Hinduism
Ways of Salvation
from the Curse of Reincarnation

Moksha, Salvation, the enlightenment
Yoga   How Yoga Works   Postures   Meditation   Guru
The 8 Steps of Raja Yoga   Yoga and Christianity
 

Hinduism has no single system of salvation, of liberation from reincarnation, of Moksha.

    Instead, the philosophy of "Yoga" ("yoke", "union with god"),  is "the path", the way to obtain the quest of India for ages, the liberation from reincarnation and to become divine while still on earth: As a "yoke" unites and disciplines two animals for plowing, so Yoga disciplines a person and unites him with Brahman, the Absolute.

    All creatures go through cycles of rebirth, reincarnations, which can only be broken by spiritual self-realization, the enlightenment, after which liberation, or moksha, is attained. This enlightenment can only be achieved by Yoga.     

    Why do New Agers practice yoga? Why are they so devoted to meditation? It may come as some surprise that these practices are central to the Hindu search for salvation!

Four kinds of Yoga:

    These four paths are used in Christianity, love, action, knowledge, meditation... the big difference is "Faith" in a Savior who fills you with love and joy and peace, already here, on earth.   

    Four kinds of Yoga, four primary ways of salvation in Hinduism, four possible paths to moksha or salvation.

    1- Bhakti Yoga, the way of devotion:
    It is the most popular god-road in India. Devotion and honor towards a god or gods... Christianity is presented as an example of this road
    It satisfies the longing for a more emotional and personal approach to religion.
    In the way of devotion, the focus is one obtaining the mercy and help of a god in finding release from the cycle of reincarnation. Some Hindus conceive of ultimate salvation as absorption into the one divine reality, with all loss of individual existence. Others conceive of it as heavenly existence in adoration of the personal God.
    2- Karma Yoga, the way of good works:
    To carry out good works, good deeds, give money to the temple or to people, attend festivals, pilgrimages... and do the work for God's sake instead of your own... whatever you do, do it for God... don't look for fruit or success, just do it because it is the will of God... It is also very familiar to the Christians.
    3-  Jnana Yoga, the way of knowledge.
    To explore the Sacred Scriptures, usually with the help of a guru or a sadhus. It usually has three steps: Hearing (or reading), thinking, and meditation.   
    4- Raja Yoga, the way of contemplation or meditation:
    It is called the "royal road", and it is the one used by most Hindu and Buddhist Cults... "meditation", or better, "contemplation", with the 8 steps of Raja Yoga. See the 8 steps of Raja Yoga

    All Yoga methods include at least two components: Meditation (prayer) and discipline (asceticism).

    To obtain the union with the Absolute, Hinduism claims, the greatest obstacles are your own "body", "mind" and "personality", so they have to be suppressed or controlled:
        1- To control the "body", they use body postures, solitude, breathing exercises;
        2- To restrain the "mind" meditation techniques are used (mantras, yantras, koans...);
        3- And to suppress your own personality, your "self", they have gurus or masters who humiliate you, besides teaching you.

    They are used to suppress or control your "physical body": The idea is to stay in a difficult position for hours or days until your body gets actually numb... and when numbness occurs it creates a situation much like under drugs, with the consequent illusionary experiences and spiritistic hallucinations, seeing yourself even flying, while you are rather dying... and, of course, in this state of numbness and exhaustion a diabolic possession is possible... not the spirit of God, but the spirit of the devil...

    Gautama Buddha stayed under a tree for 49 days... the founder of Zen, Bodhidharma, sat in a cave while staring at a wall for 9 years, and lost the use of his legs by atrophy ("Zen" means "seated meditation").

    For a Christian, the body and spirit are in constant fight, as Paul says in Rom.7, so he cries, "I punish my body and enslave it" (1Cor.9:27)... and the penance of some monks are proverbial.

    "Meditation" in the Hindu and Buddhist systems is the most misunderstood word in the vocabulary of cults, and may be the most spiritually devastating. Because for a westerner "meditation" is an act of the "mind", a continued reflection of the mind on a subject... but for a Hindu or a Buddhist "meditation" is an act to suppress the "mind", it is actually an "anti-meditation":

    Mantras: For example, a "mantra" is a word or a sentence that has to be repeated thousands of times daily, until the mind gives up, it gets so boring that it does not work any more, and then the brain is left only with the "animal mind", without reasoning any more... the person is left with the peace and joy of his animal mind, without any worries about the yesterday, or today, or tomorrow, or the after- death... the Hare Krishnas have to sing their 16 words mantra 1,728 times a day... in the Transcendental Meditation they have to repeat the mantra for hours during the initiation, and for 40 minutes daily for life...
    In this status the devil comes very easily and takes possession of that body getting things more complicated... not only an "animal mind", but also a body possessed by the demon he was honoring thousands of times in the mantra, because all those mantras are the name of a god in Hindu, of whom the student may not know anything about.
    In Christianity, the name of "Jesus" is the best mantra... "Father", "Holy Spirit" and the praying of the "Rosary" are excellent mantras.

   Yantras is concentrating your eyes for hours on a geometric figure: Triangle, circle... with the same effects that mantras... in Christianity, on a picture of Jesus.
    Visualization is another technique: To visualize a scene for hours, see yourself smoking or on drugs or fat, if you want to stop that habit... or in the beach or a mountain, if you want peace... and fantasizing about the visualization.
    In Zen Buddhism "koans" are used: A "riddle impossible to solve", and the student have to try to solve it, thinking on it for days or years, until the crisis of the mind comes... for example, "what were the color of your eyes before you were conceived?... with the same results as with mantras, only here the devil comes easier, because if that gay is stupid enough to think for months in something he knows it has no solution, then he is an excellent candidate for a diabolic possession.
    In Christianity, any "mystery" is a good koan: "Trinity", "Eucharist", "Incarnation"...

    Eastern "meditation" or "contemplation" considers the mind to be an enemy of the spirit, while the Bible teaches that the Creator has gifted man with the capacity to "reason", to know God and discern the way and will of the Lord... no animal has ever shown any religious idea; no monkey has ever built a temple or a cemetery or an altar...
    Jesus says, "whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me (Matt.16:24)... however the "techniques" may be different... Christians believe that "intellect" was ordained by God to be a recipient of his truth. Christian meditation is not trying to empty the mind; instead fill it with the knowledge and love of God, meditating "all day" with "understanding", says Psalm 119.
    Of course, God can give, and gives, inside experiences and visions and apparitions... but without taking out the mind, and usually as a special "gift", never forced with techniques!...

    The Guru is an important part of all Yoga, to destroy the own character and personality of the student, because they are also enemies of the "spirit", reasons the Eastern mysticism... in Zen Buddhism, EST, and Hare Krishnas, these humiliations by the guru are extreme... until you feel like nothing!.
    In Christianity, "humility" is essential... St. Augustine mentions the 3 great virtues to solve any problem: First, humility; second, humility; third, humility.

The "8 steps" of Raja Yoga:

    These techniques are part of the 8 classic steps or disciplines of the Raja Yoga:
        1- The first 2 steps in Raja Yoga, are to avoid sins and to lead a good clean life.
        2- The second and third, are to control the body, with breathing exercises, solitude, silence, body postures...
        3- And the last 3 are to control the mind, with concentrations using mantras, the Guru... each step for longer periods of time...

    The 8 Steps:
        1- Yamas - Ethical behavior, truth, non-violence, non-stealing, control of sexual energy
        2- Niyamas - Self discipline, purity and cleanliness, contentment, surrender of ego, awareness of the divine, lecture of sacred texts
        3- Asanas - Bodily Postures, they help for health and meditation
        4- Pranayama - Breathing and control of the vital breath force, boosting one's health and concentration
        5- Pratyahara - Turning inward, releasing the Ego & senses, turn from the physical and external world to the internal, mental and psychical world
        6- Dhyrana - Concentration of the mind, extended mental concentration which helps for meditation
        7- Dhyana - Meditation, the principal practice of Yoga
        8- Samadi - Transcendence, super-conscious state, the ultimate purpose of yoga

Yoga and Christianity:

    These Yoga disciplines usually involve an endless array of "idolatrous" ceremonies and rituals. Deities kept at home must be "awakened", "fed", "washed", "put to sleep every night"... though they never awake, and never eat nor drink, because they are not God, they are death idols!.

    All Hindus, like all humans, want to have in this life with love and joy and peace... often we look for them in wrong places, in drugs, in pleasures, in wealth, in glory or honor... in Christianity it is simple: Similar methods of Yoga are used, as commented above, but the most important fact in Christianity is simply "Faith", to believe in Jesus Christ, the bad Karma is erased, and Jesus, a real person-God, comes into the heart, and, with Jesus in the heart, the Christian is going to do good deeds, and love God and his neighbor, and to live here on earth with joy and love an peace that nothing and no one can take away... and not me, but Jesus who lives in me, shouts St. Paul in Galatians 2:20.
    And on top of it, after death no reincarnation, but glorious Heaven for ever and ever, with the same body and spirit of earth, recognized by relatives, friends and foes, by anybody. Christianity