Pat Robertson: Yoga is 'evil'

[edbermac]

Wednesday's "700 Club" featured a question about the Christian view of yoga. A concerned viewer asked, "Does it really have its origins in evil?" Pat Robertson gave the verdict: Yes!

According to Pat, stretching is fine, but by repeating common yoga mantras, you are actually praying to Hindu gods Vishnu and Krishna and you're not even aware of it! Check out the clip below and tell us what you think. Is it wrong for Christians to practice yoga?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/11/29/pat-robertson-not-down-wi_n_74527.html

:rofl:

[spanone]

1. i think pat is patently insane...he must make God uncomfortable

[SidDithers]

2. Don't worry, Pat. There's always Christian Yoga...

http://www.christianyoga.us/home.htm

:evilgrin:

Sid

[Virginia Dare]

73. There's a big sign for Christian Yoga outside my local..

Baptist Church. I've always wanted to stop in just to see what the hell it was....:shrug:

[fascisthunter]

3. Does Pat Robertson Have Syphilis?

He is exhibiting signs of rapid mental deterioration... or is lying getting more difficult and extreme?

[MrMickeysMom]

4. Boy, he'd really hate the tongue licking cats in the DU banner, wouldn't he?

After all, their stretching and licking put Yogis to shame!

:P

[IndyDurham]

22. LOL! Thank you for that...

...best laugh I've had all week!!! Those banner cats have driving me NUTS!!!

[MrMickeysMom]

41. Welcome to DU!

:-) They have driven me nuts, too!

[KansDem]

5. Hey, I resent that remark!

How is Yoga evil?

[Glorfindel]

14. That's not Yoga, it's Yogi, a great American philosopher

THIS is Yoga:

[orion9941]

6. I guess this man just never runs out of new things to hate.

[Turbineguy]

7. Would it be asking

the Lord too much to tazer that dude with a lightning bolt?

We could see him on CNN. A smoking piece of pork rind on the sidewalk.

[AndyA]

8. Funny, I've always thought PAT ROBERTSON WAS EVIL.

Yoga, not so much.

Yoga is good for the mind and body, stretches those muscles and clears the cobwebs out of the mind.

Robertson, not so much. What an idiot that man is. :rofl:

[rurallib]

9. Yoga is evil. Fucking your mistress on the public's nickel is ok

How's that Ghouli endorsement feeling Marion G. (Pat) Robertson. Jeez do these guys ever use their real names?

[conscious evolution]

He is half right

The chants are invoking the Hindu deities.

Whether or not they are evil is another story.

[JVS]

54. Christians are told to have no other Gods by the first commandment

Invoking them would be a grave sin.

[yardwork]

69. I wasn't aware that yoga involved calling up deities. Seriously.

I don't know for sure, because I haven't done yoga, but I'm pretty sure that the millions of people doing yoga around the world are NOT invoking any deities. At least, many some are, but I guess that they aren't Christian in that case, right, so it wouldn't be a sin.

I mean, it's only a sin if you say you're Christian and then do something against Christian teaching, right? I mean, if you're not a Christian, it can't be a sin.

[Donnachaidh]

10. Yeah Pat, the Kraken will be released by all that chanting

And Pegasus will fly over your home and take a dump in your mint julep. :eyes:

He wants to keep his flock in their seats. The only exercise they are allowed is the wrist *twist and thrust* from their wallets to his collection plate.

[riverdeep]

23. Oh no, my friend. Certain exercises are very much allowed.

Like supposedly lifting a ton in a leg press.



And how does he do that, you ask? Why, with the amazing and wonderful and pers-pe-alli-dictious fantasmagoric age-defying protein shake!

"One of Pat's secrets to keeping his energy high and his vitality soaring is his age-defying protein shake. Pat developed a delicious, refreshing shake, filled with energy-producing nutrients.

Discover what kinds of natural ingredients make up Pat's protein shake by registering for your FREE booklet today! "

http://www.cbn.com/communitypublic/shake.aspx

Of course, there are these pesky non-believers that think Pat's full of it for his leg lifts, too.

"Clay Travis of CBS SportsLine.com called the 2,000-pound assertion impossible in a column this week, writing that the leg-press record for football players at Florida State University is 665 pounds less.

"Where in the world did Robertson even find a machine that could hold 2,000 pounds at one time?" Travis asked."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13027545/

[NeedleCast]

11. So is Yogurt

and all other words starting with the letter "Y."

[TlalocW]

12. I've done yoga twice

A friend of mine was going through some tough times emotionally in the late 1990s, and he turned to Yoga to help calm him down, and he looked for different places that taught it. So we went to a Jazzercise where the teacher turned off the lights, played a CD of zinthir (sp?) music and talked to us about chakras and all other kinds of flim-flam. I actually fell asleep and woke myself up with a snort when we did a position where we just were on our backs.

Next week, we went to a new age church where there was none of that, and the instructor made it a work-out, and much to the annoyance of my friend, complimented me on how well I did (my friend was 30 pounds lighter than me because I lift weights).

What was even more amusing was that the new age church was in an old strip mall, and next door to it was a gay club, and next to the gay club was a Baptist church (this is in Tulsa). I remarked that I bet Sunday mornings are interesting when any friends of the owners of the bar who stayed after closing time were leaving when the Baptists and the New Agers were arriving.

TlalocW

[stanwyck]

30. I've done yoga twice

Longest two hours of my life. And I'm including in that assessment my time in labor with twins.
I prefer Pilates.

[HughBeaumont]

13. This guy gets his advice from a sky spook.

Who gives three flying shinolas what this wiper has to say?

[tanyev]

15. OMG. If you rearrange the letters you get GAYO.

:wow:

[Dr. Strange]

27. If you rearrange the letters in "Pat Robertson" you get "Pronto Breast"

Double wow:
:wow: :wow:

[JBoy]

33. You also get "Porn Store Tab"

If you rearrange "Robertson Yoga" you get "So Gay Boner Rot".

[Dr. Strange]

34. I'm beginning to think anagrams are evil!

:spray:

[varkam]

37. !

:rofl:

[Kadie]

16. It IS evil!

Have you tried some of those poses?
:D

No really, I love yoga. I try to take a class a couple of times a week, and practice it at home.

To people like Robertson I say you better be careful, you might be doing one of those evil poses and you are not even aware of it.

:rofl:

[Warpy]

17. That Pat Robertson has not been struck by lightning

leaving behind only a smoking pair of Gucci loafers and faint odor of brimstone leads me to believe I'm on the right track as an atheist.

He was bad enough 15 years ago. Since he's been getting senile, he's completely beyond the point at which anyone should take him seriously.

(I've been doing Yoga for 30 years, and mumbling mantras has never been any part of my practice. I'm too busy breathing)

[NMMNG]

18. Doing yoga is evil, calling for the assassination of presidents is not.

Fundie logic is so convoluted. :crazy:

[Initech]

19. Didn't Pat once say that he could leg press 2,000 lbs?

I think Pat is certifiably fucking nuts. :rofl:

[BushOut06]

20. When you're carrying around a ton of BS, you have to

The guy is fucking nuts.

[Skidmore]

58. Well, it gave his brain a hernia.

[gollygee]

21. My sister wouldn't go to yoga classes with me for that reason

I just looked at her. LOL. It's based on eastern religion and is therefore pagan and evil or something.

[Jackpine Radical]

24. There are many forms of yoga, divided into 4 main categories.

Everybody in Thiscountry thinks of hatha yoga.


However...

Bhakti yoga (Yoga of devotion) is the oldest variety of yoga, in which the devotee invokes the Creator of the universe to shower grace and compassion, which is meant to help the devotee overcome the hardships of existence. Practice of Bhajtiyoga includes prayer, worship, observing austerities and abstinence, and practice of virtue. In the middle ages in India, many saints cultivated the way of devotion as mass-movement.

Karama yoga (Yoga of duty or action): is described in great detail in the Bhagavad Gita. The main principles of karamayoga include
remaining constant in performing one's duties, and remaining indifferent to polarities such as success and failure, pleasure and pain, heat and cold, etc., without seeking to gain or avoid one or the other.

Jnyana yoga (Yoga of knowledge): is laid out in detail in the Yogasutra of Patanjali (second century BC.). It consists of eight-fold yoga. Ynyanayoga includes outer and inner aspects of disciplining and training the body and mind. It has three important techniques: postures, breath-control, and meditation.

Hatha yoga (Yoga of bodily movement): In recent times, Hatha yoga has become very popular . It was popularized by the experts of Tantra, called the Natha-yogis in the periods between twelfth and fifteenth centuries AD. Gurus who popularized hatha yoga include Matsyendranatha, Gorakhnatha, and some others. Hatha yoga is described as the yoga of unity of ha and tha. This means the unity of the sun and the moon in body or the unity of vitak airs - prana and apana.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

28. Karma yoga

is a practice I've done for many years. Funny, how its practice is similar to Christianity.

[JVS]

53. interesting

[Chovexani]

71. Thank you for sharing the info.

I have been looking into jnyana yoga to augment my spiritual practice and it is some interesting stuff.

I find a lot of similarities with Chinese martial arts.

[riverdeep]

25. Apparently, the Lord is like some shysty lawyer,

waiting for some technical screw-up so He can throw another soul on the barbie.

[zbdent]

26. That's a lie!!! Yoga was on the side of good!

Wait ... was that Yoga or Yogurt? ...

And you know what's really crazy? Yogurt's jedi in training fell into a vat of acid and turned into Batman's arch-nemesis!

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

31. Pat is definitely from the dark side of the Force

[Jackpine Radical]

60. But the farce is with him.

[stanwyck]

29. Aha! I suspected a co-worker of being evil

(she's a devout Yoga enthusiasm) and now Pat Robertson has confirmed my suspicions. I've forwarded her this confirmation of my deeply held belief of her treachery. My hope is that she will repent immediately and eventually lose her perfect body which shames the rest of us.

[Phoonzang]

32. Your face is evil!

Hahahahahaa....take that Robertson.... yeah.

[LeftishBrit]

35. LeftishBrit: Pat Robertson is 'evil'.

[screembloodymurder]

36. Yep, I was watching a yoga class last night and I agree with Pat.

I had a few evil thoughts just watching the young evil-doers stretch. I'd like to lock em all up in my basement and put the "fear of God" in em. It did seem to deepen my breathing though.

[Beausoleil]

38. Question, Pat.

How can I inadvertantly be "praying" to a Hindu deity that neither one of us believes exists? Don't you think that "praying" to something that you don't believe in is not really praying? Or do you believe in Hindu deities?

[RiverStone]

39. All the stretching in the world...

Would do not a damn thing to open the walls of Pat's very narrow minded brain.

[Dulcinea]

40. WTF?

I went to Yoga classes while pregnant, both times, & it was the only thing that helped my aching back. It was so relaxing. I loved it, & wish I had time to pick it up again while not PG.

And, the breathing was more useful than the breathing they taught in birth class! I highly recommend it for moms-to-be.

Pat Robertson suffers from cranio-rectal inversion.

[SalviaBlue]

42. I think alot of fundies believe this

Years ago, my "born again" friend gave me a book - This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti. Apparently he is a big "christian" author. This book was kind of a horror story where these demons invade this town by way of the yoga studio and other "new age" venues. I discussed with my friend the fact that this author was demonizing yoga and she thought this was appropriate because she beleives it is based on Eastern religiion and therefore evil.

Also, I have recently noticed with the resurgence of yoga popularity that there are yoga studios that claim to be teach "christian" yoga.

[0rganism]

43. Perhaps he meant "Yog-Sothoth"? It's a common mistake...

Really, it's a major risk for the yoga practitioner as well, if you start invoking names of the Outer Gods by accident. You never know when the "Beyond One" itself might suddenly pop out of an unspeakable interdimensional rift and permanently compress you into some indescribable position of total non-Euclidean insanity...

[Poiuyt]

44. I wonder if Pat has been watching naked yoga?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_yoga

[cornermouse]

45. If you ever talked to them you'd probably find that a lot of them

see hypnotism as evil also.

[Mountainman]

46. I wouldn't want fundies in my yoga class anyway.

I'm glad they stay away.

[Triana]

56. Ditto...(n/t)

[GreenPartyVoter]

47. I know some evangelicals who also think that

[KitchenWitch]

48. I know some evangelicals that think that Karate is also evil.

:eyes:

Fear of things they do not understand is strong with them.

[GreenPartyVoter]

59. Worse is that they think they DO understand it, but have it all wrong.

[JVS]

49. Would someone offer me a translation of the mantras please?

Also, what does reciting them do?

[conscious evolution]

64. Om Mani Padme Om

Is a Tibetan mantra.You have probably heard this one before.

http://www.dharma-haven.org/tibetan/meaning-of-om-mani-padme-hung.htm#Mani

Another one many have heard is the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hare_Krishna

These chants invoke the blessings of the Vedic gods Krishna and Buddha.They will also awaken the mind to an enlightened state and increase compassion for others.

There are many more mantras associated with these and other gods and goddess's of the Vedic traditions.While most are beneficial some aren't.Also without proper instruction some of the good ones can unintentionally cause harm.One such danger is Kundalini syndrome or kundalini rising.

Lukoff, Lu & Turner<25> notes that a number of psychological difficulties might be associated with Asian spiritual practices, and that Asian traditions recognize a number of pitfalls associated with intensive meditation practice. Transpersonal literature<26> notes that kundalini rising is not without dangers. If we take this into consideration there might exist good reasons not to engage in such intensive practices unless guided by an accredited teacher, or unless one has undergone thorough psychological preparation and education in the chosen meditation-practice. Traditional teachers of Kundalini meditation also warn neophytes of the potential dangers of experimenting with Kundalini Yoga techniques. Anxiety, dissociation, depersonalization, altered perceptions, agitation, and muscular tension have been observed in western meditation practitioners<27> and psychological literature is now addressing the occurrence of meditation-related problems in Western contemplative life.<28><29> Among these we find "Kundalini Syndrome" (see below) and different forms of "wind illness" described in the Tibetan tradition.<30>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kundalini

My advice is not to take Eastern mantras and yoga lightly.There is more to them then meets the eye.

[tom_paine]

50. Pat Robertson is evil.

[lunatica]

51. Pat is living proof

That God has a wicked funny sense of humor and loves to play practical jokes!

:headbang: :dilemma: :rofl: :silly: :evilgrin: :hippie:

[Elspeth]

52. That's just cause Pat can't do the down dog pose without breaking his back

or checking his paranoid behind.

[Triana]

55. LOLOL! F You Pat

I plan to do my yoga tonight - and my chanting.


OOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

[xchrom]

57. kicking -- cause i love the responses in this thread.

[Evoman]

61. If this is evil, I don't want to be good

[peekaloo]

62. I remember Yoga and Boo Boo stealing all those pick-a-nick baskets

so maybe Pat's onto (or on ) something.

Another D'ag.

[scarletwoman]

63. Our strategy is clear, we MUST do more yoga! (nt)

[conscious evolution]

72. A very good strategy!

Chanting the mantras would also help.Along with learning the principles behind them.And then practicing them in our daily life.

Here is a good one:

Hatred never ceases by hatred;
But by love alone is healed.
This is an ancient and eternal law.

I found it here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=245x57693

[Swamp Rat]

65. LOLOLOL!!!!!

:rofl:

[lpbk2713]

66. *It's deja-vu all over again.*

[HuffleClaw]

67. that loon probably thinks playing with Lego is evil

he probably just wanted some free publicity

[Sultana]

68. He is just...

jealous cause he isn't in great shape. :D

[Chovexani]

70. The problem, as usual, is Pat is only half right.

Real yoga, and not the watered down stuff as practiced in your local strip mall studio, is based in spiritual principles. It's really a form of Hindu meditation when you're doing it right. Similarly, martial arts, particularly the soft arts such as Tai Chi Ch'uan, are systems that are inherently about energy work (if you're learning them from an authentic teacher) of the sort that your average bible-beating 700 Club viewer is ill-equipped to deal with. Actually, one of my many gripes as a life-long martial arts enthusiast in America is that so much of what we see is in the West is watered down bullshit taught by frauds. Yoga, like martial arts, is a mind-body-spirit practice when practiced authentically. It disturbs me when I see fundies appropriating this stuff and putting a thin veneer of Christanity over it, almost as much as the American strip mall martial arts culture. I was psyched to find a Qi Gong class here in AZ, but never came back as movement of chi was not addressed a single time. Why not just call it Tae Bo and get it over with?

The problem is when you try to divorce the spiritual technologies from the physical art, it loses much of its effectiveness and meaning. Certainly you can still get the physical benefits of stretching and a good workout, but yoga wasn't developed all those millenia ago solely as a way to keep in physical shape. Which is why I laugh when I see things like the Christian Tai Chi club at my mom's megachurch...I agree with Pat in that there is no way to effectively Christianize this stuff (of course, where Marion and I would part company is that the arts are OMGEVIL as a result.).

[Virginia Dare]

74. Waterboarding=okey dokey/ Yoga=evil

whatever Pat, you old raving lunatic....:crazy: