Thank you very much for the intelligent and informational reply. You make good points.

First of all, I want to express that I am not any sort of theological authority and don’t have any misconception of extended knowledge of world religions. My knowledge of such things is casual and based on information that I have read or seen over time. What I express here are simply opinions and I welcome the opportunity to be enlightened to my mistakes and to all those things beyond my knowledge.

I chose to insert a picture depicting the practice of NUDE yoga specifically to illicit a response, to express an extremity where I might even begin to understand the grounds of a fatwa against yoga and to perhaps draw an implicit allusion to the Kama Sutra (which I think is like nude yoga taken to a most intimate extreme).

The point of my commentary in this post was really a jab at the extreme conservative stance of the ruling Islamic governments of the time and the fact that they take extreme issue with some apparently benign things while seemingly stripping their citizens of basic human rights. All in the name of Allah? (Seriously – could I have a fatwa put against me just for this paragraph???)

Incidentally, I have the same feelings about the extreme Christian conservatives.

At any rate, and to borrow an expression from your post, I believe that pretty much all religious ideas of God are simply different avatars for the comprehensive and unfathomably diverse nature of God. Perhaps the many gods of the Hindus are a sort of analog to the greater diversity of all of the different concepts of God on a global scale.

No matter how we humans try to conceptualize, analyze, differentiate, label and depict God – as one or as many gods – we can’t possibly even get close to the truth. Our minds are simply too limited to understand the vast total scope of the nature of God.

In the meantime, we have globally managed to create complicated politically-based religious systems to govern the minds and money of people — all of which ultimately only serve the controlling desires of men. Faith = Control = Power. And it’s all driven by fear and guilt.

I don’t mean to come across as an atheist or something – I’m not. But I don’t believe that any one religious ideology has the answer. I simply don’t think we CAN have the answer to what God is and how we properly fit in.

Sure, we’re very clever creatures with amazing powers of analysis, creativity and resourcefulness. But are we above the rest of the creatures in our world (as many religions proclaim)? Not so much. We find out all the time how resourceful, clever and analytical other creatures are where we previously thought they were without these abilities. We also continue to realize the complex inter-dependencies of all life on Earth. So doesn’t that eventually lead to the realization that these other creatures are as much of the puzzle of God as we humans are? Why is it so difficult to understand that we are just PART of the whole system of things and are not the masters of it all (ordained by God)? The tenants of most major religions don’t seem to account for this, do they?

And furthermore, (most) religions don’t appear to take into account the possibility of any life other than on this planet. With the vastness of space, certainly we are not the only living creatures in all of the universe. And this illustrates the myopic focus of religions – they are really only concerned with the affairs of people. How would our religions pit us against other galactic life forms for superiority and closeness to God?

So I agree with you completely that we should break through our misconceptions and spread love. I agree completely.

How ever hatha yoga is the stretching of the limbs in order to make the material body more comfortable to execute gods service. yes the concept of yoga has been perverted today but that is not a vedic teaching. how many verses in the quran has been exploited today? even tho islam does not teach terror, some how these terrorist groups use the quran to justifay their actions.

and some of the muslims have a problem with vaishnavas (of which hindus is a part of) chanting the name of god. so i pose the question to you, is there a difference between chanting gods name in arabic and chanting his name in sanskrit? why release a fatwa then against chanting his name in sanskrit? and yes i know what you thinking and im ganna answer it, the God of the vedas is one. yes he has many avatars which hindus portray as many gods, but all these avatars are the same god. if you dont believe me, consult the vedas or visit the ISKCON official site. one should not release fatwas against that which you do not know of.

and for the record, HINDUISM is a perversion of the origional teaching of Vaishnavism and the Vedas.

thank you for taking time to read this comment. i feel we should all break through our misconcptions and spread love not hate amongst Gods followers.

Gauranga! (Be happy)