Jesus was familiar with the processes of yoga and tantra. People are only slowly realizing the depth of the Christian teachings. They are bhakti, devotion, moral values, intermixed with yogic and tantric concepts in such a way that they represent the spiritual dimension of human transformation by following the path of devotion and the building up of human character.

Jesus was familiar with the teachings of yoga and tantra. He taught yoga and tantra not in the form of asana, pranayama, yoga nidra and meditation, but as a method to know that the higher reality exists within.

Any teaching coveys two ideas: the aim which you have to follow and the process, the method you can adopt to reach the aim. If you speak of the aim without the process, it is philosophy.

If you speak of the process without the aim, it is a system. But when you unite both it becomes sadhana, the transformative process.

In the teachings of Christ we see the sadhana. But he spoke in a very simple language. In his time, people were not travelling around the world with university degrees and diplomas. People then were very innocent and simple.

So, Christ spoke to them in their language and inspired them to develop simplicity, innocence, clarity of thought and compassion for others. In today’s context, we need to understand these concepts in relation to our present situation in life. When we try to do this it is yoga, the process which leads to union.

My intention is not to talk about the history of Christianity, but to realize the spirit with which we need to connect in order to become true humans. Only then will our shortcomings, faults and sins be washed away.

As long as we are not true humans, we shall have to carry the burden of the cross, and it is heavy. We have to become aware of our life and see how much luggage we are carrying with us – our insecurities, fears, complexes, inhibitions, desires, attachments and all the other expressions of the mind which matter to us, like hatred, anger, jealousy and frustration.

All these things do matter to us, don’t they? So, we are carrying a burden on our shoulders and it seems that pile keeps on increasing day by day. People say, “Christ died on the cross for our sins.” Yes, these are our sins. These are the sins against humanism.

He died to make us aware that a determined effort has to be made to lift from our back the weight that we are carrying in our rucksack.

From «Yoga Magazine, Issue March 2000», Sw. Niranjanananda Saraswati