This is a classic question! Gabriele Amorth , the Vatican's exorcist has come out with the provocative statement that Yoga is evil as it leads to the worship of Hinduism. I believe he is fundamentally wrong - Yoga can be described as a discipline aimed at uniting the mind, the body and the spirit, which is compatible with all the world's major religions and philosophies. True, it started out in the Vedic culture of India about 4000 years ago and was adopted by the early Hindu faith, then became integral to Buddhism, then Taoism . Aspects of Yogic thinking entered, or were reflected in Sufism and strands of mystic Judaism and Christianity. Hardly exclusive to Hinduism then? Yoga can also be described as a path to your own enlightenment , or to fulfil your potential in any way meaningful to you . It does prescribe what you must think. Some Yoga classes involve chanting , some of these chants link to deities from the Vedic period which were adopted by the Hindus, it does not fit in with my religious views and I would not join in with them, which as a principle applies to us all and generally applies to all Yogic practice. Yoga has brought stress relief and comfort to millions of people in its history and reinforced positive life patterns which have been hugely beneficial. To describe this as "Satanic" or "evil" is preposterous in my view.
What do you think? Post any responses you wish , either side of the debate!
Namaste
No comments:
Post a Comment