Sikhism & Yoga
Similarities
Yogis did not recognise
the caste system
They had no scruples about the impurity of certain foods and some were
non-vegetarian.
Some yogis led married lives.
Free kitchen, many in western India operate free kitchens open to all
twice a day.
Differences
The practice of Yoga is more or less physical
in nature, through chanting, breathing and other exercises one tries to
achieve physical mastery over the body. The Gurus rejected this because
it does not help the yogi to get rid of egoism, selfishness and does not
help in the process of building up moral character or interaction with
others, so essential for a householders life.
"One may be
the knower of six schools of philosophy,
He may do the work of inhaling, exhaling and holding the breath
He may practice, Divine knowledge, meditation, pilgrimages, and ablutions,
He may cook his own food, touch not others and abide in wilderness,
If in his heart, he bears not love with the Lord's Name, then all that
he does, that is perishable. Superior to him, deem thou the lowest pariah,
O Nanak, in whose heart God, the Nurser of the Universe abides." (Guru
Arjan, Pauri, pg. 253)