Liberation—How Real?

⁹ Ancient Hindus turned to Yoga to discover the ultimate truth that the Vedas failed to teach. The Katha Upanishad says that truth cannot be known through scriptures or by reason but by mystic experiences alone. (1:2:23) For this reason, the Hindu swami Sivananda states: “Intellect is a hindrance. That which separates you from God is mind.”¹⁰ So mystics practice Yogic meditation in order to dull the intellect and to experience trances or feelings of ecstasy. Those attaining such a state are said to have found truth and to have attained moksha.

¹⁰ By emptying the mind and deadening the senses, a Yogi can see and hear strange things. “If, however, [Yogic] meditation has been combined, as it often is, with such other techniques as fasting, drug-taking, extreme isolation, and torturelike activities, the deprived [mental] state can be attended by bizarre hallucinations. It may also be attended by ‘mystical’ events of the kundalini type,” states Understanding Yoga.¹¹b The Yogi is led to believe that these unusual experiences during his nonrational state are both real and good.

¹¹ Following this course, some Yogis claim to experience a oneness with the spirit world, which they say is God. In the book Mysticism Sacred and Profane, R. C. Zaehner warns: “This emptiness is dangerous for this is a ‘house swept and garnished,’ and though it is possible that God may enter in if the furniture is fair, it is equally likely that the proverbial seven devils will rush in if . . . there is no furniture at all.”¹²c For this reason gurus often warn new disciples that Yoga may expose them to demonic influence. Would such warnings be necessary if the true God were involved?

[Box on page 19]

Yoga —Did You Know?

“What might appear a superficial dabbling with pranayama [breathing exercises] and the asanas [Yogic postures], may turn out to be the first step along a path of occultism beset with potential hazards for the unsuspecting. The physical exercises of yoga are specifically designed to prepare the body for the psycho-spiritual changes that are to come. Down the ages yoga has been used first and foremost as a vestibule leading to the inner sanctuary of occult experience.”—Tantrism, Benjamin Walker, 1985, page 125.