As Hinduism grows in the West under the disguise of the New Age, we must understand it to deal with it. In this excerpt from "Prepare for War", by Dr. Rebecca Brown, we have an easily understood description of Hinduism.

The massive "New Age Movement" presents a potpourri of teachings, some of which sound Christian. Many of their teachings are presented under the guise of being scientific and medical when in reality they are simply Hindu practices.

We must first discuss the basic teachings of Hinduism before we can understand the New Age Movement. They are as follows.

1. The entire world and universe and everything within it is God. In other words, God is an impersonal force which makes up everything in existence. There is no difference between creature and creator as both are one. This is ultimate reality: everything is a part of a formless, inexpressible, unknowable force which is called Brahman.

In the Western Hemisphere, Brahman is often called the "God force." Brahman is all and all is Brahman. The goal for all Hindus is to come to "self-realization." This is the realization that they themselves are Brahman. "Self-realization" is achieved when these people gain control of their spirits. The human spirit is considered to be Brahman. Yoga manuals often refer to this gaining contact with, and control of, the human spirit as a "state of God consciousness." Brahman is not a god as we think of gods. Brahman is at the same time everything and yet nothing. As you can see, by the very difficulty of trying to define Brahman, the entire concept goes against all logic and everything in our physical world. To compensate for this, the term maya is used.

2. Maya refers to the Hindu concept that everything which we see, touch or feel in our physical world is actually just an illusion, it really doesn't exist. When a Hindu reaches an advanced state of "self-realization" he has so withdrawn from the physical world into the spirit world that he no longer has a conscious awareness of anything in the physical world. When this state is reached the person is incapable of caring for himself and can no longer communicate with the physical world. In the medical field in the West, he is in what is described as a permanent state of "catatonia."

These people are worshiped in India and other lands as great gods, their every bodily need cared for by their worshipers as if they were babies. They never speak or move on their own. We, in the West, would consider such a person totally insane, yet, millions of people in our country are now trying to reach such a state.

3. In Hinduism, reincarnation is considered to be the "wheel" of life. The spirit never changes, it just changes bodies in life after life in an endless cycle of reincarnation. Each person dies to live again in a different form. Eastern Hinduism teaches that a person can come back as a bug or a bird or even as a plant. (The New Age teaches that people only come back as people.) The only escape from this terrible burden of reincarnation is to gain unity with Brahman. At that point, the person at death no longer needs to reincarnate but can continue to exist in a formless spiritual state. It's interesting, in the East reincarnation is considered a curse, in the West it has become a fad and something desirable.

4. Karma is the Hindu law of cause and effect. Every act, thought, or word produces an effect. Since these "effects" cannot all be experienced in one life time, then the person must continually reincarnate to live out the effects of his acts in previous lives. However, it is basically impossible to "live" without doing acts of some sort which then produces more karma which must be lived out in future lives. It is a never ending cycle from which there is no escape. Therefore the attainment of a state of total inactivity or withdrawal from the physical world helps bring this vicious cycle of karma to an end. There is no forgiveness in karma, each person must suffer for his own deeds. Yet, at the same time, the god-force called Brahman is everything, and therefore is both good and evil. There is no acknowledgment of sin as such.

5. There is only one escape from this whole terrible unending cycle. That is into a state of nirvana. Nirvana is similar to our concept of heaven except that it is not a definite place. Rather it is a state of being. It is nothingness which is considered to be a blissful absence from feeling either pleasure or pain through the pure extinction of personal existence. When this state is reached, the person is then said to have been absorbed into Brahman or pure Being which is a state of nothingness. Only by reaching a state of nirvana can a person escape at last from the terrible cycle of having to live out his karma in endless reincarnations.

6. There are thousands of Hindu gods, naturally, as everything and everybody is god. However, there are a few that receive more worship than others. One of the main gods is called Shiva. Shiva is a god of destruction who has a wife named Kali, the mother goddess of power, illness and death. Shiva is represented in drawings as having a cobra coiled around his neck or head. The serpent or cobra is worshiped extensively throughout Hinduism. It is not unusual to hear Shiva referred to as a "god of light" by various yoga teachers. They represent Shiva as something very desirable. Yoga students are taught to "reach for Shiva, or light." The average Western yoga student has no idea of who or what Shiva really is. When they reach out to the "light of Shiva," they are reaching out to a demon god.

7. Various practices are faithfully followed in Hinduism to enable a person to more quickly reach the state of nirvana and to escape from the endless wheel of reincarnation. Yoga and meditation are the two most important tools. The word yoga literally means "to yoke," or "bind together." The goal of yoga is to blank out the mind, stop all movement of the body, cut off all sensation of the physical world, and thereby attain union with Brahman in a state of nothingness.

The various yoga practices are specifically designed to induce a trance state of mindlessness which is supposed to draw the person up into a union with Brahman. What is actually happening, is that as the person meditates to blank out his mind, he is opening himself up to the entrance of demons. These demons then give all sorts of experiences in the spirit world and the link between the soul and spirit is forged. Many experience astral projection and direct contact with demons which masquerade as the various Hindu gods. Please note, Yoga is for one purpose only, union with Brahman. It cannot be separated from the demonic religion which created it.