Two days ago I came back from Medjugorje. My last stop was in Split – a beautiful city (second biggest in Croatia) on the coast. Wondering the street at the dawn I couldn’t stop noticing the posters advertising Yoga. I was even more puzzled as few days ago, on my trip to Medjugorje from Split I met a young lady who was (as she described herself) a ‘nun’ in the Bhakti Marga community – a community of Guru Sri Swami Vishwenanda. Her main purpose to visit Split was to assist the ‘guru’.
I was really puzzled – such a concentration of Hinduism in Roman Catholic Croatia. I checked the latest data about the religion in Croatia – yep, still Catholic (88%), then Orthodox, then Atheism or Agnostism and the others. Well, it doesn’t say Hindu to my knowledge. What is really going on here ? Why that confusion ?
I was amazed to discover so many yoga centers in Croatia, enough to check Wikipedia.
It also says that : “a Croat-Indian Society set up in June 1994 has been active in organizing social and cultural events including classical dance performances, animation films based on Indian mythology, various documentaries on India and its traditions. An Agreement of Cooperation was signed between the Diplomatic Academy of Croatia and the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) of the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi in January 2000. Seven Croatian diplomats have attended the Professional Course for Foreign Diplomats (PCFD) at FSI, New Delhi. Shri Santosh Kumar, Secretary & Dean (FSI) attended the conference of Deans at Dubrovnik, Croatia, on 29-30 September 2003.”
People are in spiritual search but their search is not genuine. There is luck of fundamental knowledge about Eastern Religions. And there is lots of manipulation creating confusion.
Let’s take the case of the mention guru Sri Swami Vishwenanda and its Bhakti Marga Yoga community. In Hinduism Bhakti is a term for religious devotion, understood as active involvement of a devotee in divine worship. Bhakti Yoga is described by Swami Vivekananda (we already talked about him – he was the instrumental person in bringing yoga to the West) as "the path of systematized devotion for the attainment of union with the Absolute".
The discussion I had with my befriended “follower” was about God, their beliefs, devotion, purpose, meaning, love, etc. I found it really confusing as she stressed that their belief is a combination of Orthodox Christianity with Hinduism (even though when you look at their website is a pure Hinduism with few icons of Our Lady). They have a votive chapel with relicts but she couldn’t name any saints of who the relicts belong to. To my amazement she knew very well some readings of Saint Teresa of Avila (Interior Castle – she explained that Seven Mansions were like seven chakras) or Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque and The Sacret Heart of Jesus (omitting that the visions were about a form of the devotion, the chief features being reception of Holy Communion on the First Friday Devotions of each month, the Eucharistic adoration during the Holy Hour on Thursdays, and the celebration of the Feast of the Sacred Heart).
It did not surprise me at all, when asked how this all started for her, she named yoga and reiki as initial practices. I will repeat my mantra but those practices are like open door to different reality. Not mentioning that they can take you for a real magic trip where devil will start to do his work. I repeat after Father Amorth: those practices may lead to possession and some supernatural experiences are already a serious warning. And to my sad surprise my befriended “follower” did experience some of them.
I don’t know that community well enough but all that she told me seem to me a mishmash of Hinduism and Christianity (the second one being more for familiarity and smoother conversion of the Westerners).
There is a great post from South Africa about the dangers of that Community and its leader.
Many facts are presented, among them one that is a clear sacrilege:
“Swami Vishwananda was recently indicted in Switzerland for stealing relics from a church. He explained this behavior to some brahmacharis by stating that “Jesus told him to do it” and that it was not wrong because he did not profit from stealing the relics, i.e. he did not resell them to anyone so it was OK. Swami has on occasion actually worn costumes, dressed as an orthodox priest, to gain entry into churches in an effort to acquire relics. It is well-known that Swami frequently visits churches in France and other countries in search of relics. Why is this such a passion for him? Is it possible that he gets power through the relics? Why else would it be important enough for him to have that he is willing to face prosecution for acting illegally?
On Obedience (my acquaintance did mention something like that)
“Whenever something is asked from me or me through an appointed person, it has to be done without delay. If it comes from me directly, it has to be done without thinking about it and without asking questions.” – Swami Vishwananda.
Sounds to me like a sect! How come those things can exist and flourish in any country, helas in Catholic country is a mystery … or the work of evil!
My trip left me perplexed about the state of our faith in one of most Catholic countries in Europe – Croatia. Someone told me once that New Age will enter the religious countries via false mysticism and false spirituality – the ground is there, it just needs some adjustments.
I will pray for my befriended “follower” that her heart turns into the real truth and light. May Our Lady of Medjugorje protects her and guides her to Our Lord, Jesus Christ (a real one, not a manifestation of supreme Brahman).
While talking to my fellow Christians about yoga I have been trying to explain them that yoga IS a spiritual exercise if they like it or not. Apart from its definition that speaks volumes, its crucial to understand how yoga got to the West - KNOW ITS HISTORY!
Its definition says that its a is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient Indiawhose goal is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility.The word is associated with meditative practices in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. The Sanskrit word yoga has the literal meaning of "yoke", from a root yuj meaning to join, to unite, or to attach. The more technical sense of the term "yoga", describing a system of meditation or contemplation with the aim of the cessation of mental activity and the attaining of a "supreme state" arises with early Buddhism (5th century BC), and is adopted in Vedanta philosophy by the 4th century BC.
But its equally crucial to understand WHO brought yoga to Europe and the United States???
David S. Katz in his great historical account "The occult tradition" writes the following:
"By the early 1890s, then, it was clear that India had taken a central place at the bar of antiquity, and was seen as the mothers of civilization. There is no doubt that all of the current India-centered projects played a part in this development; Max Muller in Oxfrod, Madame Blavatsky in London, and the many writers of contemporary occult texts. Olcott and Blavatsky had begun their work in the United States, and in due course Indomania took root there as well."
Who was Madame Blavatsky? Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (born as Helena von Hahn (12 August [O.S. 31 July] 1831 – 8 May 1891) was a self-professed psychic and mystic, and a founder of Theosophy and the Theosophical Society together with Henry Steel Olcott, William Quan Judge and others in September 1875. Its initial objective was the "study and elucidation of Occultism, the Cabala etc. In the Theosophical Magazine "Lucifer" issued in 1887-1888 we can read about yoga experiences.
"The watershed was the "Parliament of Religions" opened on 11 September 1893 as part of the World's Columbia Exhibition, better known as CHICAGO WORLD'S FAIR.
H. S. Olcott, Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater
at the international Convention, Adyar,
December 1905
(...) Far more celebrated was the appearance at the "Parliament of Religions" of an Indian monk named VIVEKANANDA (1863-1902) whose performance was a bombshell. Vivekananda was a monastic name of Narendra Nath Datta, a follower of the celebrated Sri Ramakrishna (1836-86). Swami Vivekananda was in the United States from July 1893 to April 1895, and then again from August 1899 to July 1900. (...) Vivekananda wrote what were probably the first books on yoga, now classics. Many of the Swami's American followers came to him through THEOSOPHY, but Vivekanada himself had no illusions about Madame Blavatsky and her theories, as useful as she and they were. (...) Despite Vivekananda's disparaging remarks, Blavatsky's theories did very well in the United States, where an independent Theosophical Society was established in 1895. Back in India, Theosophy continued to thrive, even after the death of Madame Blavatsky in 1891. When Olcott died in 1907, ANNIE BESANT was elected president of the Theosophical Society (Adyar), the post she held until her own demise in 1933. In 1902, she persuaded the Austrian Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) to form a Germanic section of the Theosophical Society, which he did. The loose canon in India was Charles Leadbeater."
Charles Webster Leadbeater was a well-known clairvoyant and theosophist who dedicated his life to the dissemination of Theosophy. He left his position as a clergyman in the Church of England in 1884, traveling with Madame Helena Blavatsky to India to help her in her work for the Theosophical Society. For those interested in more information about him good site with archives.
"(...) In 1909 he disccovered Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895-1986). (...) Leadbeater inaugurated the 'Order of the Star in the East' in Krishnamurti's honor in 1911, proclaiming him to be the 'World Teacher'. Rudolf Steiner was so appalled by this turn of events that he refused membership in his German section to anyone who had anything to do with the Krishnamurti cult, and was expelled from the Theosophical Society for his trouble. Steiner founded his own Anthroposophical Society, which continues to thrive from its headquarters in Dorlach, Switzerland."
"The importance of the Theosophical Society far outstripped the implications of Madame Blavatsky's speculations. One one of the key underlying principles of British colonialism was the notion that only a Christian could be s fully functioning and rational human being, while Hindus were incapable of individual development due to their incapacitating fatalistic pantheism, which promoted ascetic withdrawal from the evil world. Theosophists argued in return, on behalf of the Indians, that it was Christianity that fostered unhealthy individualism, while Hinduism had a more comprehensive view of society, in which people were expected to use their talents for the good of the whole. Even caste was described as social duty (...)"
The emblem of the
Theosophical Society
Broadly, Theosophy attempts to reconcile humanity's scientific, philosophical, and religious disciplines and practices into a unified worldview. As it largely employs a synthesizing approach, it makes extensive use of the vocabulary and concepts of many philosophical and religious traditions. However these, along with all other fields of knowledge, are investigated, amended, and explained within an esoteric or occult framework.
The present-day New Age movement is said to be based to a considerable extent on original Theosophical tenets and ideas. "No single organization or movement has contributed so many components to the New Age Movement as the Theosophical Society. ... It has been the major force in the dissemination of occult literature in the West in the twentieth century." Other organizations loosely based on Theosophical texts and doctrines include the Agni Yoga, and a group of religions based on Theosophy called the Ascended Master Teachings: the "I AM" Activity, The Bridge to Freedom and The Summit Lighthouse, which evolved into the Church Universal and Triumphant. These various offshoots dispute the authenticity of their rivals.
THE YOGA SHOW in LONDON is presented as Europe’s largest yoga event.
It says on its website: "The Yoga Show has experienced unprecedented growth in the last two years and now sees 15,000 attendees coming through the doors, everyone from curious first-timers looking to find a discipline that will suit them, to experienced yoga professionals trying to achieve the next level of spiritual enlightenment." Yes, indeed, dont be fooled, we are talking here about the spiritual enlightment.
How big is this YOGA phenomenon ?
America
The latest "Yoga in America" study, just released by Yoga Journal shows that Americans spend $5.7 billion a year on yoga classes and products, including equipment, clothing, vacations and media (DVDs, videos, books and magazines). This figure represents an increase of 87 percent compared to the previous study in 2004—almost double of what was previously spent. The 2008 study indicates that 6.9% of U.S. adults, or 15.8 million people, practice yoga. (In the previous study, that number was 16.5 million). Of current non-practitioners, nearly 8%, or 18.3 million Americans, say they are very or extremely interested in yoga, triple the number from the 2004 study. And 4.1% of non-practitioners, or about 9.4 million people, say they will definitely try yoga within the next year. Yoga Journal claims that "Yoga is no longer simply a singular pursuit but a lifestyle choice and an established part of our health and cultural landscape," says Bill Harper, publisher of Yoga Journal. "People come to yoga and stick with it because they want to live healthier lives." One significant trend to emerge from the study is the use of yoga as medical therapy. According to the study, 6.1%, or nearly 14 million Americans, say that a doctor or therapist has recommended yoga to them. In addition, nearly half (45%) of all adults agree that yoga would be a beneficial if they were undergoing treatment for a medical condition. "Yoga as medicine represents the next great yoga wave," says Kaitlin Quistgaard, editor in chief of Yoga Journal. "In the next few years, we will be seeing a lot more yoga in health care settings and more yoga recommended by the medical community as new research shows that yoga is a valuable therapeutic tool for many health conditions."
United Kingdom
Some findings suggest that there are just over 10,000 active yoga teachers in the UK, teaching between 20,000 and 30,000 yoga classes each week. Research suggests that teachers are offering an average of 2-3 classes per week and that the average number of students per class is around 15. This suggests that there are between 300,00 and 460,000 people currently practicing yoga in the UK. The British Wheel of Yoga – recognised by the Sports Councils as the national governing body for yoga in the UK - with more than three thousand teachers, the BWY provides nearly one third of yoga teaching in the UK. Its teachers provide around 9,000 classes a week, reaching an estimated 150,000 students.
How YOGA went from Eats to West ?
Swami Vivekananda
Chizuko Hunt in her fascinating work "Yoga Practice in 21st Century Britain: The Lived Experience of Yoga Practitioners" tells us how yoga came to West and became so popular:
"Yoga was originally developed in ancient India, and the knowledge has been handed down by demonstration and word of mouth from teacher to pupil as tradition. After the British Empire colonized Southern Asia, yoga practice became known to a few westerners who had an academic interest in Indian history and philosophy (Worthington, 1982). Worthington (1982) explains that public interest in yoga was revived by Ramakrishna (1836-1886) whose message then was of the essential oneness of all religious traditions. Many of the yoga movements today follow this integrative teaching. His most well-known disciple was Vivekananda (1863-1902), and many westerners followed him by mainly spreading Hatha Yoga to the West.The Theosophical society was formed in 1875 in New York by Mme Helena Blavatsky (1831-1891) and Henry Olcott. The society had been a catalyst in assisting the spread of yogic and Indian philosophical knowledge in the West (Stuckrad, 2005; Heelas, 1996:Faivre, 2000). The society translated and published many yogic texts, and there wereattempts to modernise yoga in India. Ramana Maharishi (1879-1950) passed on his knowledge of Jnana Yoga. Aurobindo Ghosh (1872-1950) advocated an Integral Yoga in which he tried to combine the fragmented methods of specialized yoga practices into a holistic lifestyle. Sivananda (1887-1963) spread the moderate Hatha Yoga practice worldwide, and taught in his ashram in Rishikesh many teachers who have proved successful and reliable guides (Strauss, 2005). In this moderate Hatha Yoga way, yoga has gained grass-roots popularity in the West and other Asian countries (De Michelis, 2004). In those days, the people who wanted to study yoga met difficulties of finding a guru. They were prepared to learn the Indian and/or Tibetan language and Sanskrit to read the scriptures, and spend years practicing yoga in order to gain spiritual satisfaction. There were also a number of Indian gurus who travelled to the West to spread their teachings. One of the famous yogi was Swami Vivekanandawho gave a talk on yoga at the Chicago World Religious Convention in 1893.
He made such a huge impression on the audience that William James writes,
“In India, training in mystical insight has been known from time immemorial under the name of Yoga. Yoga means experimental union of the individual with the divine. It is based on persevering exercise; and the diet, posture, breathing, intellectual concentration, and moral discipline vary slightly in the different systems which teach it. The Yogi, or disciple, who has by these means overcome the obscurations of his lower nature sufficiently, enters into the condition termed Samadhi, “and comes face to face with facts which no instinct or reason can ever know.” …When a man comes out of Samadhi, they assure us that he remains “enlightened, a sage, a prophet, a saint, his whole character changed, his life changed, illuminated.” (James, 1902, p. 400)
Vivekananda visited many towns in the USA and founded the Vedanta society. He visited Britain and gave many talks (De Michelis, 2004; Worthington, 1996). Around the turn of the century, some westerners were opening their eyes to yoga. C. G. Jung was also fascinated by the East and its cultures. He travelled in India, and was influenced deeply; for instance, he drew Mandala (pictures of Buddha) in later years. In the West during the 1930s and 40s, there was a growing interest in India and yoga, that saw a torrent of books published, for example Alexandra David-Neel on Tibet and Theos Bernard on Hatha Yoga. Among them, Paul Brunton was very popular, and his book “A Search in Secret India” (1947) sold well. In particular, and importantly for my study, M. Eliade published his scholarly and influential book “Yoga: Immortality and Freedom” in 1954. It was translated into English later (1969). He studied Sanskrit in Calcutta for three years and yoga in an ashram for six months (1928-31), then completed a doctoral thesis, which was published later and formed the basis for the above book. His books are still well-quoted in any serious studies on the subject of yoga (Feuerstein, 1989; Wicher, 1998; Burley, 2007; Stuckrad, 2005; De Michelis, 2004). According to Worthington (1982), the first yoga school was set up in Britain (in Epping) in 1949 by Sir Paul Dukes, an eminent ex-India civil servant. He also wrote a popular yoga book (1960). Yoga then had ‘cult’ status for the people who sought it out, who had been a member of the elite class in Western society but who were disillusioned and wanted to find ‘an alternative style of life’ or ‘deeper meaning in life’. Newcombe (2008) traces the way the British Wheel of Yoga was established in 1965. In the 1970s, hundreds of yoga classes started throughout Britain on the back of Local Adult Education classes (Newcombe, 2008), but there were many private classes too. Richard Hittlemen ran a popular colour TV series in 1973, which was watched by millions of people. Hittleman also wrote popular yoga books (1969; 1966) which helped to spread yoga further. With many yoga gurus establishing branches in the major Western cities, yoga became accessible to most ordinary people. During the summer months, Indian gurus regularly visit North America, Britain, Europe and Australia, and Western students in return often visit their guru’s ashrams in winter. Those well-known gurus often have world-wide networks of teaching centres, teachers and followers in addition to well-devised teacher training and teaching programs (Strauss, 2004). As more western teachers qualified to teach, an increasing number of venues ran yoga classes. Yoga continued to spread, mainly among the middle classes (De Michelis, 2004; Newcombe, 2007)).
In 1971, the European Union of National Federations of Yoga was established in Switzerland (UEFNY) (Worthington, 1982). Seminars and retreats started being organized more widely. Since then, national bodies have been affiliated from all countries in Western Europe, and some from the eastern bloc. A `Minimum Programme’ was drawn up to provide a minimum statement of principles, so that all member countries could build their teacher training programmes on a similar standard, which is based on Patanjali’s Eight Limbs of Yoga (Worthington, 1982). In this way, Western yoga has been standardized and quality-controlled within the western cultural milieu. "
NOW, LETS BE CLEAR WHAT CATHOLIC CHURCH
SAYS ABOUT YOGA
Catholic Church has warned Christians against resorting to New Age therapies to satisfy their spiritual needs.
The Vatican 62 page document called “ Jesus Christ, the Bearer of the Water of Life: A Christian Reflection on the New Age.” It lists yoga as one of the traditions that flows into the New Age. (See #2.1) The document also states, “Yoga, Zen, TM and tantric exercises lead to an experience of self fulfillment or enlightment” according to New Agers. It adds that they believe that “anything which canprovoke an altered state of consciousness are believed to lead to unity and enlightment” (#2.3.4.1) The document goes on to say , “It is therefore necessary to accurately identify those elements which belong tothe New Age Movement, and which cannot be accepted by those who are faithful to Christ and his Church.” (#4)
Fr. Amorth, who is the Vatican exorcist, says “Yoga, Zen, and TM are unacceptable to Christians. Often these apparently innocent practices can bring about hallucinations and schizophrenic conditions.”
Publishing the results of a six-year study of practices such as yoga, feng shui and shamanism, the Vatican said that whatever the individual merits of such therapies, none provided a true answer to the human thirst for happiness.
New Age is a misleading answer to the oldest hopes of man
Cardinal Paul Poupard
If "prayer turns into just listening to music and falling asleep, it's no longer prayer," Church official Monsignor Michael Fitzgerald told a news conference at the Vatican to launch A Christian Reflection on the New Age. The report says there is a "genuine yearning for a deeper spirituality, for something which will touch their hearts and for a way of making sense of a confusing and often alienating world". Many people, the report acknowledges, have rejected organised religion because they feel it fails to answer their needs. "I want to say simply that the New Age presents itself as a false utopia in answer to the profound thirst for happiness in the human heart," Cardinal Paul Poupard, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture, said at the news conference. "New Age is a misleading answer to the oldest hopes of man."
EX-YOGA PRACTITIONERS SPEAK ABOUT THE DANGERS
1) Meditation - the path to deception
2) Former Kundalini Yoga Teacher Turns to Christianity
New Age is a misleading answer to the oldest hopes of man