HOME │ HIS LIFE │ MEDITATION │ PROGRAMS │ BHAVA │ EXPERIENCES │ YOGA VASISHTA │ BOOKSTORE │ PHOTOS│ VIDEO │ LIBRARY │ ARCHIVES

INDEX page │ PREVIOUS page │ NEXT page

 

Religion

“Spirituality mixed with politics is religion.”

“There is only one God.  Politics makes people say their God is the only one.  Not just Christianity, every religion says it is the only path to God.  Yogis do not say that.  Christ himself did not say that.”

“It is good to belong to a tradition but Swamiji does not like calling it a religion.  There is no God in religion.  You can be a devotee of Christ, believe in Christ, and pray to Christ, but you should not join the religion.  Once you join the religion you get into the politics.  There is no God in that.  You should just pray to your ishtadeva [one's preferred form of God] and after that you should do the meditation.”

“The difference between being in a religion and maintaining a spiritual practice is like between dirty and clean water.  If you drink pure water your health is good.  If you drink polluted water your health goes bad.  If you join religions then you will get into politics.  By doing that you cannot see God and the lack of peace you have will increase.”

“Spirituality and politics should not be mixed.  It is bad for both.  Each one claims that his religion is better that the other’s.  Swamiji does not engage in politics.  Yogis do not talk about religion.  No yogi has ever talked about religion.  Yogis bring people from all lines together and teach them how to practice.  Religions are started by spiritual leaders.”

“We already have religions like Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam.  Because of that there is trouble.  Swamiji wants to unite all those people.  He is not going to create a religion.  What Swamiji is doing is supporting every religion.  He is not asking anyone to change their religion.  A person of any faith, if he comes to me, need not leave his faith.  He can still do the meditation.  He can be a devotee of mine in spite of being in his own faith.”

“Joining groups is religion.  Let us say you are in a group.  Now just because you met Swami and learned the meditation you want to leave this group and join another group.  This is bad because the new group will also become something like a religion.  You should not do that.  There should not be any desire to have groups.  Everybody can do the meditation.  There is going to be politics in religion.  There is no God in religion.”

“Swamiji has come to change the people.  They can remain in their religions but they can follow the right path.  People are already learning from Swamiji and many are changing.  There is nothing wrong in the religions.  You can belong to any religion.  It is the spiritual leaders who are bad.”

“You should welcome everyone and you should namaskar [bow] to everyone.”

 

INDEX page │ PREVIOUS page │ NEXT page

Divine Play:   Shivabalayogi’s life and blessings, 290 pages and over a hundred photos.  Generally available in bookstores and online.

Swamiji’s Treasure:  The most comprehensive collection of biography, experiences, conversations & photographs of Shivabalayogi.

Tapas Shakti:  Published at Swamiji’s request in India, January of 1992.  Contains his biography, conversations & experiences.