Real Yoga

Lying as being opposed to Truth, in its intrinsic form, is very hard to tell apart. I would think if Jesus, when asked what is Truth, remained silent, it would seem by its very opposite polarity, that to ask the same of a lie would be equally as hard to answer.

Small lies are easy to answer though and everyone has lied. We all know what a lie is meant to be when we tell one. It is meant to deceive or save.

Save not only oneself, but another as well.

If you were in Nazi Germany at the time of the Jew hunt and had hidden a Jew in your secret place, and asked by the Gestapo if you had hidden a Jew, would saying NO be a Lie? Well, it would be, but would it be a sinful one. Would one consider it immoral? I think not.

I can conceive, among very close friends, that telling the Truth all the time, even at the expense of hurting that friend is what makes friendship more binding. Close associations and family and work place people, in the context of the business one is doing, truth telling is always the right thing to do.

Hurting a friend is not nice, but as a friend we would stick by them until they got over their hurt of your truthful reply, to a question they may have asked.

If I ask a friend a particular question I want them to tell me the Truth. You have to remember it is their truth and their truth may not be THE truth.

I have a friend who cares less what you think of his opinion. It will always be truthful. Sometimes it is brutal, and sometimes he oversteps his mark by stating the Truth when unasked for, nonetheless that is someone I can rely on for a truthful answer from their point of view.

Corporations lie all the time. It seems that Lawyers are lying all the time also — if not outright lying, then twisting the Truth to such an extent that one throws up their hands in dismay and gives their head a shake. Governments lie. Our propaganda machine in our education system lies. Parents lie to their children. We are brought up with lies.

There are a number of people that ask questions that are none of their business and in these cases one doesn't have to lie to them as we say That is none of your business.

Some times saying it is none of their business makes a person feel guilty by second hand denial and so one winds up lying even in these cases.

Even though we all know we lie — or have lied — where we become incensed with a lie is when we have been caught up in a lie through our own gullibility.

That very incense can turn us against one who we love, for it is not so much the Lie that has devastated us as it is our own gullibility. These two huge emotions, recognition of our own gullibility and being deceived by our loved one throws us into states of emotions which we find hard to decipher.

I will lie today, if it not only suits me, but will save another from being harmed. With very close friends I do not lie. They must take the brunt of what I really think, as I will suffer theirs.

The one area I have never lied about and refuse to do so today is Yoga.

Yoga has always meant more to me than my own personal life or my own feelings. Because of this I have become a little bit known as an Enfant Terrible in the Yogic World that I have been associated with.

I brought down the house of the Yoga Life Foundation headed by my friend Swami Gitananda. After having many discussions with him about his charging and accepting large funds and donations to build his empire, he refused to go out and get a job and keep the Ashram running himself along with me and those that were living there. We all worked. Many years later we worked our friendship back into operation.

Yogis who set themselves up to accept funds from disciples in order to keep themselves and their Ashrams (in some cases mansions) should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.

This idea of building bigger and greater Yoga Schools is a 20th century concept. The idea coming from the examples of how the churches did it.

The original great teachers had small followings which they could look after themselves with their stipends they made from their business or offices, or even pensions. Not everyone should be a Yogi. People should be refused to go on to higher Yogic Practices as they are just not suited for it. It is the same in any profession such as the arts. Not everyone should be a musician, but by the very fact the Teacher must make a living he will keep on Students who have no right being deceived about their abilities. Yoga is no different. There are palliative ways for some people to approach discovering SELF. Yoga instructed properly is hard, like a diamond. It is cold and cutting, eradicating everything until you are left in SELF alone.

I have ridiculed, and still do today, the idea that Celibacy quickens your way into Heaven. Nothing could be further from the Truth, and the Yoga teachers who teach it, although they may be sincere in that belief, are wrong.

Worse still are those that teach it and then behind the backs of their devoted followers use their Yogic Power to ensconce with some naïve disciple into some private chamber and indulge in what they have been preaching against. These Yogis who do this are Lying, and Yoga should NOT be lied about.

My article on Sex and The Yogi should be read by everyone interested in Yoga because it is natural and explains why Celibacy is not only not the way to go but is harmful to one's unfoldment on the Yogic Path.

So lying is an interesting phenomenon of the human psyche. The saying to your own self be true is worth keeping in mind when you are dealing with Yoga, as Yoga deals with only the SELF.

Articles by Swami Harinanda and Yogi Karmananda are © 2026 and are licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

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