Smiles,
KL

Blessings,
KL

Welcome to the discussion! Lovely to hear your perspective. It has turned into an interesting aspect of Tyag’s profile.

You bring some light to bear on further elements of the discussion, and the light is always welcome

Blessings,
KL

I’m a moonlighting Yoga teacher here in Wellington. I did my TT with Erich Schiffmann, who coined the phrase “Freedom Yoga”. Choosing him was not a coincidence. After a number of years trying various styles, I found the only way I could find a peaceful and meaningful practice was to be guided inwardly.

This is not heresy, I was simply making Yoga my own, and it was only at that point that things really started happening -like discovering my unexpected capacity as a teacher.

So I was brought up in a secular environment and these days regard myself as a “spiritual agnostic”. I’m certainly not attracted to any particular religion, big or small. More to the point, I could care less what someone else “believes in”. What is important is how they behave because of it. By our fruits will we be known.

I was amused and saddened once when a literal Christian warned me that by practicing Yoga I was worshiping false gods. Assuming I am capable of describing my own reality, I know full well that what I was actually doing was healing my body and my spirit from years of pain and abuse. I thought Love came from the outside, and if you did things that the world liked, you would be loved, and you would feel loved. But this is an illusion. It doesn’t matter how it manifests itself. I would say that it is normally that which you simply posses talent for. In my case that was being a fast runner. In the end though, I discovered I was simply not fast enough to fill the void inside of me. Yoga, as a practice, gave me the strength and insight to bring an end to the needless suffering, and to become a better person in doing so.

So with my reality shared, how on earth is it that in the eyes of another I am somehow worshiping false Gods that I don’t actually even believe in anyway?

And it is with that question that Andre touched on something quite profound. With any tradition; or system; you will necessarily find attached to it cultural artifacts. Yoga does indeed have a connection with Hinduism, although lets be clear that Yoga is not itself a religion -and if it was, I would not be practicing it, much less teaching it!

So the clothes Tyag wears and the name he chose reflects (and in a fairly obvious way) the relationship and birthplace of the practice which has had such a transformational impact on his life, and undeniably it is that of Hinduism. But does that mean it is not Yoga he teaches? Andre cannot reasonably draw that conclusion without first experiencing his class. The problem is, Andre is himself prejudice against Hinduism, and therefore any system that may have come from it (even though it is not Hinduism itself) is tainted. It is clear in his words, and I feel sad for him. The door is closed, as his position is immutable and his reality is fixed to a single position which has a basis in distrust, fear and hate.

I can show some mercy and understanding though. There are many teachers that work off the basis of absolutes, which is the root and birthplace of dogma. Religion is itself the king of Dogma, and it seeks to sell itself to the weak and vulnerable. Truly, Andre is the Pot calling the Kettle black when he claims Tyag should display a picture Christ instead of Krishna.

But to someone like me, of a secular/agnostic viewpoint, these artefact’s are irrelevant. What does Tyag as a teacher bring into my life? Is it his plan to entrap me into a specific belief system? If so, it is not his clothes or even his own personal belief system that will give me an answer to that -it is the way in which he conducts his classes. It will be in the way he connects with me as a participant.

To make my point, even a very recent (and totally secular) system like Pilate’s has tell-tale artifacts that tell us about where the system came from. I’m talking about the bizarre equipment, that in fact were simply pieces of common furniture that Joseph, in a very opportunistic and creative fashion, used to fashion his rehabilitative exercises around. I could easily say Pilates is useless because it evolved from a very limited set of equipment (maybe I harbor a hatred of beds and chairs) but I don’t know that for a fact until I’ve tried what it has to offer -and I may find it does a wonderful job of fixing my body!

Sorry for the rant, but I felt the “nub” of the issue had not been revealed, and this was my attempt to expose what was really going on here.

Peace
b

Tyag – great to have you come on and clarify your experience of the connection between yoga and various religions. I learned a few things, for sure.

Andreas – as I noted in my comment above, this is something that really goes deep for you.

I wonder… whether or not Satyananda seeks to promote Hinduism is irrelevant… don’t we have students have a choice as to whether or not to take it on? So does it even matter? Take it, leave it, whatever.

You make a great point about Christ, and one I’ve heard from yoga teachers before, that he was a great yogi, reminding us that yoga is a universal truth. It cuts across all organising doctrines and goes to the personal, our connection to our breath, our connection to life within, and our connection without to each other.

Me, I love the chants, I love gospel, I love all types of worship, all types of religions, all types of connection, all types of showing love, all types of people – we are all expressions of consciousness, all expressions of the divine.

That we listen and seek to understand each other, seek to see through each others’ eyes is a wonderful thing.

Thank you all for joining the discussion.

Many blessings,
KL

Fan of the Malaysian government by chance? and wow, so liberal with exclamations, loads of caps and absolute statements…mmmm maybe you need some Yoga Nidra.
Anyway I can see and feel that you have failed to understand the difference between Yoga and Hinduism. That yogic practices have been incorporated into Hinduism does confuse people and ignorance regarding the birth of Yoga only exacerbates this. You must be understanding the perspective from which Yoga was born because it is from this viewpoint that Satyananda Yoga emerges. Consider that Yoga has no single founder, nor is there a primary text or time period marking its beginning. This is because Yoga has come from the need of humanity to discover its deeper aspects. Call this the spiritual dimension, the soul, the Self, the superconscious or whatever you like. Here Satyananda Yoga offers practices to experience the progressively subtle levels of experience according to the students needs.
Simply because Hinduism or Buddhism or other systems of belief took on those yogic practices eneveloping them into their respective paths, it does not follow that those practices taught now lead one to those religions. That should be clear. For example teaching breath awareness and awareness of bodily sensations does not make me a Vipassana teacher/converter does it?

Well no, havn’t been changing people’s religion. Not this week anyway. I have many students that are Christian and I am quite happy they stay that way. Likewise for my Buddhist, athiest, Hindu, Judaic, New Age students.

and no I’m not a Swami. Nor am a Hindu monk. I am a Yogi. Nice to meet you;)

Om and Out
Tyag