Churchianity is not only a concept that I use to speak of modern day Christian churches, but it can be seen as the controlling and dogmatic approach found in any religion, be it Islamic, Jewish, Hindu, or Buddhist. Churchianity is based on collective salvation, or the emphasis of soul salvation when you attend a particular church. Salvation becomes less a personal thing, but a commodity that is parceled out by any religious denominations to their faithful tithing parishioners. For this reason, the multifarious Christian denominations and sects in other religions are vying for survival in the field of converting others to their "only true way."  

The purpose of religion is to help people in their search for the love of God. Although there are many ways to reach the mountaintop of God-consciousness, we self-select how fast, or slow, we'll get there, depending our attitude by which we climb the heights.   A person, who is an atheist, may not believe in the God and Christ, but might be open spiritually to see the beauty found in a radiant sunset and experience the infinitude of God's presence its beauty. God is infinitely large and infinitely small. In sense God is indescribable.   If a person lives a good life, but does not believe in the concept of God and Christ in a religious way, wouldn't most churches condemn them? In the Original Christianity, however that I follow, we say atheist can experience the highest potential in themselves. Being made in the image of God, humans have the capacity to attain that infinite presence from glimpsing the distance stars or holding a leaf as a part of one's self.

  Click here on this website entitled, The Power of 10 and try to understand the magnitude of God's consciousness and see what I mean.   How Great Thou Art!

http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/index.html

When the religion becomes more important than the people it serves, then it is not serving its purpose. It becomes Churchianity. The place of worship becomes a club for members only.   It holds people there by fear of hell-fire and damnation or by catering to the parishioners egoic social needs.   Concerts, dances, sporting events, Friday-Nite Bingo, and Bible studies are wonderful, but who is cultivating a greater love for God through these activities? There is a saying in the East, "It is blessing to born into a religion, but a curse to die in one." Meaning, that one's personal salvation goes far beyond where you worship on Sunday, but how you live your life in the cold light of day. The outer and inner life must be gradually balanced and this is where yoga practices and meditation can help.

Here is a link showing how people are deepening their faith in the Southern Baptists Church through the inner experience found in yoga.   http://www.beliefnet.com/story/129/story_12947_1.html

Original Christianity, on the other hand, is based on one's individual soul development or relationship with God. It goes beyond any outer church affiliation and has a non-sectarian viewpoint. Yoga practice focuses on soul development focuses on how to communion spiritually with Jesus Christ and to contact His Consciousness in your soul. It is based on one's own experience of living a Christ-like life everyday, and not just going to church on Sunday.

Original Christianity is centered in an ancient soul science, or methodology, called, Yoga, or The Art of Super-Living. The Science of Yoga comes from primarily India, however, yoga practice was founded in ancient Egypt as well. The jewels of yoga knowledge, in Egypt were generally lost due to conquest and the fall of that civilization. The story of Hamid Bey, the Egyptian holy man, http://www.yoganandaafrican-american.com/html/d_hamid_bay_1.html is an example of this knowledge being passed down from ancient Egypt.

  In India, on the other hand, this yoga science was preserved by those saints and sages of Self-realization down through the ages until today. Yoga is not a religion in itself, but explores universal principles that can be applied to people of all religions. Those universal principals are centered in Raja Yoga, or the Royal Path Way to Enlightenment.

Raja Yoga gives practical techniques for daily living. These techniques were kept secret for centuries and reserved for people of royalty.   Raja   Yoga focuses on universal principles that are found in all religion and are a way of life. These principles include Bhakti - Yoga of Heart, Karma - Yoga of Action, Jnana - Yoga of Mental Discernment, Hatha - Yoga of the Body, Mantra - Yoga of Sounds and more. Central to these five yogas is the practice of meditation or communion with God.   Fourteen million people practice hatha yoga in America today, but very few understand the true goal of yoga, or Raja Yoga, which is communion with God in whatever form you choose to worship Him.  

At Ananda, we advocate the practice of Raja Yoga, in order to attain soul salvation, Self-realization, or oneness with God. We demonstrate that this is the exact same teaching as Original Christianity and that the goal in life is Self-realization, or the discovery of the Self, or the soul's essence within. The discovery of God's Presence is the sole purpose of human existence. In fact, the only purpose for every religion on this planet is Self-realization. It is defined by Paramhansa Yogananda, the great spiritual teacher of India, who inspired the founding of Ananda, in the following way: "Self-realization is the knowing in all parts of body, mind and soul that you are now in possession of the kingdom of God. You do not need to pray that it come to you. All you need to do is improve your knowing."

To illustrate this point more clearly, I'm reminded of a story when a group of Jehovah Witness's came to the Ananda Yoga Retreat Center near Assisi, Italy, where my wife and I lived for seven years. On that particular day, I was in a hurry and was running around, doing some projects, when I notice a car pulling up. As I saw these folks approaching, I noticed their literature in hand as being Jehovah Witnesses. I halted them in midstream, saying that I knew why they had come and that we didn't have, really, anything to discuss.

"You believe that there is only one road that leads to Rome," I said, "and we believe in the old saying that all roads lead to Rome!" They responded with affirmative regret at the truth and left. I blessed them with God's love, but I don't think they were able to grasp the universality of a broader view Christ's teachings. Their narrow-minded sectarian approach had locked them into the isolated room of Churchianity. But in reality Christ Jesus taught a universal message of salvation open to all people and all religions.

I ask you now, who were the first Christians anyway? "The Jews," you may say. No, the first Christians were not the Jews, but those three wise men that came from the East. They came from other religions: Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, & Buddhism. They were the first to believe that Jesus Christ was a true Son of God before anyone else. They not only believed it; they knew it in themselves. It takes greatness, to know greatness. The three wise men were the first Christians, because they knew and believed in Him before anyone else!

For your information, I have a book in my personal library entitled, "The Unknown Life of Jesus," by Nicholas Notovitch, written in 1894, which is based on Buddhist texts found in an ancient monastery in the Himalayas. It describes the 18 years of Jesus' life missing in the Bible. How could the most formative years of Christ's life not be chronicled in the Bible, unless The Church removed it altogether for political purposes?

In this document, it proves that Jesus visited Persia, India, Tibet and other places during his formative years. It describes how he leaves Israel, after his twelfth birthday and his time in the Temple of Jerusalem, talking to the elders. Because he was betroth in marriage, at the time of Bar Mitzvah, Jesus secretly leaves with a merchant caravan going east. I guess he felt it was not his destiny to marry and so left town. One might surmise that Jesus decided to repay the visit of the three wise men from the East, who visited him at his birth. I highly recommend reading this book. It's very interesting. There was a film aired on national TV in the early 80's, based upon the book called, The Lost Years of Jesus . You may have seen it aired, but you didn't, you can explore this information for your own research. Also, you can explore another book on Jesus and his life spent in China entitled, Jesus Sutras - Rediscovering the Lost Scrolls of Taoist Christianity .

Both of these titles can be found on www.Amazon.com .

How did the three wise men, who came from the East, know Christ Jesus was to be born? They saw the Star of the East, and then they came to Him, following that star. The knowledge of how one can follow the inner Star of the East, or the Star of Christ's Consciousness, is what we teach in Self-realization. It is an integral part of understanding the mysteries of the heaven and earth as Jesus taught his close disciples. The Star of the East can be discovered within everyone's soul, no matter of what religious context they follow. Jesus refers in the following Biblical verse how the inner star can be perceived at a point between the two eyebrows in the forehead: "The Light of the body is the eye, if thy eye is single thy whole body will be filled with Light. If thy eye be evil, thy whole body will be filled with darkness, but how great is that darkness within you"(Mt 6:22-23)?

In order to know Christ, it doesn't matter what religion you follow, if you can understand that His universal message is about the communion with the inner Star of the East, or the Light of Christ Consciousness. This star is hidden within the soul of every person. Self-realization teaches, through yoga and meditation techniques, That Truth, which is One And Eternal, but we recognize that many roads of religious worship that will eventually lead everyone to this point of communion with the inner Star of Christ Consciousness.

The inner Star of Christ's Consciousness is the doorway into His inner kingdom. As Jesus confirmed in St Luke 17:21, "Behold, the kingdom of God is within you." In Self-realization, we believe one's religion is tested in the cold light of every day's experience. It's not only about going to church on Sunday. It's about discovering the inner church. It's expressing our daily reverence and worship to God and Christ on the altar of the heart. Jesus said it simply, "Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, with all thy soul and with all thy strength and thy neighbor as thyself. On this stands all the laws and all the prophets" (Mark 12:30-31). Life is a school by which we go to daily, in order to learn certain lessons.

The negative habits and attitudes we acquire in life, such as lying, stealing, anger, hatred, greed, lust, envy, inferiority and superiority complexes, are there to be indicators of a movement away from Godliness or toward that which brings suffering. In other words, things that are sinful bring us pain and unhappiness in the end. Whereas qualities of love, service, compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, understanding, and joy are indicators of a movement towards Godliness, or expanding yourself in greater energy and happiness. Realizing that sin brings suffering and that virtue brings us happiness, we come to know that "a saint is sinner who never gave up for the search of truth." Jesus said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added upon to you" (Matt 6:33).

The path of love is the only true religion on this planet. The pathway of the heart will determine our way to salvation. It's not our religious affiliation. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God"(Matt. 5:8). Many people say they are Christian and don't do the things Jesus taught. And yet there are Christians like the Hindu, Mahatma Gandhi, who demonstrated what Jesus meant by "turning the other cheek" when he liberated India from British tyranny with nonviolent civil resistance movement.

Self-realization has been our chosen path for these many years, not out of insanity or brainwashing, but out of love for truth on the highest levels - that truth which embraces Jesus Christ in His Fullness.

In order to embrace Christ in His Fullness, the practice of the ancient Science of Yoga, or God Communion, is very important. It is considered the airplane route to God-realization as taught by the great Masters of India. Jesus, himself, ordained this teaching to come to the West for the first time in 1920. Paramhansa Yogananda, author of the spiritual classic , Autobiography of a Yogi , was one of the first of India's great spiritual ambassadors who came to the West. Yogananda lived in America for over 30 years, teaching the Science of Raja Yoga to truth thirsty souls everywhere. During his time here, Yogananda personally initiated over a one hundred thousand people into the soul awakening techniques of meditation that he called, Kriya Yoga .

The premise of Kriya Yoga verifies the revelations of in the Bible of what King David, Jesus Christ, and St. Paul taught: "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalms 46:10); "When thou pray, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut they door, pray to thy Father, which is in secret"(Matt 6:6)."I rejoice in Christ Jesus, I die daily" (I Cor. 15:31).

Dying daily is what we teach in Kriya Yoga. It is the dying, or conscious transformation of the little self, or ego into the consciousness that God alone exists in you and in everything.   All thoughts of I, me, mine are gradually transferred to "Thou Art the Sole Reality, Lord."   Gradually one conquers the greatest of all fears, the fear of death, and learns to live life more abundantly.   "The thief cometh, but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they night have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10).

Living a life more abundantly, in spirit, is what the path of Raja Yoga is about. And to do this, we pray and meditate in the temple of the heart. Prayer is about "talking" to God, while meditation is about "listening" to His response in your heart. It's like two sides to the same coin. To love God with all "your heart, mind, soul, and strength," we need to focus our energy one pointedly. It's a daily self-offering in the privacy of your home. By going into our inner closet, and closing the door of the five senses, we gradually learn to communion with Christ's Light, the Star of Christ's Consciousness, or the Star of the East within.

Personally, I've seen this inner light and I've practiced the little death by going breathless in the stillness. It is the most wonderful thing one can experience. Intuitive understanding develops in this process of being still. Gradually, one realizes solutions to life's problems.   Financial troubles, poor health and relationship difficulties become seen as opportunities to grow in spiritual understanding. The key to the practice of Kriya Yoga is the awareness of breath. Then using the breath to awaken the divine energies within spinal column, the tree of life in the body. "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man be came a living soul"(Gensis 2:7).

A friend, who was an Italian choral conductor said to me once, "Breathe, Breathe, Breathe! And know that God is the very essence behind your own breath!" Yoga teaches how to bind, or "to yoke", the soul, or the inner essence of God within yourself, to His Holy Spirit by using the breath. "God is a Spirit. And we must worship in Him in Spirit and in Truth"(John 4:24). "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost."(I Cor. 6:19)

So, after praising God and Christ in worship, in prayer, in song, or in reading the Bible, sit quietly for a few minutes afterwards. Try to still the storms of your restless thoughts by listening for His inner response. Do this by first closing your eyes and communion with Him inwardly. As you gaze upward with your vision, as depicted in the pictures of Jesus and other saints, try to pierce the darkness you see with closed eyes.

Concentrate deeply and pray to Christ loudly three times, "I will lift up my eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help"(Psalms 121:1). Then mentally repeat this in your mind 12 times very slowly. While doing this prayer, breathe deeply through the nose. With the inhalation of breath and pray, "I will lift up my eyes unto the hills." Hold the breath for a few counts, then exhale through the nose with the same count, praying, "From whence cometh my help." After doing this about 12 times, then let the breath go, without controlling it.

Now, notice there is a faint light appearing just behind the darkness you see with eyes closed. Imagine that you are gazing through a dark tunnel and Christ's Light is at the end of it. Begin to open yourself unto Christ's Light by saying to Him mentally, with love and devotion in your heart, "Je...sus, Je...sus, Je...sus!" Repeat His Holy Name again and again as you watch your breath coming in and out through the nostrils. Feel like He is there, breathing through you. With the inhalation, mentally say "Je"... and the exhalation, "sus." As you repeat this with deeper and deeper concentration, feel His Presence coming into you. When you feel His Touch, open the door of your heart to Him. Allow his peace come into you and feel His Grace like a waterfall, showering you with His Light, Joy and Love! "I stand at the door and knock: of any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me" (Rev 3:20).

Self-realization is the discovery of Christ's Presence in our soul's true nature. His nature is of seven attributes - divine love, peace, joy, wisdom, light, sound and power. Don't be surprised if you experience right away these qualities of Christ within your "silent praise" session. He can uplift you in the stillness, so that you will come to know the deeper meaning of The Rapture.   Soul Rapture is an inner experience. Many so-called Christians today think Jesus is going to resurrect the trillions of dead bodies that have turned to dust over the millennium.   This is the faith. That all true Christians will resurrected in their physical bodies and live forever. Whereas Original Christianity shows the techniques of how one must overcome the restlessness of mind and body, in order to attain salvation.   "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalms 46:10). When you are so still in yourself, you forget all time and space, then your soul will be lifted up in the true Rapture. This is the purpose of Christianity, to stay in His Presence throughout the day, 24/7.

"Soon, time will be no more. Soon, you'll reach that golden shore. Maybe not today, but soon." These words come from my Aunt Nadine Williams, who wrote them for a song, "Time will Be No More," but the truth is there. In the experience of deep meditation, or inner communion, or silent praise, you begin to feel timelessness. Ten, twenty, thirty minutes or an hour may pass. Time will fly by as you rest in Christ and to take His Yoke, or Yoga (Union), upon you and learn of Him. "To him that over cometh, I will make a pillar in the temple of my God and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon (on his forehead) him, the name of my God" (Rev 3:12).

In the Christian/Yoga tradition I follow, the goal of life is not only to obtain salvation in Jesus Christ, but to communion with God as in the sacred Trinity: The Father, Son and Holy Ghost. To discover the Holy Trinity (SAT - The Father, TAT - The Christ Consciousness or Son, AUM - The Word or cosmic vibration in the yoga tradition) is the highest grace from above. When we are completely still in meditation, or silent praise, restlessness ceases in the body and mind. God baptizes us inwardly in the Holy Ghost, His Sacred Vibration, Amen, or Word. "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made" (John 1:1-3). "His Voice has the sound of many water" (Rev 1:15). "These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God" (Rev 3:14).

After this spiritual baptism, Christ's Light will then appear and will anoint you with His Power and Glory. When the anointment of Christ's Light comes over us, it reveals in the soul the promise of true freedom in God. "For God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son that who should believeth on Him shall not parse, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

The Gospel is truly fulfilled when we become like Jesus and to be anointed by Christ Consciousness, or the "Only Begotten Son of God." Jesus said, " Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is perfect." Jesus attained that perfection in Christ Consciousness, the Only Begotten Son of God, and so we, too, have that potential. This is the highest potential of a human being and is spoken of in Yoga. To become a true Son of God, just as Jesus was, and this is the goal of life. "To those who received Him, to them He gave the power to become the Sons of God" (John 1:12).

Our true freedom lies in Christ's Consciousness, "the only Begotten Son of God." "I am the way the truth and life. No one can enter into the Father accept through me" (John 14:6). This is the promise that Jesus made, that all may become one with His Consciousness and experience The Grace of the Father, through the Son. When we attain this level of being, or Sonship (Christ Consciousness), as saints and masters of other religions have also attained, then we can say, as Jesus said, "I and my Father are One" (John 10:30).

Isn't true spiritual freedom what we are all looking for in this world? It's about time we shake off the chains of ignorance and our egocentric existence. Let it be known that there is a way to free yourself.   Yoga is the way Christ Jesus taught humanity to free ourselves from this materialistic hypnosis we call life on Earth.   Try this ancient practice of spiritual awakening everyday for a month and see how it affects yours life.   To unite your soul eternally with the Mighty Source of All That Is, is the only purpose of being.

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, were moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through an steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Mt 6:19 -21).

AUM PEACE AMEN!

THE FOLLOWING LINKS ARE WEBSITES AND ARTICLES ON THE SUBJECT OF YOGA AND CHRISTIANITY THE READER MAY FIND INTERESTING:

http://www.sivanandadlshq.org/religions/yogachristian.htm

http://ompage.net/Text/yogaofspirit.htm

http://www.esotericchristian.com/yoga.html

http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/globalpers/gp090303.htm

http://www.lifeway.com/lwc/article_main_page/0,1703,A%253D150411%2526M%253D50019,00.html

  http://church-of-the-east.org/welcome.shtml

http://www.near-death.com/