Gods and Goddesses of Nainital

What Babaji of Nainital said. T he Himalayas have been a source of spiritual knowledge since ancient times. It has been the abode and/or origin of numerous saints, mystics, including the Great Buddha; and according to Hindu and Buddhist Mythology also of gods, goddesses and Bodhisattvas. Certainly if a location has to be chosen for that in the world it has to be The Himalayas as the Highest mountain chain of the world and also the most conducive to life and beauty. In 1970, a youthful saint of around twenty, called Baba Haidakhan or Babaji lovingly by his disciples appeared in the Nainital District of Himalayas. He died in 1984, even as he had said while he lived that the body is meaningless and transient but the soul lives on. While he lived, he lovingly and joyously demolished certain fallacies and myths about yoga that were spreading in the world. It was a time when there was a great interest in yoga in the west. Certain popular sects were propagating myths about yog...

Currently it seems that a debate is on in USA if yoga is something religious or not. May I contribute my two cents to the debate seeing that there are articles by me on the net on yoga and for yoga teachers e.g. what is yoga, Entropy yoga and in this blog on Kriya Yoga? The simple and clear answer is that there are many different types of yoga. Some are religious and some are not. The one being advocated in the USA presently and by the Lady Obama and President Obama is not religious. It is a yoga that involves primarily physical exercises and/or breathing exercises and such yogas that may go by the name of hatha yoga, pranayama as well as numerous modern names are not religious. However a yoga that involves physical exercises that includes a posture called Surya Namaskar involves worshipping the sun and it is a religious yoga. The kriya yoga described in another post in this blog is a religious yoga but it is ecumenical and universal and does not belong to any specifi...