Sebastian Painadath S.J.

You are a long practitioner of yoga. How did you come across yoga and what kind of an experience has it been for you?

I have found that yoga deepens my spirituality. I have come across so many people in India and abroad who have rediscovered the depth of Christian spirituality through yoga.

Yes, but the Syro-Malabar Church has a text brought out by the Doctrinal Commission, the tone of which is negative. It says yoga is not conducive to Christian spirituality. Have you taken it?

That document of the Syro-Malabar Doctrinal Commission is a very provocative text, very dogmatic in its language and too much negative on a classical and spiritual method on that yoga. I am wondering what urgency was there to bring out a document of this sort. Two years ago, KCBC had appointed a commission of theologians to study this matter and submit its findings. Their reflections and recommendations have not been taken into consideration by the doctrinal commission in composing this document.

The Doctrinal Commission of the Vatican issued two documents; one is generally on meditation, the second is on new age. Only in one of them there is an explicit reference to yoga, and it is not something that can be considered as very negative. However they say techniques do not make spirituality. What is your view on it?

The Vatican documents are not at all as condemnatory of yoga as this document is. They have raised certain theological cautions on an uncritical use of Eastern Methods. Yet CDF observes: “The interest which in recent years has been awakened also among some Christians by forms of meditation associated with some Eastern religions and their particular methods of prayer is a significant sign of the need for spiritual recollection and a deep contact with the divine mystery” (“On some aspects of Christian meditation,” L’Osserv. Rom. 1. June 1990, § 1). The document of the Syro-Malabar doctrinal commission does not give proper references to the citations of the Vatican documents and of Pope Francis.

There is only one clear reference to yoga in the Vatican II documents, and it is not a detrimental or derogatory remark. But the Syro-Malabar document very clearly states that yoga goes against the uniqueness of Christianity. What might have inspired it?

You are right. The document makes a categorical judgment: “The theology of yoga does not go with Catholic faith” (Dc 10.1). In fact yoga does not claim to have a theology of its own; it is a scientific method. It can fertilise Christian spirituality for integrating the diverse elements of body and soul, mind and intuition, individual and society, mystical introspection and ethical values.

Is yoga practice totally against the Catholic doctrine?

No. In fact thousands of Christians have rediscovered the forgotten dimensions of Christian spirituality through the practice of yoga. Take for instance the role of body in prayer. If God came to us through the body (“Logos became flesh”), we have to go to God through the body. Body is the “temple of the Spirit,” the primal sacrament. Yoga helps Christians to experience the body as the transparent medium of the spirit. Second, the deficit of Christian spiritual practices is silence. Our prayer forms have become too noisy, too demonstrative and thus superficial. Real spiritual growth takes place in contemplative silence and this is the message of yoga. Let us not forget what Jesus said on prayer: “Go into your inner room and pray in silence” (Mt.6:6). Thirdly, Christians tend to get stuck at the level of names and forms of the Divine. Christian mystics have constantly demanded that we go beyond all categorical names and forms and be open to the ineffable mystery of the Divine. Yoga helps this process of introspection.

Do you think that yoga as such is something connected exclusively with Hinduism and Brahmanism?

The document says that yoga started already in Indian sub-continent much before the Vedic religiosity began. Therefore it is a part of our Indian culture. Though yoga was transmitted in the Hindu traditions, one does not have to identify yoga with Brahmanism or Hinduism. Unfortunately, now certain Hindu fundamentalist groups make use of yoga for their political propaganda. We need to make a distinction between cultural heritage and religious adherence, between scientific insights and religious beliefs.

The fact that some abuse yoga politically does not take away its value or importance. As Indian Christians, we are advantageously placed to accommodate and inculturate such things. We have in yoga a great tradition to be proud of. Is this document an undesirable interference?

Yoga belongs to the age-old culture of India. More than the practice, there is a vision of integration and unification (yoga) in the yoga heritage. This is a divine gift to our sub-continent. This we need to imbibe and also share with people of all cultures. In fact a lot of scientific research on yoga takes place in Western universities and quite a lot of books have been written on how yoga can be integrated with Christian spirituality.

Is Hindu theology inseparably linked to yoga?

Yoga has been transmitted to us over the centuries through Hindu sages. This we cannot deny, but it need not be identified with a particular religion. Yoga is more a spiritual discipline which goes beyond all religions. Some may have used yoga for religious or political purpose and that is a different issue. But it is in itself a spiritual discipline that leads yogi to spiritual integration. Yoga integrates the diverse elements of a human person; the social, the individual, the bodily, the psychic and the spiritual. That is the beauty of such a system. I think we cannot make an outright condemnation of it, painting it just as a byproduct of Hinduism.

There are so many Europeans who are Christians by faith and are now renouncing their faith inspired by yoga and Hinduism. Is that not a reality?

I have not come across anybody who just through yoga renounced Christian faith. On the contrary, I have come across in the last forty years, so many people, in India and also in the West, who had lost their connections to Christian spirituality, but could rediscover the deeper dimensions of Christian spirituality through the practise of yoga. This is the grace of the contemporary age: by encountering the religiously other, one comes to a deeper understanding of one´s faith. Through the thou I become I – this principle of social relations can be applied to the religious landscape too. The Second Vatican Council acknowledges this as a dialogue imperative.

We have accepted in our liturgy and practise so many non-religious, non-Christian elements. For example we all turn to the east to pray and that tradition came to us through the Roman religion. They were worshiping the sun and therefore turned to the east. Now we are turning to the east to pray. Does it mean that we are borrowing something un-Christian and becoming pagans?

If you look at the history of theology in the first 500 years, the period of great Church Fathers, there had been a great openness to local cultures. The insight on Logos coming from Greek philosophy contributed much to Christian theology. The realisation that we are divine (theosis) taken from Greek mysticism had become the axis of Christian spirituality. But that process of inculturation got struck once the Church moved from catacombs to the throne. In the imperial Christianity dichotomies dominated and the language became too dogmatic and assertive. In the wake of the Second Vatican Council we live now in an age of dialogue and openness to local cultures. This document of the Syro-Malabar doctrinal commission seems to ignore this movement of the Spirit and goes back to the dichotomising mindset of the past.

Do you think these kind of documents really are an impediment to inculturation and openness of the Church?

The Church authorities need to help the faithful become genuine spiritual seekers and not just religious adherents. Their loyalty should be to the divine Spirit that blows where it wills, not to heteronymous traditions. Theologians are called to help people discern the movements of the Spirit. A document of this sort only blocks that process!