There's No Deity In Yoga

Buckle up, this is gonna get heavy. But do try to stick with it till the end...right let's go...

4 Types Of People

There are 4 types of people:

-- Karmis are materialistic. They work hard. They have money and material possessions.

-- Jnanis value knowledge over material possessions.

-- Yogis desire physical power. This includes the slowing of electrical signals in the brain (which is a physical process).

-- Bhaktas serve from love. They desire nothing for themselves.

Who Can Do What?

Karmis can't buy their way to god.

Jnanis can't study their way to god.

Yogis can't calm their way to god.

But the Bhaktas can love their way to god.

The only path to god is Bhakti, not yoga or karma or jnana. (Bhagavad Gita 18:55)

People And Their Agendas

So why is there so much confusion? 

Well, it all boils down to one little word in one sutra. Specifically, to the translation of that word. 

The sutra is the Niyama sutra and the word is ishvara. (Sutra 2:45)

Religious people translate the word as lord and assign a religious meaning to it.

Non-religious people translate the word as lord and mean a king or teacher (think of ye ole English knights with lances or a swami).

Then we have religious people (bhaktas) - back to our karmis, jnanis, yogis and bhaktas - who are disappointed by the religious yogis who translate the word with a religious context.

Confused much?

The last lot - the bhaktas - are correct - remember they are loving their way to god. And yoga is just slowing down your mind (This is physical. It's just less electrical signals in the brain).

As ishvara is used in other non-religious texts, assigning a purely religious meaning may be taking liberties. 

Putting It All Together

Ok, let's round it out and finish up.

If somebody thinks that the Niyama sutra translation means God (the Creator) then simply ask them if they recognize the Bhagavad Gita as an authoritative text. 

They kinda have to say yes, because you can't assign religious meaning to the sutras without assigning religious meaning to the Bhagavad Gita. 

You can however, assign religious meaning to the Bhagavad Gita without assigning religious meaning to the sutras. Well, you have to assign a religious meaning to the Gita. It's a religious book!

Where were we? Oh, yeah, so the person has said yes to the Bhagavad Gita. 

Now you just point them to 18:55 and get them to explain that (this is the bhaktas knowing god).

Now challenge them to point to where it says raja or ashtanga yogis can get to know god.

Summary

Yoga's primarily a physical practice. 

The yamas and niyamas are observances and practices that help develop control (more yoga). 

They also are morally sound, so bad things don't weigh your conscience down, causing mind fluctuations.

There's only one really contentious 'god' sutra. Translations of this word elsewhere doesn't mean god.

The Bhagavad Gita says that you can only know god through bhakti (devotional love). It doesn't say that you can get to know god through karma, jnana or yoga (raja/ashtanga). 

There's no god in 'yoga'. If there was it'd be yogad or ya-god (joking).

Christians, Muslims et al, please feel free to practice without guilt.

Peace out, J.

P.S. To all the dippy love and power to the butterflies crowd; if you are looking for religion in western yoga, you're gonna be looking for a while and you're gonna be disappointed with the results. It ain't there.