In Reply to: Re: yoga and spirituality posted by Farmer on December 08, 2004 at 11:23:39:
I, too, tried a lot of the same things.
Like Aldous Huxley, I tried to attain to "Sat Chit Ananda" by using psychedelics, and found that they were merely psychotomimetic and demonic. Timothy Leary and Baba Ram Dass LIED!
I did Hatha (Pilates is MUCH better for you!), Raja Siddha, Bhakti and Kundalini (yes, it really does mean "serpent" in Sanskrit--for a reason!) Yoga.
Yoga means "yoke" or "union". "Guru" means both light and darkness-you figure it out!
Mantras, tantras and yantras invoke "deva" or "devata". "Satsang" is a counterfeit of the presence of God, and is emanated from those yoked to the devata (read demon!).
All dead ends--and my experience is not at the mercy of any mere argument or religious philosophy rebutting what I am claiming. It really happened.
I had a demon rebuked silently by a Christian I was trying to convince of my yoga and psychic powers (on loan--DUH!)--at a time I had embraced pantheism, I FELT this thing's stark absolute terror at the presence of Jesus Christ, and then its powerless rage as it left me (I got an explanation about the silent rebuke, in Jesus' name, of the devil, later!).
I was still stuck in college-weekend-hippiedom, and rejected the counsel to NOT join TF from some Christians on campus--but that's another story.
Do not yoke yourself to darkness--its the kind of which Jesus said, "...how great is that darkness!"
I promise.
Love and respect to all!