Reader Rants 'n' Raves

Dear friend RH, without really digressing from the commentary role of our responses, you may reconsider your observation on Yoga adoption by Christians. Meditation on God's word/ the Buddha/ Allah/ Krishna/.. will always be there for bulk of people professing respective religions. Yoga does NOT name any particular God, although an Indian seer (Patanjali) took the pains to systematically put down the programme he himself followed, taking whatever prior traditional knowledge was at hand in his times, and adding his own wisdom to it based on own subjective experiences. Yoga does rest on a personified God, and one can put Jesus, Krishna, or any other deity in that 'blank' and practise Yoga, which is not just for the mind but for the body as well since an undiisciplined body will be a great damper on meditation which is in the realm of the mind. The Americans/ Westerners who practise Yoga, are no less religious, and no less Christian than those who do not, but are probably several notches higher in their psychophysical alertness and agility, which means a less bigotted religious outlook linked to the particular religion in which he by a providental accidental was borne. These are days of globalization and inter-faith appreciation and amity, and as civilization moves forward, it will be absolutely necessary for mankind to shed medieval narrow-mindedness without abandoning the great fundamentals of respective religions, and strive for securing common cords of belief and practice.

Its a sorry state of affairs to hear that a catholic priest recommending yoga. Christians do not need yoga, instead early morning is a solemn time for paryer and meditate upon the the word of God i.e., the Bible. This activity is cheap, does not need money or extra efforts, and meditating upon the Word of God is the best way to cure the most prevalent disease of our society today-depression.

It is nice to know that, going by this and some earlier news reports, Christian priests in India look at Yoga for the value it offers a person's mind and physique, and not as a Hindu/religious idea. Yoga is in fact an age-old practice recommended (as such or under different names) in Buddhism also. In order to religious emancipation/ liberation, in any religion, the mind and body must be cleansed and kept strong against temptations and illusory pleasures. This is a pre-requisite for spiritual pursuit. So damn it, if Christian priests elsewhere characterize Yoga as 'unchristian'. Do these fellows want to use religion as a unifying tool for the world, or as a tool for crusades and their natural retalliation by Jihads and terrorisms? Even in the US, Yoga is such an extremely widely propagated practice, and people there are told that they may use it as an aid for either religious pursuits, and if not, for just secular ones like mental alertness or self-improvement in materialistic affairs. BTW, how many socalled Christians are really believers in God and religion, have these British priests found through any unbiassed field study? If they do, they will be horrified. So, it follows that Yoga is a great means to either religious or materialistic ends. Eh UK Christian priests, change your medieval mindset.

Yoga education is the need of the hour. It is time that in our educational system we give importance to yoga that will help to raise the level of fitness of the young and upcoming citizens of our country.