Cardinal J. Ratzinger on magic, occultism, yoga.
Part of : Interview by Ignatius Artizzu taken from the magazine âA voice cries out âŚâ # 9 - March 1999 (translated from Italian using Google translator).
Is a link between the spread of Eastern religions and the current resurgence of the occult?
In the background is present, no doubt. Letâs say that the supply of these Eastern religions moves ondifferent levels. There is a yoga reduced to a kind of gymnastics: it offers some element that cangive an aid for the relaxation of the body. Well, if yoga is actually reduced to a gym
it can also accept, in the case of movements which have an exclusively physical sense. But it must
actually be reduced, again, to a mere exercise of physical relaxation, free from any
ideological element. At this point you should be very careful not to introduce a
physical training a certain vision of man, the world, the relationship between man and God
This purification method itself a logical ideas incompatible with the Christian life, may
be compared for example with the âdemystificationâ of the pagan traditions on the creation of
world, made in the first chapter of Genesis, where the sun and the moon, the great gods of myth
are reduced to âlightâ created by God, lamps that reflect the light of God, and make us
imagine the true Light, who is the Creator of light. And so, even in the case of yoga and other
Eastern techniques would require a transformation and a radical shift that
really out of the way every ideological claim. In the moment in which they appear elements that
profess to lead to a âmysticalâ become instruments already leading in one direction
wrong.
This transformation, or enlightenment, was there?
Generally no. It may be, however, that some people have tried to exclude religious and ideological elements, keeping these practices on a pure exercise. This can not be excluded.
There may be a âChristian yogaâ?
At a time when it is called âChristian yogaâ is already ideologically and appears as a religion, and
I do not like so much. While on the purely physical plane, I repeat, some items may
also exist. We must be very careful about the ideological context, which becomes part of
an almost mystical power. The risk is that yoga becomes a method independent of âredemptionâ, without a real encounter between God and the human person. And in that case, we are already in the transcendent. It 's true that even in prayer and Christian meditation the position of the body has its importance, and it signifies an inner attitude, which is also expressed in the liturgy. But
yoga body movements have a different implication of relationship with God, which is not
that of the Christian liturgy. Must be very careful because behind these elements of the body
lies a conception of being as such, the relationship between body and soul, between man,
world and God
The teaching of transcendental meditation and yoga in the Churches
Catholic and religious communities by priests considered legitimate?
It seems very dangerous because in this context, these practices are already offered as a
something, in fact, religious.
And 'possible to combine the mantra with the Christian prayer?
The mantra is a prayer addressed not to God, but to other gods who are idols.
Why this depreciation of Christ and the Church?
This is a deep question related to the current situation of the world. The roots of this
behavior that we see today are many and have been developed over time, even
if only now emerging in full force. It seems to me that the last element is that, even
once, in Chapter 3 of Genesis: the pride of the man who wants to make himself God and not
agree to submit to him there behind the willingness to take into their own hands and not of God
put yourself in his hands.
Urs Von Balthasar defines transcendental meditation a betrayal of faith
Christian. Do you agree with this statement?
Yes For God Transcendent, the person who called me and loves me, is deformed in a
transcendental dimension of being. I think it is necessary to distinguish between the good God
Transcendent and transcendental. While the Transcendent is a person who has created me, the
is a transcendental dimension of being and therefore implies a philosophy of identity. The path
Transcendental Meditation, taken in its ultimate intentions, has this tendency to drive
to plunge into the identity, and so it is exactly opposite to the Christian, who knows
also a union of identity. Christ identified with us and so we enter into His body, but it is
a different identification, made in love, which is always a personal identity
distinct, while the Transcendental Meditation involves the plunge, let the âdissolveâ in the
identity of the Supreme Being.
What is, in spiritual terms, the price of these practices?
The loss of faith and the perversion of the man - God, and a profound disorientation
of the human being, so that eventually the man marries a lie.
I guess I donât really know that much about yoga. It kind of scares me, so itâs not something I personally want to pursue.
So listen. Use your head and stop being superstitious. Prayers or mantras in the end of the day have no power. In the end of the day they are just thoughts of the mind and nothing more. 
And once again thoughts or âprayersâ have NO power. For example I could think âHail Satanâ or âBlessed be Cornâ. They are just thoughts though and have no power over anything. They are all just relative to our sub conscience mind.