The Origin of Yoga and Hinduism: In the east, the concept of religion did not exist, or was scarce 1500 years ago. It has only become popular in the last 6 to 8 centuries. And back then, in the ancient times, when religion had not yet been invented, Yoga was only known as a spiritual process – a way of healing yourself, a sort of medication for your inner being. It so happens that the practice of Yoga was born on the bank of the river Indus. People that are born within that region are referred to as Hindu; that is, after all, what the word Hindu stands for – people who originate from the region of Indus. Thus, Hindu is only their geographical and cultural identity. Because of the fact that most of the practices regarding the inner self have taken place in that part of the world, the word Hindu has been associated with said practice, further defining it as a religion. Hindu way of life has been associated with Yoga practice- but Yoga is merely a way of thinking, a technology, if you will, but it is not a religion or a belief. Just because the practice of Yoga has originated from the Hindu, it doesn’t need to be associated with a sort of religion. It is wrong to identify Yoga through religion- just like it is wrong to identify an American product, for example, as a Christian product or what have you
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 09:17:39 +0000