The Bible and the Yoga Sutras

Back on Track

noreply@blogger.com (Antiqua) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 07:39:00 +0000

With summer flying by it seems I have spent more time doing other things and less time in the word. For this I am sad. However, God tapped me on the shoulder and said get back in contact. So I am now looking into Sutra 6 and our struggle with giving into our senses and our enticing world. I am so happy to be back and on target. Please send in your post as soon as you are finished. You may break them up into 2 parts Sutra 3-5 and 6-9 if you would like.

Got Questions? Here are some Answers!

noreply@blogger.com (Antiqua) — Fri, 23 May 2008 19:59:00 +0000

This is a great organization for helping to find answers to questions you have regarding what the Bible tells us.

Contemplation questions Part 2 Sutras 3-9

noreply@blogger.com (Antiqua) — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:06:00 +0000

The next few sutra's focus on Patajali's 5 afflictions. When studying these afflictions, try to find how the Bible instructs us to over come them. From Sutra 2 I discovered that the 5 afflictions are much like our 7 deadly sins. Now that we are aware of our sin nature, what do we do about it?

Part 2 Sutra 2

noreply@blogger.com (Antiqua) — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:03:00 +0000

Part 2 Sutra 2 of Patajalis yoga sutra: Samadi bhavanarthah klesa tanukaranarthasca which according to Mr. Iyengar translates as follows. I break down each Sanskrit word separately, look them up in the Bible and then match common verses with the over all meaning of the Sutra. Sutra 2 is translated to mean “The practice of yoga reduces affliction and leads to samadhi.” I really enjoyed researching this sutra. Patanjali’s says we have to learn to reduce or even eliminate our afflictions, however through out the Bible God uses some afflictions to draw us ever closer to him.

Samadhi - absorption, much like profound meditation.
In my research I did not find anyplace where the Bible says not to solely focus on God. In fact with 1 Corinthians 7 it speaks about staying single rather than married to keep this single focus in verse 35 it says “ I am saying this for our own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.” For God to put in his great book that it is better to be single and focused on him, than to be married and focused on your spouse, says that God wants all our attention on him… (absorption - profound meditation.)

Bhavana- for bringing about

Arthah - contemplating with meaning and feeling, for the purpose of…
Through out the NIV Bible I did not find the word contemplation used. God says simply to Love above all else (1 Cor. 13:3) Not to over analyze with our own minds but to learn from what life puts in front of us, through God’s eyes. When our God gives us suffering, pain, sorrow he does so in order to build our faith, to test us, giving us an opportunity to live like Jesus did and suffer as Jesus did. (1 Peter 2:19)

Klesa - translated to afflictions
To understand afflictions first I had to look up exactly what afflictions means to Patajali, the next few sutras lays them out for us beautifully. So for now I will give only brief descriptions and a little bit about what I found the Bible said about each.

1) Ignorance: Patanjali’s is teaching about spiritual ignorance, which he considers a very deep affliction. God says to know his gospel. James 1:5 says “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be give to him.” It does not say seek knowledge or wisdom anywhere but in the word of God. The Bible uses the word ignorant to explain people that do not know of God or speak ill of God. Let’s not be ignorant, keep studying the word.

2) Egoism: When someone is ignorant they also exude pride and arrogance which inflates their ego mind (the I AM ALL mind; a judgmental, labeling, thinking mind or as Beth Moore puts it the Babylonian mind) The ego is self seeking at every level, and although I did not find anything about the ego specifically, God did lead me to Philippians 2:3 “ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humanity consider others better than yourselves.” Yes, think not of yourself, think of others, love others.

3) Lust - Pleasure seeking, greed, cravings, the MORE attitude.

4) Malice: Pain, sorrow and ultimately hatred of others, yourself and the world: I believe 3 and 4 are best outlined together, since they are so closely related in Gods word. Two years ago my pastor gave a series of sermons about the 7 deadly sins we need to over come they are lust, greed, pride, wrath, gluttony, envy, and sloth. Sound familiar to Patajali’s afflictions of lust and malice, even within his definition of ego is pride. The 7 deadly sins Matthew talks about are in chapters 5-7 if you want to learn more about what the Bible says. Ultimately God says to love, to have self control and to follow his word. I am beginning to think that to be self aware may be to know my sin nature and take control of it, replacing sinful attitudes with Gods virtues and eliminating my natural sinful behaviors when faced with a challenge.

5) Attachment: to this material world, our bodies, self preservation: Finally we have attachment Patanjali I believe is speaking mainly about our attachment to our bodies and our mortal lives. The Bible agrees with Patanjali do not be attached, for our flesh is going to be gone one day and our riches are too. Luke 17:33 says “who ever tries to keep his life will lose it and who ever loses his life will preserve it.” Likewise, Matthew 10:28 says: “Do not be attached to your body but your soul.”

Tanukaranar- for the purpose of thinning, reducing, making slender, fine: When it comes to thinning our or reducing our afflictions, I think God gives us two options. One is to know our sin nature and not give into it, have self control, reduce our sinning and live good lives. The other type of suffering pain, sorrow, grief even death is part of our human experience and throughout the Bible God uses these emotions to build faith in his disciples. One example is 1 peter 1:6 “In this you greatly rejoice (because we are saved though Jesus Christ) though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire, may be proved genuine and my result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” Another verse is 1 Peter 2:19 speaking of submission to rulers and masters. “ For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. ….Vs 21..To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.” Which is option 2 suffering is part of life, how we deal with it is another story. Knowing that God wants me to pray and accept my hardships, for humanities greater course makes me feel a lot better about the hardships I have and will face in my lifetime. How about you? Will you use those hard times to grow closer to God?

Thah is weakening, attenuating: The knowledge of what suffering we can overcome and which kind of suffering God uses to bring us closer to him really weakens their power over me. Life is ever changing and nothing but our relationship with Jesus will last forever: not our bodies, our money, friends or opinions, not a thing.

To sum it all up, Patanjali and the Bible line up on this sutra for the most part. The one difference is that some of our suffering may be God’s way of drawing us ever closer to his kingdom. A gift to strengthen our faith, that suffering in Jesus name for Jesus I would not want to give up for the world. Draw me near oh Lord, fill my heart with love and understanding, and fill me with purpose. But the suffering I put into my own life by sinning is my responsibility to overcome myself and stop my sin nature from taking over. This is where I get to demonstrate I can be more like Jesus and less like someone who may be ignorant of his laws and virtues. If yoga can help me attain this clarity thank you God for the tool of yoga.

2nd Part Sutra 1 and the Bible research

noreply@blogger.com (Antiqua) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 07:40:00 +0000

I began this study by looking up the words directly linked with Iyengar’s translations of the 1st Sutra itself. The sutra in Sanskrit is: tahah svadhyaya, Isvara pranidhanani kriyayogah.
The first word tahah means “heat, burning, shining, ascetic devotion, a burning desire to reach perfection, that which burns all impurities, and self discipline”(pg 108 Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali).
Svadhyaya means “self-study, reflection of ones own self understanding, one self from the outer sheath, the body, inwards towards the inner self” (pg 108)
Isvara means “God, Lord of all” (pg 108)
paranidhanani means “ laying on, imposing, turning on, directing upon; profound religious meditation; surrender” (pg 108)
kriyayogah translates to “yoga of action” (108).

After reading many verses from the Bible again and again I was struck with one major difference between what the Bible teaches and what this Sutra emphasizes. This difference is within the Sanskrit word svadhyaya. In the Bible I found nothing about self study... nothing about reflecting or thinking about our own body or mind. I found many times the Bible telling us to have self control, to study the gospel and to focus on God completely. Specifically it says to not be self seeking (Romans 2 7:8). I picked one verse from the Bible that sums up what God says about us looking for self understanding; Proverbs 3: 5-8 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and shun evil; this will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.”

That difference aside the Bible says a lot about developing a burning desire for self discipline (self control). Jesus wants us to have a relationship with him more than anything; to know and trust him. Jesus also teaches about sharing his word and being to loving each other. When I looked up the English words associated with Iyengar’s translation of Tahah, paranidhanani, Isvara and kriyayogah the Bible spoke back.

As a Christain Tahah to me is Jesus. He is that which burns all imperfection, the one that is leading all of his followers to perfection (eternal life) and while we are sinning he continues help us have more self control. I found 1 John 3:3 which says “Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.” The hope this verse speaks about is the return of Christ, when are taken to live eternally as the Children of God, which to me is the perfection I seek.

1 John 3:7 is the verse that summed up paranidhanani best. I understand it to say that Christians who truly believe in Jesus, who surrender to Jesus’ plan, do so by continuing to sin less and less. It says “No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.” To know him is my goal and I hope it is yours as well. Another great verse to support sutra 1 is 2 Chronicles 30: 18-19 which says “ May the Lord, who is good, pardon everyone who sets his heart seeking God the Lord, the God of his fathers.”

I feel blessed to have Jesus. It is a beautiful feeling to have someone besides myself helping me develop self control. Without Him I would be a lost cause. Can you relate? I hope that you are proud to live for God and as he says to live for each other, not for self. I have learned to lean on our Lord who is Isvara “God, Lord of all,” receive him fully through Jesus Christ, meditate on the gospel, and have passion for Him and His word. Jesus said time and time again to spread the gospel and to live by his commands, this is kriyayogah, taking his word, living according to it to the best of our human abilities and sharing it. What more can action be?

I do not claim to be an expert on these matters, but I am compelled to engage you and learn from your thoughts as you may learn from mine. Thank you for reading my insights and blog. Here are my answers from the 2nd Part, Sutra 1 of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras and the Bible research study questions I posted.

#1) To have purity and cleanse ourselves as children of Christ we have to believe in him with all our heart and study his gospel, by living life with a loving heart and self control.

#2) The Bible said nothing about self study, it says to take care of your body because it is lent to you by God and it is the temple of the Lord (1 Cor.6:19-20) But our main focus is studying and continuing to live purely and according to his word.

#3) Yes, totally the Bible and the Sutra say to completely surrender to God and trust him with all our lives. (Matt 6:25)

I have been studying and reading about Part 2 Sutra 2 for the past week. Since I am only a student of God I am taking my time to read and study each question to the best of my ability. I hope to have my answers posted next week to Sutra 2 questions, and have the next questions posted. Please fill this blog with your insights as they come to you. I hope that you are learning about and being filled with the wisdom of Jesus. Let Him speak through the pages of his mighty book and breathe knowledge into us. Thank you for reading my findings. I hope they inspire thought and desire for more research within you. God bless you and your family.

Exploring Yoga Sutras - beginning with Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Antiqua) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 05:50:00 +0000

The following are our first series of explorations. I offer two sutras to consider, and then reflect on the impact to a Christian.

Patanjali’s yoga sutra’s, taken from BKS Iyengar’s Light on Yoga book Part 2.

2:1 Sutra : Burning zeal is practice, self-study and study of scriptures and surrender to God are the acts for yoga.

2:2 Sutra: The practice of yoga reduces afflictions and leads to Samadhi.

Questions to contemplate and look up in the Bible.

2:1 How does God tell Christians to cleanse oneself, body , mind (speech) and spirit?
What does God teach about self study (self discipline) reflecting on ones understanding of self, body innards and outer shell as well as conscious and unconscious self?
Does God say to surrender totally to him?

2:2 How does the Bible instruct us to overcome our afflictions?
Does God want us to live with our humanly pain, sorrow and grief?

You are welcome to join in on our study at anytime. There is no sign up sheet. I have been lead to study these sutras and scriptures online with all of you, for reasons I do not yet know. I am in constant prayer that my decision to make this a community study rather than a small group will be to God’s glory. As we read and study each sutra, I have come up with a few questions to contemplate and meditate on in relation to Christian faith. This part of our study we will be practicing Raja yoga, feel free to quiet yourself and let spirit teach though you. As we seek knowledge from both the Bible and the wisdom of Patanjali we will be practicing both Bhakti and Jnana yoga. I hope that God leads your Hatha practice as you dive into his word and that your commitment to him grows stronger as each session passes.

My mission is to find out where Christianity and yoga differ. Where someone who is learning about yoga and teaching yoga to others has to listen to the Bible and not the Hindu influences that stream though Patanjali’s wisdom. Also, I want to build upon the facets of yoga knowledge that we can and should embrace to live our lives closer to Jesus. I know that there is much that Patanjali teaches that can open Christians hearts and help us truly trust God with our lives and learn to better let go of our physical desires. I also know that Patanjali was Hindu and his religion is much different from Christianity. However, I also truly trust that there is one supreme being, one God, not many, and that the 3000 years of yoga history before Jesus walked the face of the earth, taught the Eastern cultures much about our bodies, our energy and minds that we here in the west have been turned away from for too long. I believe Jesus taught a great deal about these physical facts and without looking we may not have our eyes open to his true teachings on health, energy and the powers God gave us when He made man. I hope with God’s guidance and your help that I can marry this knowledge and help us all live as God created us in his image. This study is my first step and I am so humbled and honored to invite you to study these great books for this purpose and for your own.

Welcome

noreply@blogger.com (Antiqua) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 01:18:00 +0000

Hello everyone and welcome to the new forum for discussing how Yoga enhances and/or conflicts with the Christian path.

In the coming weeks, you will be asked to comment and leave your thoughts on this forum, but it is important that we try to stay on topic, as this study we are beginning will be broad and in-depth.

Thank you for taking the time to participate and I look forward to hearing your comments.

Sincerely,

Antiqua