Yoga
Le terme sanskrit yoga signifie "union divine", ou l'union entre vous et Dieu - d'où "yo-ga". De nombreuses pratiques étrangères au monde occidental sont mises en œuvre par le chercheur oriental en vue de l'union avec le Soi supérieur. Certaines de ces pratiques exigent des disciplines sévères ; en fait, elles peuvent être considérées comme austères par les Occidentaux.
Le mot "yoga" a la même racine que le mot anglais "yoke". Le yoga peut donc être considéré comme une méthode d'union spirituelle. [Jésus a dit : "Prenez mon joug sur vous et apprenez de moi, car mon joug est facile et mon fardeau est léger."[1] Peut-être disait-il en réalité : "Prenez mon yoga sur vous." Car Jésus avait un yoga. Il suivait une discipline spécifique, à laquelle il avait été formé lors de ses voyages en Orient.
Les principaux types de yoga
Afin de comprendre pleinement le yoga le plus élevé, l'agni yoga, nous devons connaître les différentes formes de yoga telles qu'elles ont été pratiquées au cours des siècles par les dévots de la Mère divine.
Il existe quatre yogas principaux :
- jnana yoga, la voie de l'union avec Dieu par la connaissance
- le bhakti yoga, la voie de l'amour et de la dévotion
- karma yoga, la voie du travail désintéressé
- raja yoga, la voie de la concentration et de la méditation
Ces quatre yogas peuvent être placés dans les quatre quadrants de l'horloge cosmique : le jnana yoga dans le quadrant mental, le bhakti yoga dans le quadrant émotionnel, le karma yoga dans le quadrant physique et le raja yoga dans le quadrant éthérique. Les quatre yogas requièrent une moralité de base, notamment la véracité, la continence, la propreté et l'innocuité de la vie.
Différents types de personnes sont adaptés à différents types de yoga, mais cela ne signifie pas qu'ils ne doivent pratiquer qu'un seul type de yoga. En fait, l'hindouisme nous encourage à tester les quatre yogas en tant que voies alternatives vers Dieu. Ils ne s'excluent pas mutuellement, car personne n'est uniquement réfléchi, émotionnel, actif ou expérimental. Des occasions différentes appellent des réponses différentes.
Le yoga le plus élevé : l'agni yoga
► Article principal: Agni yoga
Le yoga le plus élevé est l'agni yoga. C'est le yoga du feu — le feu sacré. Il dépasse les quatre types de yoga qui s'appliquent aux quatre corps inférieurs, car il mène à l'ascension. Ce yoga a été enseigné par tous les messagers de la Grande Fraternité Blanche. Même les prophètes d'Israël pratiquaient le yoga du feu.
Hatha yoga
► Main article: Hatha yoga
What many in the West think of as yoga is hatha yoga, which is a system of physical practices that allows the control of breath and bodily functions. This form of yoga is only one of many yogas taught in the East.
When practiced as an end in itself, hatha yoga can actually be a distraction from the path of God-realization, or union with God. But the ascended master Chananda, chief of the Indian Council, recommends hatha yoga as
... an appropriate sequence of the exercise of the physical body for the interaction with the spiritual bodies and the chakras....
It is not a physical exercise for the exercise of the physical body. It is divine movement for the release of light that is even locked in your physical cells and atoms, in your very physical heart. Releasing that light transmutes toxins, fatigue and opposition to your victory. And therefore, not endless hours but a period of meditation and concentration combined with these yoga postures daily will reap much good. It will give you a surcease from the stress of bearing the burden of world karma and the burden of that certain type of chaotic energy which is uniquely Western in its vibration, emanating from the mass consciousness of uncontrolled feeling bodies and the wanton and reckless misuse of the mental body.
This path is something that you can take up and yet not be deterred from your regular activity of service. We desire to see one-pointedness and discipline rise from the base of the physical pyramid and ascend to the crown. Many of you have pursued the discipline from spiritual levels, drawing forth the light of the mighty I AM Presence down into the heart and into the lower vehicles. And this is as it should be, as the path of the Father is the descending light and the path of the Mother is the ascending light. Thus, we build from that foundation.[2]
Mantra yoga
► Main article: Spoken Word
Mantra yoga (like hatha yoga) is an adjunct to the principal forms of yoga. A mantra is a brief prayer that is given over and over again to develop the momentum of a particular virtue within the soul. The word mantra is taken from the Sanskrit, meaning “sacred counsel” or “formula.”
The repetition of the names of God—and of sacred mantras containing the names of God—is used by Hindus and Buddhists throughout India as a means of reunion with God. For the name of God is God, because the name is a chalice, a formula that carries his vibration. So God and his name are one. He gives you his name, you recite the name, then he gives you all of himself.
Today in the West, many people have a difficult time meditating because their minds are so yin. They eat too much sugar and drink too many liquids like coffee and soft drinks, most of which have caffeine in them. These yin foods—and especially alcohol and recreational drugs—make it difficult to concentrate.
To compensate for this weakness, we give mantras during our meditation. The mantras help us focus on words and on word pictures and visualizations. As we meditate and give these mantras, we are becoming one with the object of our concentration. The mantra keeps the mind in line. This was the grand solution of Saint Germain for all of his disciples in the West.
The practice of yoga
Those in the East who practice yoga may develop special powers called siddhis. These include many of the miraculous feats we have heard of in the West: knowledge of the past and future, knowledge of past lives, great strength, walking on water, flying, bilocation, mastery of the elements, the ability to surround oneself with a blaze of light, and the ability to choose the time of one’s death. Some of these seemingly miraculous abilities were demonstrated by Jesus and by some modern Christian saints such as Padre Pio.
But the siddhis are not the goal. In fact, it is the supreme test of the yogi to give them up. Patanjali in his classic Yoga Sutras (written in the second century B.C.) refers to these supernatural powers as “obstacles to samadhi.... By giving up even these powers, the seed of evil is destroyed and liberation follows.”[3] Jesus demonstrated this when he successfully passed the three tests of Satan in the wilderness.[4]
You can be a yogi whether or not you practice any kind of physical yoga. You are a yogi when you take upon yourself the yoke of Jesus Christ, which is light and which is easy. You are a yogi under the ascended masters, you are a yogi as you perfect the science of the spoken Word.
See also
Sources
Mark L. Prophet and Elizabeth Clare Prophet, The Masters and the Spiritual Path, chapter 1, “The Highest Yoga.”