The Christian Theological Struggle with Yoga

[Guest guest]

Here's an odd little item carried by today's wire from Hindu Press

International (HPI), which they sourced from the "Religion News

Service." I couldn't find the original article, so here is HPI's

condensation. Any thoughts or comments? Personally, I find the whole

thing irritating enough to make an accomplished yogi start grinding

her/his teeth. Christian Yoga! Celebrity Fad Yoga! To quote the

immortal words of Moon-Unit Zappa: "Gag me with a spoon!"

 

MOBILE, ALABAMA, July 15, 2002: This report from Religion News Service

provides insight into what happens when the Hindu practice of yoga is

attempted by those of other religions.

 

The article states, in part, "A few years ago, Susan Bordenkircher

wasn't comfortable doing yoga. It wasn't that she got bent out of

shape by any of the asanas -- downward facing dog, half lotus forward

fold or the scorpion, to name but three yoga positions. She just

wasn't sure if it was an appropriate activity for a Christian.

 

Long associated with mysticism and Eastern religions in particular,

yoga is denounced by some who claim it promotes pantheism and worship

of self." ...

 

An 1962 yoga book called "An Invitation to Christian Yoga," included,

"sketches and written instructions for 25 yoga postures; each one is

prefaced by a verse from the Bible. ...also a Christian adaptation of

'Salute to the Sun,' a series of movements devout Hindus perform at

dawn as thanksgiving for a new day. Roth offers 'The Salute to the

Son,' a series of movements designed to accompany the Lord's Prayer."

 

.... "In recent years, yoga's popularity has boomed as many have

searched for a few minutes of stillness and for low-impact exercise

that fosters flexibility and strength. Celebrities, too, have joined

the masses on their yoga mats. With the ancient exercises'

contemporary resurgence, Bordenkircher urges those interested in

practicing yoga to choose their instructors carefully.

 

"It can be very destructive. I've really literally sat there and just

prayed for discernment' at some seminars, she said, noting that she

feels uncomfortable with those who suggest that humans possess divine

power.

 

Cecil R. Taylor, dean of the School of Religion at the University of

Mobile, said he would advise those interested in taking a Christian

approach to yoga to 'make sure it's thoroughly imbued with the spirit

of Christ.' 'You'd be able to judge a lot by checking your spirit,'

Taylor said. 'Sometimes people just instinctively know, 'This is just

not what I ought to be doing.' They don't know why. It may be

theological perceptivity.' "

[Guest guest]

Dear devi_bhakta, how true.

[Guest guest]

Definitly in the top 10 list of "Most ignorant things Ive ever heard"

 

~se

 

 

 

 

, "devi_bhakta" <devi_bhakta> wrote:

> Here's an odd little item carried by today's wire from Hindu Press

> International (HPI), which they sourced from the "Religion News

> Service." I couldn't find the original article, so here is HPI's

> condensation. Any thoughts or comments? Personally, I find the whole

> thing irritating enough to make an accomplished yogi start grinding

> her/his teeth. Christian Yoga! Celebrity Fad Yoga! To quote the

> immortal words of Moon-Unit Zappa: "Gag me with a spoon!"

>

> MOBILE, ALABAMA, July 15, 2002: This report from Religion News

Service

> provides insight into what happens when the Hindu practice of yoga

is

> attempted by those of other religions.

>

> The article states, in part, "A few years ago, Susan Bordenkircher

> wasn't comfortable doing yoga. It wasn't that she got bent out of

> shape by any of the asanas -- downward facing dog, half lotus

forward

> fold or the scorpion, to name but three yoga positions. She just

> wasn't sure if it was an appropriate activity for a Christian.

>

> Long associated with mysticism and Eastern religions in particular,

> yoga is denounced by some who claim it promotes pantheism and

worship

> of self." ...

>

> An 1962 yoga book called "An Invitation to Christian Yoga,"

included,

> "sketches and written instructions for 25 yoga postures; each one is

> prefaced by a verse from the Bible. ...also a Christian adaptation

of

> 'Salute to the Sun,' a series of movements devout Hindus perform at

> dawn as thanksgiving for a new day. Roth offers 'The Salute to the

> Son,' a series of movements designed to accompany the Lord's

Prayer."

>

> ... "In recent years, yoga's popularity has boomed as many have

> searched for a few minutes of stillness and for low-impact exercise

> that fosters flexibility and strength. Celebrities, too, have joined

> the masses on their yoga mats. With the ancient exercises'

> contemporary resurgence, Bordenkircher urges those interested in

> practicing yoga to choose their instructors carefully.

>

> "It can be very destructive. I've really literally sat there and

just

> prayed for discernment' at some seminars, she said, noting that she

> feels uncomfortable with those who suggest that humans possess

divine

> power.

>

> Cecil R. Taylor, dean of the School of Religion at the University of

> Mobile, said he would advise those interested in taking a Christian

> approach to yoga to 'make sure it's thoroughly imbued with the

spirit

> of Christ.' 'You'd be able to judge a lot by checking your spirit,'

> Taylor said. 'Sometimes people just instinctively know, 'This is

just

> not what I ought to be doing.' They don't know why. It may be

> theological perceptivity.' "

[Guest guest]

OM Devi Bhakta

 

This questioning of the compatibility of Yoga and Christianity is

something that each Christian must answer for themselves. In

one of my meditation classes a few years ago, one of the

participants had also recently returned to her Roman Catholic

faith. She, too, wondered about the appropriateness of taking a

meditation course that was based on Yoga/Vedanta philosophy

and that used Sanscrit Mantras. She asked her priest if it was

O.K. for her to continue with the meditation class. He said. "Yes.

Of course." So she continued.

 

Whenever someone asks me questions like this, I tell them this

anecdote and they are relieved.

 

Fortunately, her priest was more enlightened than Cecil R.

Taylor, dean of the School of Religion at the University of Mobile

who was quoted in the story as saying, "make sure it's [Yoga]

thoroughly imbued with the spirit of Christ."

 

It is interesting that the current movement of Christian Meditation

was started by one man - John Main - in 1975. He learned to

meditate from a Hindu teacher while in India. Of course,

Christian meditators do not use a Sancrit mantra but their

meditation practice is based on the biblical injunction, "Be still

and know that I am God." (Psalms 46:10)

 

As for Susan Bordenkircher's claim that "she feels

uncomfortable with those who suggest that humans possess

divine power", she should read her Bible a bit more closely, "Be

ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is

perfect." (Matthew 5: 48) or "...he answered them and said, The

Kingdom of God cometh not with observation. Neither shall they

say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the Kingdom of God is

within you. Luke 17:20-21)

 

Both of the people quoted in the article live in the U.S. "Bible Belt"

and have been victimized by their too-narrow versions of

Christianity. They should be paying attention to John 8:32, " Ye

shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."

 

 

It is not entirely the fault of a fundamentalist Christian

indoctrination that leads people to ask these questions. The

Roman Catholic Church went out of its way to root out and

suppress many liberating ideas. Ideas which gave people an

insight into their own divinity and made them less dependent on

Church authority. One example is the Christian Church's

insistence that people are sinful. In actuality, we are not sinful,

we are just subject to the pull of Maya, the ego, and the law of

Karma. Through sadhana, we eventually triumph over these

obstacles.

 

Karma, of course, involves the idea of reincarnation. Prior to 312

AD, many Christians did believe in and preach the validity of

reincarnation. But in the Council of Nicea in 325 Christian

teachings of reincarnation from such luminaries as Origen was

rejected in its entirety. The belief in reincarnation lingered until

543 and 553, when Emperor Justinian convened two church

councils to officially declare reincarnation as heresy with

draconian punishments for those who dared to espouse it . It is

no wonder that modern Christians are amazed to learn that their

Church at one time promoted, or, at least, tolerated a belief in

such ideas as reincarnation.

 

The current Pope, however, is a breath of fresh air. He has been

quoted in 1999 as saying, "Heaven is not a locality, but a divine

state of mind. Hell is not an underground realm but the state of

those who freely and definitely separate themselves from God.

Purgatory is not a place, but a purification process on the way to

Heaven." He would make an excellent Yogi/Vedantin.

 

OM Namah Sivaya

 

Omprem

 

 

, "devi_bhakta" <devi_bhakta>

wrote:

> Here's an odd little item carried by today's wire from Hindu

Press

> International (HPI), which they sourced from the "Religion

News

> Service." I couldn't find the original article, so here is HPI's

> condensation. Any thoughts or comments? Personally, I find

the whole

> thing irritating enough to make an accomplished yogi start

grinding

> her/his teeth. Christian Yoga! Celebrity Fad Yoga! To quote the

> immortal words of Moon-Unit Zappa: "Gag me with a spoon!"

>

> MOBILE, ALABAMA, July 15, 2002: This report from Religion

News Service

> provides insight into what happens when the Hindu practice of

yoga is

> attempted by those of other religions.

>

> The article states, in part, "A few years ago, Susan

Bordenkircher

> wasn't comfortable doing yoga. It wasn't that she got bent out of

> shape by any of the asanas -- downward facing dog, half lotus

forward

> fold or the scorpion, to name but three yoga positions. She just

> wasn't sure if it was an appropriate activity for a Christian.

>

> Long associated with mysticism and Eastern religions in

particular,

> yoga is denounced by some who claim it promotes pantheism

and worship

> of self." ...

>

> An 1962 yoga book called "An Invitation to Christian Yoga,"

included,

> "sketches and written instructions for 25 yoga postures; each

one is

> prefaced by a verse from the Bible. ...also a Christian

adaptation of

> 'Salute to the Sun,' a series of movements devout Hindus

perform at

> dawn as thanksgiving for a new day. Roth offers 'The Salute to

the

> Son,' a series of movements designed to accompany the

Lord's Prayer."

>

> ... "In recent years, yoga's popularity has boomed as many

have

> searched for a few minutes of stillness and for low-impact

exercise

> that fosters flexibility and strength. Celebrities, too, have joined

> the masses on their yoga mats. With the ancient exercises'

> contemporary resurgence, Bordenkircher urges those

interested in

> practicing yoga to choose their instructors carefully.

>

> "It can be very destructive. I've really literally sat there and just

> prayed for discernment' at some seminars, she said, noting

that she

> feels uncomfortable with those who suggest that humans

possess divine

> power.

>

> Cecil R. Taylor, dean of the School of Religion at the University

of

> Mobile, said he would advise those interested in taking a

Christian

> approach to yoga to 'make sure it's thoroughly imbued with the

spirit

> of Christ.' 'You'd be able to judge a lot by checking your spirit,'

> Taylor said. 'Sometimes people just instinctively know, 'This is

just

> not what I ought to be doing.' They don't know why. It may be

> theological perceptivity.' "

[Guest guest]

Namaskar OmPremji!

 

Thank you for your calmly evenhanded thoughts on this polarizing and

emotionally charged issue.

 

I especially liked your analysis of the woman student's fear that

Yoga promotes the (gasp!) idea of Divinity within; it bears

repeating. You wrote:

 

*** she should read her Bible a bit more closely, "Be ye therefore

perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." (Matthew

5: 48) or "...he answered them and said, The Kingdom of God cometh

not with observation. Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there!

for, behold, the Kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:20-21)***

 

As we've discussed in other contexts, people can read the same

scripture, but the wisdom (or lack of wisdom) to be found therein

varies according to the mind that processes it. A broad-minded person

will find common truths in the relevations of every faith; the narrow-

minded will find evidence for more division -- passages they'll

interpret to prove the superiority of their own faith over the faiths

of others, or even to justify killing those who believe differently.

 

You fairly mention the shortcomings of both "Bible Belt" religion

(i.e., U.S. fundamentalist Christian Protestantism) and traditional

Roman Catholicism -- while noting that Pope John Paul II has shifted

attention back to the Biblical ideas you quoted above. How wonderful

that you said of the Pope, "He would make an excellent

Yogi/Vedantin."

 

Certainly, he is not a liberal Pope -- he has infuriated many with

his hardline position against women in the priesthood, abortion and

other hot-button issues. And his refusal to condemn coversion

attempts in India has led the magazine "Hinduism Today" to attack him

furiously (example: http://www.hinduismtoday.com/2000/2/2000-2-

11.html) -- never missing an opportunity to quote a narrow statement

and gleefully highlighting the Church's current higj-profile problems

with child-molesting priests.

 

But it's not really fair to berate an octogenarian religious leader

for adhering to old-school tenets of the faith he leads. After all,

the same charge could be leveled at Hinduism Today's recently

deceased publisher, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami -- a wonderful

man and exalted spiritual leader, but rigidly old-fashioned and

conservative in his strict-interpretation Hinduism. But one must

respect the awe-inspiring spiritual accomplishments of both men -- by

all accounts, Pope and Satguru alike are/were known for projecting an

amazingly pure and cleansing aura of spiritual power and peace.

 

Thank you again for a wonderful post.

 

Aum Maatangyai Namahe

[Guest guest]

OM Devi Bhakta

 

You made two comments about the current Pope that I would

like to address: (1) "Certainly, he is not a liberal Pope -- he has

infuriated many with his hardline position against women in the

priesthood, abortion and other hot-button issues" and (2) "an

octogenarian religious leader for adhering to old-school tenets

of the faith he leads."

 

Regarding the first point, any religion or spiritual path is not a

democracy. It is structured the way that it is in order to achieve

certain effects. Those who are unable to see the value of the

structure are invited to seek another spiritual path rather than try

to tinker with and ultimately destroy their current path. The tenets

and practices of the religion have stood the test of time. It is up to

the adherent to get rid of his/her ego, to purify his/her mind,

intellect, emotions, chakra-nadi system in order to understand

and attain the benefits of following the teachings of the religion.

 

It is no different from having a Guru. One does not debate with

the Guru about his/her ideas, pronouncements, or suggestions.

You either have faith in the Guru ( the religion) or you don't.

Without faith, you have nothing - nothing but your ego and your

fears, that is.

 

I was a little disappointed in the second comment as it smacks

of age discrimination and is certainly well below your usual

sattvic level of comment. One's age certainly has nothing to do

with the truth of enlightened utterances. The "Old-school tenets"

comment is rooted in the ideas modernism, democracy, and

progressivism, all of which concepts are ego-based and are

traps for the serious aspirant.

 

On another note related to the original posting, it is interesting

that many claim that Jesus spent the missing 12 years of his life

in India receiving instruction from teachers there. Personally, I

think that if Jesus did receive instruction for anyone, he probably

got it from a non-dervish Sufi.

 

Sufis were in the Holy Land in those days, so Jesus would not

have to travel far. His 40 days and nights in the desert has

echoes for the 40-day period that Sufis consider the maximum

for austerity practices. Both Christianity and Sufism are Bhakti

practices with an emphasis on remembering God, on being a

lover of God. In both there is a longing for God and sense of

separation from God, witness Christ's plea from the cross, "My

God, my God, why hast thou forsaken my?" (Mark 15:34).

 

As Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee has pointed out in "Sufism: The

Transformation of the Heart", Sufis, like Christians, think "that

there are two ways of attracting God's attention. Either we make

ourself perfect and then He has to love us, or we give ourself to

Him and then He cannot resist our need to be with Him." In

Hindu terms, these would be Raja Yoga and Jnana Yoga for the

first way and Bhakti Yoga and Karma Yoga for the second way.

 

The practices and objectives of Sufism, Hinduism and

Christianity have many common elements and the wise person

would not segregate the religions or segregate the practices of

the religion from the religion itself. Religions are like hatha yoga

practices - they have the same underlying sensibility and the

same goal while the differences are only the differences

intentionally made to accommodate the psychology and karmic

load of specific types of people.

 

Once, the person has practiced his/her religion/spiritual

path/hatha yoga practice faithfully and intensely for a long period

of time and managed to purify their psychology and karmic load,

there are no longer differences to be seen but only a common

vision to be shared. There are many paths to the top of the

mountain, but at the top the view is the same.

 

Om Namah Sivaya

 

Omprem

[Guest guest]

Namaskar OmPremji:

 

Thank you for your excellent and erudite comments on Sufism. I also

very much like your nicely stated conclusion that "Religions are like

hatha yoga practices -they have the same underlying sensibility and

the same goal while the differences are only the differences

intentionally made to accommodate the psychology and karmic load of

specific types of people."

 

For an excellent exploration of the hidden connections between

Tantra, Sufism, and Mystical Christianity in a Shakta context, I

highly recommend the book "Twilight Goddess" by Thomas Cleary and

Sartaz Aziz. It is a slow read; the scholarship is very dense. But it

is a rich vein of mindblowing information.

(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1570624992/ref=cm_mp_fil/103-

2190588-3100602)

 

As to my comments on Pope John Paul II, your response takes them out

of context, thus missing their intent. Because in fact, I was making

precisely the point that you mention -- it's unfair to condemn a

spiritual leader for not bending their tenets of faith to the demands

a modern sensibilities. I felt bad that a publication as fine

as "Hinduism Today" couldn't resist taking partisan swings at

Catholicism in response to Catholicism's partisan swings at Hinduism.

 

My observation that both the Pope and Satguru Subramuniyaswami were

religious leaders in their 80's "smacks of age discrimination" only

if you misunderstand what I am saying. My point was *not* that

challenging authority is an advanced activity that doddering old

priests can't be expected to understand -- but precisely the

opposite: That it's wrong to condemn a religious leader for upholding

the tenets of their religion, when presumably they've been around

long enough -- and are spiritually accomplished enough -- to know of

what they speak to a much greater degree than their critics.

 

My observation may still not qualify as a "sattvic level of comment,"

but my intent was certainly not as mean-spirited as your

interpretation would suggest. In any event, I apologize for not

making my point more clearly; like most members here, I write my

posts within a fairly tight time-frame, and most failings of

structure and clarity (or spelling and grammar, for that matter) are

due mainly to my horrible habit of not proffreading before I

click "Send." ;-)

 

Thank you as always for your comments and participation in the forum;

I always look forward to your contributions.

 

Aum Maatangyai Namahe