Apparently, this Hindu supporter who has written tens of books on threats to Hinduism from ‘outsiders’ has objections to non-Hindu Yoga Gurus coming up with their own versions of Yoga.
According to this scholar, these non-Hindu Yoga Gurus distort Yoga by replacing some of the essential aspects of Yoga to suite their own religious affinities. One of them is the chanting of the sound OM during Yoga practice.
This is a glaring example of how partial knowledge and myopic vision could delude a person.
On one hand we have the so called “Christian or Muslim Yoga” proponents who consider chanting of OM as something anathema to their religious faiths. They want Yoga, but they want to strip it off from anything that can be considered to be Hindu. They feel that OM is a Hindu religious concept and that it clashes with their religious injunctions. So, they replace it with amen or Jesus or Allah, as it suits them and try to make Yoga palatable to their set of audience with a non-Hindu affiliation.
The sound OM is just a conjunction of three sounds ‘A’, ‘U’, and ‘M’. Some Hindu scriptures may give this sequence a religious interpretation, but they just stand for creation, sustenance, and final re-merger. Since these aspects are often associated with God, OM is considered to be a symbolic representation of God – not a Hindu God but a God who is the creator, who is the sustainer and into whom all of us would finally converge. Isn’t that the very definition of God in Christianity or Islam?
What is more interesting is that the same sequence of sounds ‘A’,’U’, and ‘M’ appears in several places in the holy book of Muslims namely Quran as the three letters Alif, Lam, Meem. And surprisingly, many Quranic scholars have interpreted these three letters to stand for creation, sustenance, and final reabsorption! I have discussed this similarity in my book “Towards a better understanding of Islam”.
So, why should there be any objection to chanting OM? OM may be easier to chant that saying Alif, Lam, Meem 😉
What is more funny is that chanting of OM is not at all mandatory for the practice of Yoga! In contrast to what many modern Gurus make you believe, Patanjali never says chanting of OM is mandatory. Meditating on OM is only one option which one could choose. Yoga for most part is silent about OM.
I have argued in my books that meditating on OM can take one very quickly to deep states of samadhi. In “How and why of Yoga and Meditation” I have tried to explain in neurological terms why meditating on OM helps in attaining deep states of samadhi.
At the same time, I have cautioned against meditating on OM unless you are clear about your ultimate goal. If your ultimate goal is not ‘self-realization’ then probably OM is not the right choice for you. For example, if you want to reap many of the good benefits of Yoga while still leading a ‘normal’ worldly life, then OM is off limits for you.
The reason is that meditating on OM has the potential to completely calm your mind beyond a stage which may make you difficult to lead a ‘normal life’. To lead a normal life, you need a focused but somewhat active mind. But OM tends to put you in a completely absorbed state. You may have problems leading a routine life with such a state of mind though it is ideal for a person who has renounced the worldly life.
That is the reason why traditionally, chanting of OM in a standalone fashion is allowed only to Sanyasis or someone who has completely renounced the world. It is forbidden for other worldly people. Not because of religious beliefs but because it can interfere with routine life. What is generally recommended is to prefix or suffix any mantra by OM and not to chant it in a standalone fashion. And even this prefix has to be uttered in a specific way. You can read my book where I have elaborated on this.
Now coming to the objections of Christian or Muslim Yoga Gurus, I can say that OM is not mandatory for Yoga practice. You can replace it with whatever sound or no sound as you wish. But if you want to attain the ultimate realization, then look at OM as merely a sound that has valid reasons to take you quickly to a tranquil state. If that is not what you intend, you can skip that. Even if you want to interpret OM to mean something, the meaning is no different from what your own religions tell you in some other words. So, you don’t need to worry about going against your faith.
As for the Hindu supporter who is worried about non-Hindus distorting the Yoga, I would recommend him to read the original Yoga texts. Neither the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, nor even the Hata pradeepika of Hatayogis ever say that OM is mandatory. So, why haggle on trivial issues? What is important is that more and more people reap the benefits of Yoga irrespective of whether they are Hindus, Christians or Muslims or even Buddhists who don’t believe in any God!
A series discussing questions and answers on Yoga/Philosophy. © Dr. King, Swami Satyapriya 2020-21
Chanting Om- a candid view about the beliefs of other religious followers !!
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