Priest explains why yoga and new age are dangerous

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Do you mean to say that this spirit of “Universal Self” can then posess a body when someone stretches to touch their toes or spread their arms, or sit with their legs crossed, or for that matter even stand up straight as in Tadasana?

Yes, there are parts of eastern mysticism incompatible with Christianity just as there are parts of everything incompatible with christianity. It is the philosophy that is incompatible.

And as for Fr Amorth: here is something to consider by Fr Francis Clooney:

First, mere recriminations against the religion of another are just about never acceptable or useful. No Catholic likes it if the Eucharist is written off as merely “priestcraft” or “patriarchal machinations” or even the venerable “hocus pocus,” and it is hard to imagine that it helps in any way to burden the millennia-old theory and practice of yoga with the deadly charge of being Satanic. And it is a really bad idea to insult a nearly billion Hindus – who see Hinduism as having a special affinity to yoga – by charges of Satanism that echo centuries of heated Christian attacks on Hinduism, and I hope Church leaders in Rome have instructed Fr. Amorth not to make such sweeping charges.

Second, if one is a professional exorcist, one may indeed see everything in light of that profession, and so it is not surprising that Fr. Amorth sees the devil at work everywhere; perhaps it is his default explanation of the woes that afflict us. Others might appeal to literary or philosophical measures of worth, but the exorcist sees things in his own way. To others this will seem odd, exaggerated, and this is all the more reason to be careful when speaking to a wider audience who do not share one’s profession or expertise, but see the world through other legitimate lenses.

Francis X. Clooney, S.J., is the Parkman Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School, where he has taught since 2005, after teaching for 21 years at Boston College. Since 2010 he is the Director of Harvard’s Center for the Study of World Religions. He is the author most recently of Comparative Theology: Deep Learning Across Religious Borders (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), and of the forthcoming His Hiding Place is Darkness: A Hindu-Catholic Theopoetics of Divine Absence (Stanford University Press). He was the first president of the International Society for Hindu-Christian Studies, was elected a member of the British Academy in 2011 and, from 1998 to 2004, was the coordinator for interreligious dialogue for the Society of Jesus in the United States.

americamagazine.org/content/all-things/fr-amorths-yoga-and-devil
Has this professor been excommunicated by any chance? If he were legit surely he would not openly condemn priests who have served the Church in such a gruelling manner which such a heavy cross. I think this article shows a great lack of respect. Not keen.
 
I am going to look at the links you provided. Will you then have a peek at the spiritualdirection.com links I provided please?
Not a bad series of articles. I especially liked the distinction made between:

i) A popular level of Hinduism and
ii) A higher level of philosophical and religious Hinduism.

A summary evaluation of the effects of Hatha Yoga is as follows. Yoga postures often have physically beneficial effects, but we should not be fooled: feelings of quiet and relaxation, pleasant sensations, perhaps even phenomena of light and warmth, and even deeper insights into reality are not the same as deep union with God, nor are they signs of spiritual progress. If a person calls upon gods during the practice of Yoga, as in performing postures in the presence of Hindu statues or in chanting mantras to a god or goddess, then she has practiced idolatry and her spiritual condition is worse than when she began. If a person accepts a philosophy that denies the distinctions between body and mind, gain and loss, good and evil, God and the self, then she has embraced falsehood and her spiritual condition is worse than when she began.

I agree with all that. But then he says: If she believes that Yoga is not dangerous or thinks that it is simply exercise, then her misunderstanding indicates that there is room for improvement.

What if does not equate the positive effects with union with God.
What if one does not call upon gods during practice and has no intention whatsoever to do so?
What if one does not accept the philosophy that denies the distinctions between body and mind, gain and loss, good and evil, God and the self.
What if one simply stretches and holds a pose for flexibility and relase of tension, and by the way, does so in the Light of Christ for the glory of the one true God?
 
We know your opinion, I’m still interested in post #136 which I quoted you claiming:

I still haven’t seen where the “Vatican has up on their website that it’s occult and it is spiritual worship of multi-gods (etc.)”

So where is this on the Vatican website? Or is this just your opinion?
Does anyone know here that exorcists are not freelancers! 😃 They work for the Vatican! 🤷
 
Not a bad series of articles. I especially liked the distinction made between:

i) A popular level of Hinduism and
ii) A higher level of philosophical and religious Hinduism.

A summary evaluation of the effects of Hatha Yoga is as follows. Yoga postures often have physically beneficial effects, but we should not be fooled: feelings of quiet and relaxation, pleasant sensations, perhaps even phenomena of light and warmth, and even deeper insights into reality are not the same as deep union with God, nor are they signs of spiritual progress. If a person calls upon gods during the practice of Yoga, as in performing postures in the presence of Hindu statues or in chanting mantras to a god or goddess, then she has practiced idolatry and her spiritual condition is worse than when she began. If a person accepts a philosophy that denies the distinctions between body and mind, gain and loss, good and evil, God and the self, then she has embraced falsehood and her spiritual condition is worse than when she began.

I agree with all that. But then he says: If she believes that Yoga is not dangerous or thinks that it is simply exercise, then her misunderstanding indicates that there is room for improvement.

What if does not equate the positive effects with union with God.
What if one does not call upon gods during practice and has no intention whatsoever to do so?
What if one does not accept the philosophy that denies the distinctions between body and mind, gain and loss, good and evil, God and the self.
What if one simply stretches and holds a pose for flexibility and relase of tension, and by the way, does so in the Light of Christ for the glory of the one true God?
Okay, so we have a starting point then:

Can we separate the exercise from the transcendental (religious) aspects of the routines/shapes?

I wan to start by making an argument. You made a fair point earlier: about bells and objects being used from one religion to another. I agreed that an inanimate object in itself has no spiritual power in itself until one blesses it or brings a curse upon it. Is that agreed with?

My question here to follow on from this is to ask: is there a difference between using one’s whole person to express a desire or impulse or motive to using an inanimate object? And, what are we using of ourselves in this expression (body, heart, mind, soul, or none of these?).
 
Does anyone know here that exorcists are not freelancers! 😃 They work for the Vatican! 🤷
Does anyone know that Father Perreira was trusted by the modern day Saint, Mother Teresa 🤷 and no that is not a Vatican document. Neither is one offered proving the science of Yoga is bad.
 
The good Father Amorth has this under “Controversies” per his wikipedia entry:
Sex parties
Amorth has claimed that an Italian schoolgirl who went missing in Rome in 1983, was kidnapped for sex parties by a gang involving Vatican police and foreign diplomats. He said that the girl (Emanuela Orlandi) was later murdered and her body disposed of. Amorth claims that girls were recruited for parties at the Vatican and that the death of Emanuela Orlandi “was a crime with a sexual motive”.[19]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriele_Amorth#Sex_parties

Yes, the article on Emanuela Orlandi seems to show a number of theories on what happened to her and the above, “Sex Party” seems to be one of the least believable ones.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Emanuela_Orlandi
On 6 July, a man with a young voice and an American accent informed ANSA news agency of the demand for an Orlandi-Ağca exchange, asking for the Pope’s participation within 20 days and indicating that a basket in the public square near the Parliament would contain proof that Orlandi was indeed in his hands. These were to have been photocopies of her Music School I.D., a receipt, and a note handwritten by the kidnapped girl. However, the Magistrate who was overseeing Orlandi’s case did not believe that there was a credible connection between the Orlandi abduction and the Pope’s assailant.
On 8 July, a man with an alleged Middle Eastern accent phoned one of Orlandi’s classmates saying Orlandi was in his hands and that they had 20 days to make the exchange with Alì Ağca. The man also asked for a direct telephone line with then-Vatican Secretary of State Agostino Casaroli. The line was installed on 18 July. A total of 16 telephone calls were made by “The American” from different public telephone booths.[citation needed]
 
Does anyone know that Father Perreira was trusted by the modern day Saint, Mother Teresa 🤷 and no that is not a Vatican document. Neither is one offered proving the science of Yoga is bad.
Might it be that Mother Theresa was a cloistered nun and had nothing to do with that topic?

If you are using Mother Theresa to prove a point then can you argue your own point?: does Mother Theresa advocate and prescribe yoga to be okay for Christians? If so, do you have a link, please?
 
Okay, so we have a starting point then:

Can we separate the exercise from the transcendental (religious) aspects of the routines/shapes?

I wan to start by making an argument. You made a fair point earlier: about bells and objects being used from one religion to another. I agreed that an inanimate object in itself has no spiritual power in itself until one blesses it or brings a curse upon it. Is that agreed with?

My question here to follow on from this is to ask: is there a difference between using one’s whole person to express a desire or impulse or motive to using an inanimate object? And, what are we using of ourselves in this expression (body, heart, mind, soul, or none of these?).
I think we can separate the exericise form the philosophy.
And that an inanimate object in itself has no spiritual power until one blesses it or brings a curse upon it.

But I am not sure which “or” goes with the 'between" in this question:
“Is there a difference between using one’s whole person to express a desire or impulse or motive to using an inanimate object?”

It sounds like you are getting at “intention”, which I think, makes all the difference in the world.
 
Might it be that Mother Theresa was a cloistered nun and had nothing to do with that topic?

If you are using Mother Theresa to prove a point then can you argue your own point?: does Mother Theresa advocate and prescribe yoga to be okay for Christians? If so, do you have a link, please?
She worked directly with Father Perreira:
Reminiscing, Fr Joe said it was in 1981 that he first treated three patients from Mother Theresa’s Home in Mumbai for addiction, and all three got cured. Mother Theresa was so happy that she called him to Kolkatta and offered him her male orphanage to open his second and one of the largest rehabilitation centres in Kolkatta.
In turn, just because Father Amorth alleges and I saw other articles about this than just wikipedia, that Vatican police are involved in the disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi, I would not be compelled to necessarily believe it just because a Priest/Exorcist alleges this.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Emanuela_Orlandi

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriele_Amorth#Sex_parties
 
I think we can separate the exericise form the philosophy.
And that an inanimate object in itself has no spiritual power until one blesses it or brings a curse upon it.

But I am not sure which “or” goes with the 'between" in this question:
“Is there a difference between using one’s whole person to express a desire or impulse or motive to using an inanimate object?”

It sounds like you are getting at “intention”, which I think, makes all the difference in the world.
It sounds like and I saw posts referring to when Yoga began, Yoga actually predates Hinduism, predates Buddhism which of course, even the Buddhas pose is somewhat of that “Lotus flower” pose of meditating.

I’d say Yoga basically is a science, exercise, etc. Not necessarily a religion or philosophy.

Of course, people can and do bring Hindu religion into it, Sri Ganesh, the elephant god and all of that. Still, some people in India seem to bring in religion, culture into a lot of things they do.
 
She worked directly with Father Perreira:

In turn, just because Father Amorth alleges and I saw other articles about this than just wikipedia, that Vatican police are involved in the disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi, I would not be compelled to necessarily believe it just because a Priest/Exorcist alleges this.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Emanuela_Orlandi

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriele_Amorth#Sex_parties
Not just a priest or exorcist,
The retired head exorcist of the Vatican and retired head of the International Association of Exorcists and current lifetime honourary president of the International Association of exorcists.
 
It sounds like and I saw posts referring to when Yoga began, Yoga actually predates Hinduism, predates Buddhism which of course, even the Buddhas pose is somewhat of that “Lotus flower” pose of meditating.

I’d say Yoga basically is a science, exercise, etc. Not necessarily a religion or philosophy.

Of course, people can and do bring Hindu religion into it, Sri Ganesh, the elephant god and all of that. Still, some people in India seem to bring in religion, culture into a lot of things they do.
The words and poses of yoga seek to unite to an ‘absolute all things are god and we have no individuality’ spirit. Whether people know this or not or seek this or not.
 
Not just a priest or exorcist,
The retired head exorcist of the Vatican and retired head of the International Association of Exorcists and current lifetime honourary president of the International Association of exorcists.
Again, for the 3rd time, the good Father Amorth seems to assert the disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi involved at least one policeman inside the Vatican. So, I’m not sure if we are then compelled to believe this theory just because he says so.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriele_Amorth#Sex_parties

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuela_Orlandi
 
Again, for the 3rd time, the good Father Amorth seems to assert the disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi involved at least one policeman inside the Vatican. So, I’m not sure if we are then compelled to believe this theory just because he says so.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriele_Amorth#Sex_parties

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuela_Orlandi
He’s in good standing with the church.
He’s a lifetime honourary member of the International Association of Exorcists.
He was an strong admirer of Pope John Paul II. And worked under that Pope.
I’m talking about his stance on spiritual issues of yoga. Not the controversy you are talking about.

I mentioned a load of deliverance evangelists comments on yoga (if you read my other posts), they work with the church and their opinion bear gravity also. It is not one person’s opinion
 
I think we can separate the exericise form the philosophy.
And that an inanimate object in itself has no spiritual power until one blesses it or brings a curse upon it.

But I am not sure which “or” goes with the 'between" in this question:
“Is there a difference between using one’s whole person to express a desire or impulse or motive / to using an inanimate object?”

It sounds like you are getting at “intention”, which I think, makes all the difference in the world.
Although, most movements or expressions derive from intention, possibly, can we answer the following questions before specifically attaching the angle of intention, please? :)

First: so the ceremony that takes place is what causes the bell to be blessed or cursed - so we agree?

Second: I have placed the split in my question with a forward slash in bold. What do you think?

Third: And, what are we using of ourselves in this expression - body, heart, mind, soul, or none of these? (By this I mean in placing oneself in a position, not differentiating between exercise or worship - intention - just yet).
 
He’s in good standing with the church.
He’s a lifetime honourary member of the International Association of Exorcists.
He was an strong admirer of Pope John Paul II. And worked under that Pope.
I’m talking about his stance on spiritual issues of yoga. Not the controversy you are talking about.

I mentioned a load of deliverance evangelists comments on yoga (if you read my other posts), they work with the church and their opinion bear gravity also. It is not one person’s opinion
So you’re negating the advice of the retired head exorcist of the Vatican and International Association of Exorcists (life time honourary president member of the International association of exorcists), just because of a possible incorrect opinion on one occasion?
 
Although, most movements or expressions derive from intention, possibly, can we answer the following questions before specifically attaching the angle of intention, please? :)

First: so the ceremony that takes place is what causes the bell to be blessed or cursed - so we agree?

Second: I have placed the split in my question with a forward slash in bold. What do you think?

Third: And, what are we using of ourselves in this expression - body, heart, mind, soul, or none of these? (By this I mean in placing oneself in a position, not differentiating between exercise or worship - intention - just yet).
No, not just the ceremony. That would give power to otherwise meaningless actions and objects.

Slash doesn’t help much. Still not sure what you are asking.
“Is there a different bewteen using one’s whole person OR and an object?”

We certainly have to start with the whole person befor an object can have any significance.

What we are using is at least our mind and body. Souls and heart would seem to me to involve something much deeper, like intention.
 
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