The
Character of Mohammed and Yogic Principles
Mohammed was a pious and disciplined person, had a high
standard of cleanliness, and gave up drinking alcohol. He reality took poor people and
slaves, including blacks, into his congregation and was very loving and broad-minded with
his followers. He regarded all of his followers like members of his own family, as one
great brotherhood, and was not attached to race, class or learning. He never accumulated money or possessions for himself, even when
they were freely available. He did not build
expensive mosques but preferred simple dwellings and plain places of worship. He did not
try to create a priestly order to rule over people and mediate between them and God but
tried to create a religion in which each person could communicate to God directly through
prayer. He spent his life working tirelessly according to the dictates of his mission. Yet
Mohammed demonstrated at least two significant traits that are incompatible with the idea
of him as a sage in the yogic sense.
First he was prone to violence with those who criticized
Allah, Mohammed's role as the Prophet, or Mohammed's followers. He saw the value of
promoting his religion by force, if necessary, during the more than eighty battles that he
fought. After his exile from Mecca, Mohammed organized numerous raids on caravans to
Mecca.
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