The concept of religion and yog is often intertwined and confused and this ends up being the road block for a lot of things people can go out and seek in this creation.
How can people who are not Hindus seek a Guru who is the pivot in the subject of yog? How can Lord Ganesh be invoked in the practise of yog as that is a God in the Hindu religion. Often such thoughts plague the mind of someone who wants to get on the path… I too had these thoughts. But then I decided to experiment with the subject, give it what it takes, today my doubts are resolved and I am attempting to remove the same for others who are yet to initiate their journey.
Imagine that the NASA space centre is a Religion. What people do there is to study space, monitor space etc akin to a religion where we pray to God, do our daily pujas, chant slokas and mantras. Now we sit where we do, and think of god who is out there somewhere. The scientists at NASA space centre also conceive and study the space from the centre sitting on their seats.
The difference is, while in religion we hesitate to leave the seat, the NASA has astronauts who get into the space shuttle and go to space and experience it first-hand. Yog is that. It is the journey to meet and merge with the Divine, to walk the distance. A much bolder choice than just to sit in the space centre and study space and its attributes.
Taking this analogy forward, let’s understand the role of the spacecraft. A spacecraft carries the astronaut to space, irrespective of religion, caste, creed and colour — a Guru does the same in yog, if you choose to leave your seat and ride his boat, he takes you across the ocean of physical life to come face to face with the Divine, the ultimate, the reality.
Yog is a beautiful journey, there is no dearth of experiences on the path. My suggestion to one and all, whether religious, or an atheist, find reasons to walk and not the reasons to keeping sitting on that chair. Since whether you like it or not that chair will leave you and by then neither will there be time nor the strength in the body for you to alter your choice.