Apostoic worship??

[n david]

Originally Posted by Esaias

Taking a single word (like "Jesus") and repeating it over and over again is straight up mantra yoga. Repeating "Jesus" over and over in order to focus the mind and generate feelings of love, adoration, and a sense of union with Jesus is a mantra yoga technique used in bhakti yoga.

Mantra yoga is using a single word or short phrase, repeated over and over in conjunction with breathing techniques in order to eliminate all other thoughts, focusing the mind on one single thing (either the sound of the chanted word or phrase, or the Idea signified by the word/phrase). By havingbthe mind engulfed in one single solid thought, mental discipline is achieved, singleness of mind it is called. This in turn prepares the mantra yogin (chanter) for "entering the Void", ie the elimination of all cognitive thought processes and a state of pure simple "awareness". This "silence" is meant to make possible the sudden epiphany or eureka moment in which the yogin suddenly discovers the interconnectedness of all things, by experiencing consciousness itself in the abstract, aka "the Divine Mind" or the "One Mind" that underlies all reality.

Bhakti yoga is the yoga of devotion. By devoting oneself to a deity, for example, or a guru or lover or idea, whatever, doesn't matter, one loses all self-identity. They become absorbed in The Other, leading again to Singleness of Mind, Stillness, and Awareness of Universal Being. Feelings of love are artificially stimulated as a means of focusing the mind on the object of devotion.

Nothing new about "contemplative prayer" or IHOP/charismatic methodology. It's been practiced by just about EVERY PAGAN CULTURE THROUGHOUT ALL KNOWN HISTORY.

Yoga has been looking our way...