs and values or precisely practice in the same ways. This makes every individual a religion of one. No matter how many commonalities exist between two or more individuals, no two can or will share every single experience, understanding, value, goal or practice. Because no two are the same, I think it safe to say one individual cannot define what is or is not a "religion" for another.
Nevertheless, let me be clear: although what one believes, values and practices, how one wishes to define them and what one chooses to call them are matters of choice, it is the properties of nature itself that determine whether or not one's beliefs, values and practices are correct or incorrect.
Yes ...
I say that, yes, yoga is a religion if one practices yoga religiously. Of course, much of what we do can be viewed as a religion insofar as "religion" is merely the consistent practice of what one believes in one's daily activities. I view myself as a writer and an artist and pursue those crafts as a result of deeply held beliefs. I call what I do a religion, even if only a religion of one. I sustain the practices because, if I'm authentically devoted to those practices with conviction, those practices, in turn, sustain me as well. This is why I do them.
Yoga could, from a certain point of view, be seen as very much a religion in the sense of the major religions, perhaps even more so. I dare say there are those who perform yoga I've know personally who are far more authentically devoted to it than most of those I've met who proclaim themselves "christian" or "jewish" or "muslim" or "buddhist" or just about any other label one might wish to apply from the traditional list of religions.
It is long overdue that one not adopt a specific religion because it is on a list, but rather to create one's own religion whatever that may be, provided you do so authentically and consistently and with conscious thought in doing so. Call it a "religion" or don't. What matters most is this - does it feed your spirit and allow you to exercise that spirit ... or not. If it doesn't, it matters little what name you give to it. It may be inappropriate for you.