Tuesday Conference

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I s s ue 1 3

Theology e-weekly

To make humanity united in worshipping God

Integrating Yoga
Spirituality

Our Heavenly Patron

Dear father,
Here we analyze the compatibility of Yoga spirituality with
the Catholic spirituality. We acknowledge that there are differing
opinions and there are a company of priests for and against it.
Yoga is increasingly being practiced by Christian people of
the world. This practice is designed to lead people to experience a
sense of oneness with the cosmos and the divine and to enable
feelings of bliss. Our interest in doing this issue is to say that yoga
can be theologically integrated, but the how of it, needs deep
study. We focus mainly on Church documents that positively
speak about borrowing spiritual treasures of other religions.

To say that Yoga can be compatible with

Christianity is not to say that that the two are
the same.

Page - 02

Spirituality is commonly understood as

personal transformation in accordance with
religious ideals.

What is Yoga?
Prayer in
yoga seems to
be talking to
our self.
Prayer
essentially is
talking to
God.
Christian
prayer is
introspection
and

Yoga means the union of the finite jiva (transitory self)

with the infinite Brahman (Eternal Self). Brahman is a term
often used for the Hindu concept of God, or Ultimate Reality.
It is an impersonal, divine substance that pervades, envelops,
and underlies everything. With this in mind, lets briefly look at
three key texts that will help us chart the origin and
development of yoga within India.
One can trace both the practice
and goal of yoga back to the
Upanishads, (1000-500 B.C)
tells us: Unite the light within
you with the light of Brahman.
Clearly, then, the goal of yoga
(i.e. union with Brahman) is at
least as old as the Upanishads.

substantially
encountering
a personal
God.

Yoga appears in the Bhagavad Gita, (5th c. B.C.) where

Krishna declares: Thus joy supreme comes to the Yogi . . . who is
one with Brahman, with God.
Finally, A.D. 150, the Yogi Patanjali systematized Yoga
into 8 distinct limbs (Yoga Sutras) They are like a staircase,
leading the yogi from ignorance to enlightenment; yama (selfcontrol), niyama (religious observances), asana (postures),
pranayama (breathing exercises), pratyahara (sense control),
dharana (concentration), dhyana (deep contemplation), and
samadhi (enlightenment).

There are myriad schools of thought in modern yoga.

Hinduism involves yoga; all yoga is not Hinduism.

Body as a Vehicle for Prayer

Yoga uses body as a vehicle for
prayer. Bodies are created by God to
manifest his love. One must be sure that
he/she uses their body and mind for the
purpose of seeking holiness by the use of
the bodily form of prayer.

Page - 03

Human experience shows that

the position and demeanor of the
body also have their influence on
the recollection and dispositions
of the spirit. They are useful if
reformulated in accordance with the
aim of Christian prayer.
Such a position in a symbolic
way expresses the prayer itself,
depending on the cultures and
cultural sensibilities.
- (on Some Aspects of Christian
Meditation)

One thing we need to keep caution

using the physical postures in prayer is
that
the
physical
and
mental
involvement creates a certain sense or
feeling of wellness. We should not
confuse it for the consolation of the
Holy Spirit.
Moreover, gaining consolation
is not the very purpose of prayer.

To take such feelings for the

authentic consolations of the Holy
Spirit would be a totally erroneous
way of conceiving the spiritual
life.

In the Christian liturgy postures

and gestures are given importance. It
shows the importance of body in
prayer. The importance aspect is Godcenteredness. The posture is not
evil.
CDF: Eastern Christian meditation
has
valued
psychological
symbolism ,often absent in western
forms of prayer. It can be of real
help for many people.
It can degenerate into a
cult of the body and can lead
surreptitiously to considering all
bodily sensations as spiritual
experiences.

Page - 04

Spirituality is life led by the inspiration of the

Holy Spirit.

Catholic Guidelines on Meditations...

The love of
God, the
sole object

On the some aspects of Christian meditation says

that spirituality cannot be reduced to psychology, superior
knowledge and experience. Evangelii Gaudium puts it: the
catholic faith of many peoples is nowadays being challenged by
proliferation of new religious movements some of which tend to
propose spirituality without God.

of
Christian
contempla
tion is a
reality
which
cannot be
mastered
by any
method or
technique.

As the document Nostra Aetate

mentions it in reference to the
people of Hindu tradition
about their real intention :
They seek freedom from
the anguish of our human
condition
either
through
ascetical practices or profound
meditation or a flight to God
with love and trust.

The same belief is arrested in

the
document,
Evangelii
Gaudium:
As believers, we also feel
close to who do not consider
themselves part of any
religious
tradition,
yet
sincerely seek truth, goodness
and beauty which we believe
have their highest expression
and source in God.

Christian prayer is at the same time always authentically personal and

communitarian, . A personal ,intimate and profound dialogue with between man
and God- (on Some Aspects of Christian Meditation).

Catholic Responses to Yoga

Page - 05

Just

as

Catholic

Church
nothing

Church Documents says...

rejects

what

is

true and holy in

For prayer a method or technique is a means for help. Yoga

has this potential.

The document on New Age says that technique or method

religions,

is helpful as a preparation for prayer:they (techniques)

are often a good preparation for prayer.

neither should be

Genuine Christian mystics has nothing to do with the

these be rejected

technique: it is always a gift of God and the one who

benefits from it knows himself to be unworthy.

other

out of hand simply

because they are
not Christian. On
the contrary ,one
can take from them
what is useful as
long
Christian

as

the
concept

The Church distinguishes between physical postures

and the philosophy or religion underlying them ( On Christian
Meditation). The adoption of a particular physical
posture, even if originating in a religious or philosophical
system foreign to Christianity, is permissible provided
the posture is severable from the religion or

Its use then

and requirement becomes possible in Christian freedom (cf. 1 Cor.
are never obscured. 8), and indeed the Church has "baptized" even
pagan practices that were not intrinsically linked
CDF
to paganism.
of prayer, its logic

philosophy that first motivated it.

In a recent homily, Pope

Francis

reminded that practices like yoga aren't

capable of opening our hearts up to God.
"You can take a million catechetical
courses... a million courses in yoga,
Zen. But none of this will be able to give you
the freedom as a child (of God). But his
point is on.. Only the Holy Spirit can
prompt your heart to say Father.

Page - 06

Campaigners against Yoga

says...about .the Differences?

Lets briefly look at just a few of these.

Yoga and Christianity have very different concepts of God.
For most yogis God is an impersonal, spiritual substance, coextensive with
all of reality. This pantheism, differs markedly from the theism of biblical
Christianity. In the Bible, God reveals Himself as the personal Creator of the
universe.
Yoga and Christianity have very different views of man. The
main teaching of Yoga is that mans true nature is divine. Obviously, this is not
the Christian view of man. Of course man is certainly unique it does not follows
that man, too, is God as like yoga philosophy
Yoga and Christianity differently conceive mans fundamental
problem, as well as its solution. For yoga it is ignorance and enlightenment
whereas for us it is Sin and reconciliation.
For yoga it can only be reached through much personal striving and effort.
Christianity views salvation as a free gift. It can only be received; it can never be
earned.

From a Christian perspective Yoga could also be spiritually

harmful. To understand lets return to the experience of Kundalini.
Swami Vivekananda summarizes the Kundalini experience as: When
awakened through the practice of spiritual disciplines, it rises through the spinal
column, passes through the various centres, and at last reaches the brain,
whereupon the yogi experiences samadhi, or total absorption in the Godhead.
Although the word Kundalini comes from the yogic tradition, nearly all the
worlds major religions, and genuine occult traditions see something akin to the
Kundalini as having significance in divinizing a person, as a key to attaining
Godlike stature.

Can yoga philosophy be separated from yoga

Page - 07

practice?has already been answered in the

negative. And this is certainly the view of many
yoga scholars.

Yoga has

Many Christians who practice yoga and similar techniques do

become a

so without any desire to embrace the underlying philosophy or

secular
practice,
done in
public space
rather than
religious
space.
Therefore it
has become
a wonderful
tool for
inculturation.

spiritual

beliefs,

yet

the

mind-altering

techniques

in

themselves bring with them serious spiritual risks.

Physical yoga, according to its classical definitions, is
inheritably and functionally incapable of being separated from
Eastern religious metaphysics.
Yoga originated in Hinduism, most yoga
currently practiced in West slightly resembles
the original practice. In fact, most of what we call yoga in the
West is not truly yoga at allit is only asana, the physical
postures, and pranayama, the breathing exercises.
To say that Christians can't take a practice that was
intended for something else and use it to worship God is to
ignore not only history, but the transformational power of
Christ. It is not prudent to bypass the efforts of catholic
theologians to integrate Yoga and Christian
spirituality, since Yoga has become a neutral tool
which anyone can embrace.

Bp. Julian Porteous, one

of Sydney's auxiliary bishops
says:

While

some

of

the

practices they promote may be

helpful at a superficial level
they are, "a Trojan horse for
dangerous
infiltration."

spiritual

The physical part of yoga is

always connected with the

Page - 08

spiritual purpose. It

could be
used as a preparation for
prayer or meditation.

Concluding
Remarks...

- Pontifical Council for Culture,

Interreligious Dialogue.
Whether we can
adopt the forms of
prayer found in the
tradition of yoga.
Important factor
is the intent in prayer.
The proper intent should
be the union with God and
seek his glory. If there is no
proper intention any form
of prayer is ineffective.

Adopting prayer forms of other

religious traditions
Some would say adoption of practices of other
tradition as pagan. Since Christ and Holy Spirit are
at work in other tradition, we can theologically
integrate the traditions as a steppingstone for full
realization in Christ. To deny the potential

of our faith to Christianize yoga would

be an immature argument and a rash
judgment on the history.

Readers Desk
Hearty congrats and appreciate greatly
the effort and pain behind each issue. Glad to
say that you have been selecting a good as well
as relevant theme and treating it in depth in
its various dimensions and nuances and also
with a lot of information. All the issues have
been designed too beautifully and presented
in a manner pleasing to the eyes.

- George Arackal VC (Provincial)

I found it interesting and useful. I

am putting up a printed copy on the
notice board of our Faculty of Philosophy
so that our students also get an
opportunity to read and to be inspired.
Congratulations!
-S. Chackalackal CMI (President DVK)

I assure you that I am fascinated by

the kind of work you are doing and that is
Thanks for the bulletin. Beautiful and great. My fascination is precisely because,
informative, thought provoking and inspiring. you brothers have dared to do this while
Helpful for personal prayer. Best wishes, keep fathers and especially the highly qualified
ones have no interest in such things.
it up.
- J. Eattanial (Dean, St. Charles Seminary,
- Jose Vallikatt MST (www.arpanam.com)
Namibia)