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Yoga is the devils work!
DairyLama
Veteran Veteran
You have been warned!
http://qz.com/370327/catholic-priests-are-stirring-up-an-epidemic-of-yogaphobia/
2
Comments
Not only Catholic priests.
Many years ago, here in Switzerland, I had this neighbour who was very religious (Protestant).
Every two words, she would mention the word "Jesus."
Yes, boring to death -you get the picture.
She used to call on me every morning, when I was about to begin my yoga session.
Third time she did it, I hang a sign outside saying: "Please do not disturb - I'm doing Yoga."
The following day, I found a leaflet in my mailbox claiming that Yoga is evil, that it is not mentioned in the Bible, and can therefore not come from a good source...
No need to mention which mailbox I dropped the leaflet back in...
Not much guesswork there.
"Ignorance is bliss " "ignorance"....
Thanks Spiny for explaining the position of the Catholic degenerates our beloved Christian brethren. Top tip.
I always thought of meditation as 'raja or king yoga'. We live and learn ...
Next time I go on my hell realm picnic visits to feed the Cardinals, Yoginis etc must ask LucyFairy which style of yoga s/he prefers . . .
http://www.yogadevotion.com/devo/
http://www.christianyoga.us/home.htm
Be still and know that I am
COD. (Psalmons 46:10)
The word yoga is sometimes translated as 'yoke'
Matthew 11:29-30
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
I saw that one too, @lobster!!
At the time I thought it was the most outrageously preposterous thing I ever came across with in my whole life.
((Sorry if I offend anyone's sensibilities, but I could not find any "group/majority/minority" red warning signal. In fact, I don't care...))
There's a local Christian minister (not sure of the denomination) up here in Maine who has a brief devotion televised every morning on the NBC affiliate station. He actually mentions that he himself is practicing yoga and has for decades, well before it became more prevalent in our cultural discourse. Dude seems like a cool guy. I imagine he'd chuckle at the concept that he, a minister, is Hell-bound for practicing yoga.
First I've heard about Catholics having a problem with yoga. Among the fundamentalist set (6000 year old earth, etc.) here in the Bible belt, yoga is widely (probably all but universally) seen as being of the devil, along with pretty much anything else that is not explicitly judeo-christian. I won't even go into what they have to say about the 3rd major Abrahamic faith. Somewhat more moderate evangelicals are generally ok with yoga provided it is practiced in a Christian context, the so-called Christian Yoga. I'm not really sure what that means although it's practiced by explicitly Christian groups presumably with Christian prayer and scripture readings figuring prominently in the sessions. I imagine they are cautioned to not practice alone. For liberal Christians (a tiny minority in the south) I imagine yoga is just yoga..
It really is a trip. Back in 1974, my chiropractor was seemingly warning me against yoga for religious reasons, like there was some kind of danger, and that always stayed with me because I thought HE was a kook in a way, but he was a good chiro guy. His ads always signified he was Christian with the fish sign and all that. I learned yoga via a paperback book in the mid-80's - It has been such a boost to my general physical well-being, I can't begin to tell you. (fwiw)
Even in California, where yoga has been put into some schools parents have gone to court over it asking it to be removed from gym class because they don't want their kids to "turn Hindu" and other BS. It's not limited to the bible belt.
Here, some parents in our sangha worked to institute a Compassionate Kids program. Nothing religious, just discussion on how we can work together in the community to encourage kids to help others. But as soon as parents found out we were Buddhist the "HELL NO! My kid isn't going to that!" mentality came charging in. They were terrified. Crazy.
Yoga...seriously?
All evangelists (even Buddhist ones ) require an "us verses them" mentality to sell their wares and indulge in the ego's orgasmic confirmation of their own specialness.
Today's yoga, was yesterdays witches, or literacy for the masses, or was.......
just another imaginary line drawn in the sand to define ones tribe.
From the article: "Breathing can become an 'idol and thus an obstacle' to experiencing God."
Not breathing can become an obstacle as well.
Ok, everybody: STOP BREATHING - right now!! you'll be amazed at how much more quickly you'll get 'closer to god' when deprived of oxygen....
Well... just to make things look even more absurd, there were textbooks over here that told children that if they misbehave, if they do a bad deed, they will be punished by getting very sick or even getting hit by a car. In the same books, yoga and the theory of reincarnation are things that despise life, that make you lose your personality and basically turn you into a mindless zombie. By the way, these are textbooks about religion, and religion as a school subject equals Orthodox Christianity in Romania. Not the history of religions, not learning about the diversity of faiths and beliefs, just how everyone else is wrong.
Yes, Catholic priests don't know where to look ( or rather they do, but it creates devilish thoughts in their mind and they have to hear their own confession and say a 1000 Hail Marys ).
What is "yoga", anyway? Is meditation "yoga"? Jesus meditated in the desert, didn't he? Contemplation is very much part of the Christian tradition. "Yoga" is simply another language's word for Union With The Divine. You might explain that to your neighbor, if she crosses your path again. "Yoga" means "Union", related to the word "yoke" in English.
Jesus was quite possibly a dessert ascetic yogi.
No brioche for her! I like the bit where Jesu turns whines into fishes. Cool. Iyengar eat your heart out.
Sometimes I'm a dessert yogi, too. Chocolate cake is my fave!
For dessert I eat yoghurt.
Same difference....
A great big groan from across the water
Yoga can lead Buddhist practitioners astray, because many are attached to outside teachings.
Interesting you should say so. I've never read or found anything within yoga's teachings that is contrary to what Buddhism teaches. They work quite well together. Also, I never understand that fear of "being led astray." I'm not a sheep, or a lemming. I choose what I follow and what works for me. If I drop one thing for the teachings of the limbs of yoga, then that is my choice. It's not me being "led astray."
@karasti - totally agree with you, especially the line "They work quite well together".
Generally, when you are astray you don't know it. You believe you are on the correct path. Most of the time we are astray down some dead end path or another or circling around in a cul de sac to one side of the path. Wouldn't we be awakened already if we weren't?
At some point all the wrong paths may become part of the true path. How can we say that time spent on the wrong path is wrong, if we wind up at the right destination?
If we reach the end of the line, at death, and we can look back and say that we have attained nothing, or helped no one, or caused more harm than good, then we could say that our path was the wrong one. People in that position probably don't see things that way. Perhaps they complain that they never got a break, and maybe they didn't.
For our purposes, being aware of the paths that are skillful or not is the name of the game. I dont see how yoga as a way of taking care of your body, can be considered a negative thing unless someone is obsessed with it, or it is causing too much focus on the body.
"Anything is one of a million paths. Therefore you must always keep in mind that a path is only a path; if you feel you should not follow it, you must not stay with it under any conditions. To have such clarity you must lead a disciplined life. Only then will you know that any path is only a path and there is no affront, to oneself or to others, in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you to do. But your decision to keep on the path or to leave it must be free of fear or ambition. I warn you. Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary.
This question is one that only a very old man asks. Does this path have a heart? All paths are the same: they lead nowhere. They are paths going through the bush, or into the bush. In my own life I could say I have traversed long long paths, but I am not anywhere. Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn't, it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere; but one has a heart, the other doesn't. One makes for a joyful journey; as long as you follow it, you are one with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong; the other weakens you.
Before you embark on any path ask the question: Does this path have a heart? If the answer is no, you will know it, and then you must choose another path. The trouble is nobody asks the question; and when a man finally realizes that he has taken a path without a heart, the path is ready to kill him. At that point very few men can stop to deliberate, and leave the path. A path without a heart is never enjoyable. You have to work hard even to take it. On the other hand, a path with heart is easy; it does not make you work at liking it.
I have told you that to choose a path you must be free from fear and ambition. The desire to learn is not ambition. It is our lot as men to want to know.
The path without a heart will turn against men and destroy them. It does not take much to die, and to seek death is to seek nothing.
For me there is only the traveling on the paths that have a heart, on any path that may have a heart. There I travel, and the only worthwhile challenge for me is to traverse its full length. And there I travel--looking, looking, breathlessly."
Don Juan Matus
"Yoga is the devils work!"
However, if one cares to think a little outside the square ... this so-called Devil (god bless him/her) is God's handy work
and I'm not pointing the finger at anyone in particular 
It seems to me that whatever path one is on has to be the correct one. We can look back at decisions we made and perhaps wish we'd made another choice. But at the time, the only path we could have been on was that one. When I've been on "bad paths" in my life, they were still due to my choices, whether I wanted to admit it at the time or not. I wasn't let astray from the right path to the wrong path. It was just the path I took, which because it was the path I was currently on was the only correct path, really. Christianity wasn't the right path for me. But was it the wrong path just because I later chose another one? Or did it bring me to choose another one? Paganism ended up not being the path I stuck with. But it brought me further down some path. Good thing, too. Who knows if Buddhism will always be my path, but if I stray from it for yoga or something else it doesn't mean it should still be the right path tomorrow just because it is today. Whatever path we are on is the right path, even if some of the way is dark.
Devil's work?
@pegembara - the link at the oringal post is about Catholic priests warning against yoga, not mediation.
Catholics and Protestants are not against meditation.
But they are against yoga.
And Buddhism etc etc etc
Namaste
Aw heck! We do yoga exercises for relaxation over at the VA. Devils work? Hay Maya!...oh, Maya got stuck in the Bridge position again..
Yes, I have met some of the Catholic/Protestant fundamentalist folk. Yup, they were, by and large, a wee bit intolerant of anyone who held views or beliefs they felt contrary to their own. As I recall, historically, such groups fought wars over small theological differences.
The reality is that people are taught intolerance, from a very early age. This form of ignorance is ingrained, a fundamental darkness. It is so ingrained that they are often, surprisingly or not, tragically unaware that they are practicing intolerance and bigotry.
Yet, through the difficult path of compassion, sincerity and dialog, it is possible to overcome the ignorance encountered and reach the heart of such a person.
Good luck and have a great day (or evening)