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Yoga is not a religion

Facts & Figures > Articles > Yoga is not a religion

Yoga is neither a religion by itself, nor a part of any other religious system. It is around the practice of Yoga that the great religions of the world have developed, whether Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Christianity, Islam, Zoroastrianism, Confucianism, Taoism or any other. Great people of all these religions have obtained spiritual experiences through arduous methods of training and discipline that functionally resemble Yoga. That is why the basis of all religious faiths in the world is common.

All religious teachers have expressed in their own language and words that the soul is immortal and that it emerges from a source higher and greater than itself. We can call this divine source Brahman, Ishvara, God, Allah, Supreme Being, Universal Spirit, Divine principle, Ultimate reality, highest truth, or give it any other name. Moreover, all religions believe that the individual soul belongs to this divine source, which can be realized by the former, and that such realization brings eternal bliss and freedom.

What such realized souls have said or written arises from that divine source, which is beyond the intellectual comprehension of ordinary human beings. In reality, their words are uttered by the divine source itself. Such people become the driving force of nations. The knowledge revealed by them is Yoga of one sort or the other. Therefore, all teachings of the great masters of different religions are esoterically similar, leading toward one and the same truth.

Thus, Yoga is universal, and a Yogi is not necessarily bound by any particular religious faith. The Yogi may belong to any religion if he or she chooses, or may not accept any religious faith at all. As a matter of fact, the science of Yoga is much older and higher than any religion. No religious philosophy or dogma can give a human being the knowledge of the true self, or offer salvation. That can be provided only by the practice of a higher spiritual discipline like Yoga.

It is true that India has been the traditional home of Yoga, but that does not mean that the Yogic practice is the monopoly of the Indians only. Anyone and everyone, no matter what the individual's religion, race or country has the right to practice it, bind a person to specific dogmas or cultural beliefs leading to prejudices, but guides one to independently and directly experience the truth on a personal level.

Furthermore, Yoga enables an individual to establish a relationship with the divine according to his or her own psychological tendency. That the practice of Yoga, even today, provides practical as well as practicable teachings to people of all religions and cultures throughout the world, is itself the greatest proof of its broad approach and universality.