What are your thoughts on Paramahansa Yogananda, the Christian Hindu Yogi's perspective on Christ & Christianity?

During Yogananda's time, there was a movement in India to merge different religions or get into a universalistic viewpoint--although Indian teachers were trying appeal to Westerners by combining Hindu and Western Christian concepts. Yogananda's interpretation of Christianity is not Christiantiy but his New Thought take on it to attract Christians who thought that Yogic or Hindu spirituality was cool. His teaching is nneither authentically Hindu or Yogic or Christian but some people find it appealing and useful.

That teaching is totally inconsistent with the Bible. God's word the Bible teaches that Jesus is God incarnate, and that Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins, and rose from the dead, so that whoever puts their trust in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. The Bible teaches that all Christians are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and that we have full communion with God when we live in obedience to Him. A Christian can never lose the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ's return will be a physical return, in which everyone on earth will see Him coming on the clouds with His angels. http://www.christianity.com/

I'm not Christian but it's disrespectful to their religion

I've studied, practiced and taught yoga for years, but after the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to the truth about yoga and the Lord Jesus Christ, I became a Christian. Ever since then I've been filled with the true love, joy and peace of God and realize what it means to be intimately and blissfully united to God.

Many pagan mystics have believed and taught that Jesus practiced yoga and achieved enlightenment. When comparing Jesus to yogis, one must ask certain questions, like the following:

Which human being besides Jesus claimed to be the Bread of Life?

Can evil spirits be cast out in the name of Yogananda, Mahasaya or Babaji?

Which other person was born of a virgin by the power of God and the Holy Spirit?

Can any Indian guru baptize others with the Holy Spirit and with fire? By the way, how do you explain the Fire Baptism? I've received this.

Do angels worship any of the alleged god-men of India? Angels worship Jesus (Hebrews 1:6; Revelation 5:13).

Do any of these men hold the title "King of Kings and Lord of Lords"?

Does any human have the ability to employ angels? Jesus has this ability (Matthew 26:53).

Why did Jesus tell His disciples to baptize believers in the name of the Father, the Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit?

Was there any other man who could have offered their blood to atone for the sins of mankind so we could by faith have unity to God?

Yogis and many users of entheogens mistake altered states of consciousness for Godly experiences. They erroneously attribute to these states such terms as God-Realization, Self-Realization, Enlightenment, Illumination, Unitive Knowledge of the Divine, Reentering the Kingdom and Reintegration.

DMT (dimethyltryptamine) is a hallucinogen found naturally in the mammalian brain. DMT can also be extracted from certain plants. Deep and prolonged practice of yoga causes the brain to release DMT and this induces altered states of consciousness, hallucinations and feelings of bliss. Yogis who spend long years in yogic practices achieve the same altered states and feelings as individuals who consume or inject themselves with DMT derived from external sources.

Some individuals take DMT and other entheogens with the intention of communing with God. Persons who take DMT and those who practice yoga to release DMT from their brain claim to experience bliss, cosmic consciousness and feelings of being one with the universe. Drugs are harmful to the body, soul and spirit and therefore inhibit the user’s union with God who does not approve of taking intoxicating substances. Cosmic consciousness is therefore not a Divinely inspired experience. Taking extracted DMT or releasing DMT through yoga can result in insanity. In addition to this, the state of mind it puts one in is a state which facilitates demonic possession. Kundalini syndrome (many persons who practice yoga have this) is the result of demonic possession. The Hindu deities (which are fallen angels or demons) taught yoga to humans so they could be united to humans, and the powers one receives from yoga (siddhis) are the powers of those entities.

The human being has a physical body, soul and spirit. The spirit of a human being isn’t God but needs God. It is where one receives God when they accept Christ as their Saviour. Where the “S” in spirit is capitalized in the Bible, it refers to the Holy Spirit who is the third person of the triune Godhead. After one accepts Christ, the Holy Spirit (not their spirit) brings life to them (Romans 8:10). In Zechariah 12:1, we see that God formed the spirit of humans within them. As soon as one accepts Christ as their Saviour, the Holy Spirit takes up residence within their spirit making them a true child of God (Romans 8:15-16).

The Holy Spirit enables us to have a spiritual understanding of the things of God (1 Corinthians 2:11).

Without God, man’s spirit is unilluminated. This illumination happens at the time one’s spirit is united to the Holy Spirit (which happens only after one has accepted Christ as their Saviour). The Light went out of the spirit after the fall of man. Man had lost communion with God. Christ, the second person of the Triune Godhead made the sacrifice for our sins so the Light could be lit in the spirits of all. There is no redemption or unity to God apart from receiving Christ as one’s Saviour and Lord. The infilling of the Holy Spirit was possible only after Christ’s sacrifice. Before the death of Christ, the Holy Spirit only fell on persons who worshiped and served the true God (Judges 15:14; Ezekiel 11:5). Hebrews 9:6-8 (KJV) tells us that unity to God “the way into the Holiest of all” was also possible only after Christ’s sacrifice which brought an end to the Old Covenant. Christ made the sacrifice for our sins as the spotless lamb (1 Peter 1:9) and took the place of the Jewish high priest and became our eternal High Priest (Hebrews 6:20). The Book of Hebrews explains how the Old Covenant was replaced by the New Covenant.

Three days after Lord Jesus died for our sins, He resurrected from the dead (Luke 24:1-8; Acts 10:40; 1 Corinthians 15:4) and 40 days later, He ascended into Heaven (Acts 1:3; Luke 24:50-53; Acts 1:9-11). Jesus Christ is Lord over all and His name is above every name (Philippians 2:9-11).

The blood of Christ was shed so our sins could be paid for and we could have direct unity to God. The Holy Spirit leads us to remain focused on God so we can grow spiritually. God the Father lives within believers (John 14:23), God the Holy Spirit lives within believers (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) and God the Son also lives within believers (2 Corinthians 13:5, Galatians 2:20). Because Christ lives in us, we are a new being, having our old self with its evil practices stripped off, and we are being renewed and remoulded after the image of God, in order to bring us to a full knowledge of Himself (Colossians 3:9-10). Because He lives in us, we have His peace (John 16:33), we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16), we have His strength to do all things (Philippians 4:13) and we are a chosen race, the King’s priests, the holy nation and God’s own people, chosen to proclaim the wonderful acts of God (Peter 2:9). As Christians, the Lord Jesus Christ is always interceding for us (Romans 8:34, Hebrews 7:25), He is preparing a place for us in heaven (John 14:1–3) and He baptizes us with the Holy Spirit and with fire (Matthew 3:11).

Salvation, redemption, reception of the Holy Spirit and adoption as God’s own children happen the instant a human being has faith in Christ as their Saviour and Lord and not at some future time in the believer’s life.

People who have not accepted Christ can become better individuals, but only to a certain extent. The Holy Spirit calls out to everyone but only those who have let the Holy Spirit (the third person of the Triune Godhead) into them by accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour are the ones who are transformed and experience abundant and constant spiritual growth.

Iniquities (tendencies that cause one to sin) pass down the generation line (Numbers 14:18). After one accepts Lord Jesus as their Saviour, God forgives their sins as they truly repent and removes their iniquities (evil tendencies) in the transformation process which makes one more and more like Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Titus 3:5; Hebrews 9:12-14). After genuinely accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour, ALL sinners (alcoholics, liars, drug addicts, fornicators etc.) will be saved and transformed. Each believer is cleansed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and receives the infilling of the Holy Spirit who renews them.

Reincarnation is a false teaching (Hebrews 9:27). The Lord Jesus said that the human being’s afterlife state whether torment or paradise, will be eternal (Matthew 25:46). In the original text, the Greek word for eternal, “aiōnion” is used. He didn’t say that we would be born again and again until we got it right and received liberation. He would not have made that huge sacrifice for us if we could have had unity to God another way, and if there was another way, He would have taught that. The Lord said he could have employed legions of angels to prevent His crucifixion (Matthew 26:53), but because of His great and perfect love for humanity, He chose to endure a very painful death so we could be redeemed and united to God.

The Kingdom of God is within the believer (Luke 17:21) and the Kingdom of God is also the Eternal Order that will manifest upon the earth at the end of the Millennium (Revelation 21-22). Christ is returning not as “Christ consciousness for all” but as a Mighty Warrior, who will annihilate the Antichrist and his armies, set up His Millennial Kingdom and rule with the Father and Holy Spirit in the Eternal Order forever.

Fulfilled Prophecy: Evidence for the Reliability of the Bible by Dr. Hugh Ross http://www.believers.org/hughross.htm

REDEMPTION BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH

Because mankind is incapable of meeting God’s standard of perfection necessary to abide in God’s presence (Romans 3:19-20,23), God sent His Son Jesus Christ to pay the total debt for the believer’s sins and mercifully credits to his account Christ’s righteousness (Romans 3:21-28,5:1-11; 2 Corinthians 5:18-21). Jesus’ gracious act of atonement was complete and covers all sin (Colossians 2:13-14; 1 John 1:9). Salvation is not based on good deeds but according to the mercy of God (Titus 3:4-5). Believers are justified by faith; it is a gift by God’s grace (Romans 4:3-8; Ephesians 2:8-9). A true, living faith will result in a desire to live a holy, loving life of good works (Ephesians 2:10; Galatians 5:6; James 2:14-26), but failure to be absolutely successful at righteous living does not negate the believer’s justified status.

https://victoryinjesuschrist.wordpress.com/