And then we learned our sun salutations were dancing us straight on the prana express to the hot blazeballs of hell. Thanks to 85-year-old Father Gabriel Amorth, the president of the International Association of Exorcists, who has warned us of fiery flames of eternal damnation in his claim that yoga and Harry Potter are “magic” and “the Devil’s work.” Those gd hipsters and imaginative little kids.
Father explains:
“You thing[sic] you are doing it for stretching your mind and body but it leads to Hinduism. All these oriental religions are based on the false belief of reincarnation.”
Phew! And here we were thinking there would be no yoga in hell. Even the Devil does it!*
We’re used to evangelicals being pissed over the yoga-religion debate and its demonic roots, but our heads are spinning over this recent development. Zumba is way more evil than yoga. Kidding!
But we’re not alone in our yoga perdition doomdom. Amorth goes on:
“People think it is an innocuous book for children but it’s about magic and that leads to evil. In Harry Potter the Devil is at work in a cunning and crafty way, he is using his extraordinary powers of magic and evil.”
For someone who’s performed more than 70,000 exorcisms in his 25 years as Vatican Chief Exorcist, Father Amorth must have surely seen his share of spinal twists and backbends – if only we had that kind of flexibility! And for certain that dastardly Harry Potter-esque wizardry – beware the possessed Quidditch playing 8-year-olds!
But, we apologize to his sir Pope-y pants, because we’re going to keep our yoga, keep finding our bliss on our mats, so that we may continue to keep creating our own heaven on Earth. If that’s evil, well then hotdammit we’re going to have one hell of a yoga party with all of our devil down dogging friends while we can. Celebriyogi Emma “Hermione” Watson is totally invited.
*Stay tuned for the YD original movie ‘The Devil Wears Yoga Pants’.
[via Daily Mail]
——
Earlier…
More evil, obviously, than all of those Catholic priest child molesters and those who cover up for their atrocities against children. Of course.
Same guy also said child molester cases is evidence of the Devil at work in the Vatican.
If you think yoga is related to Indian religious practice (I don’t, I think it’s a recently developed Indian model of bodyweight exercise derived from the English model, but of course I’m aware others see it differently) it makes sense that some guy in the Vatican might not be a big proponent.
So glad that you “think” yoga is a modern invention. There’s plenty of evidence to contradict that statement, but never mind…
While I think the priest in question has a perfectly ridiculous point of view, your response to it is incredibly disrespectful and downright rude. As a non-Christian, I can say that yogis will make no friends in Christian circles with sarcasm and ironic banter ( no matter how amusing we find it). Why not respond with a little compassion and offer a real explanation for why we disagree rather than patronizing and creating further divisiveness?
While I don’t agree that the priest’s point of view is ridiculous (it’s actually perfectly logical, if you understand the foundations of Christianity and the fact that he probably only possesses a surface knowledge of yoga), I do completely agree, with your suggested approach, Rebecca. Your statement of “[any group] will make no friends in [anyone] with sarcasm and ironic banter” can be applied to pretty much any belief, practice, viewpoint, etc. I couldn’t have said this better myself, so let me restate it (and give it a hearty “amen!”):
Why not respond with a little compassion and offer a real explanation for why we disagree rather than patronizing and creating further divisiveness?
Absolutely appreciate and respect your POV and agree there’s an opportunity to explain to the Vatican Exorcist et al. why yoga is not satanic and evil. There have been lots of discussions pertaining to such, on this site and elsewhere, though they often spin around in circles and sometimes create even more divisiveness than I’m sure many commenters have intended to cause (or not).
That said, YD is here to be a forum for discussion, and it’s also a place to find the humor in it all. Our take is if we can’t find the levity and a bit of sarcasm in response to general comments like this then we’re taking ourselves way too seriously and probably need to dress in robes and abscond to a cave. Humor is another way of bringing subjects to light.
But, by all means let this be an opportunity for those who wish to share reasons that could sway Father Amorth to the side of yoga. We don’t promise he’ll read them!
“You thing[sic] you are doing it for stretching your mind and body but it leads to Hinduism”.
We should all be so lucky. Indeed, if it did lead to Hinduism, that would be a consummation devoutly to be wished.
Meanwhile, anyone with a strong stomach should read up about the “Goa Inquisition”, the abomination that was inflicted by the Catholic Portuguese Conquistadores upon the gentle, peaceful Hindus of Goa, India, for 400 long, dreary years.
The Goa Inquisition makes Hitler look like an amateur schoolboy.
The rampant paedophilia in the Catholic Church, and the shameful cover-up thereof, is apparently the LEAST of the Vatican’s sins, completely paling in comparison to the other Crimes against Humanity committed by the Vatican.
The Vatican has not yet apologized to the Hindus of India for the Goa Inquisition.
“All these oriental religions are based on the false belief of reincarnation.”
False Belief of Reincarnation ?
The Hindu theory of Reincarnation is the only theory that can satisfactorily explain the following two phenomena, that have long flummoxed Western Religions :
1) Child Prodigy :
How does it come to be that a 5-year-old-child is already a violin virtuoso, or that a 6-year-old child is able to solve complex problems in Mathematics, or that a 4-year-old-child is able to recite the Bhagavad Gita from memory ?
The Hindu theory of reincarnation believes that a person’s Soul (Aatma) is immortal, and is reborn in a new life, following the death of a person. The soul remains locked in this cycle of birth-life-death-rebirth, hopefully progressing to a higher state of being in each successive rebirth, until that soul eventually becomes enlightened and self-realized, and attains liberation (Moksha) from the cycle of birth-life-death-rebirth.
The skills, traits and qualities, both good and evil, developed by a person in one life, are indeed carried over by his soul into the next life ( Yes, you CAN take it with you ! ). Thus, a person’s character, skills and traits in a particular life are all a result of the Net Cumulative Karma of that soul, accumulated over all of its numerous previous births.
In some cases, the complex arithmetic involved in adding up this Net Cumulative Karma accumulated by a soul up until the present life of that soul, manifests itself as an extraordinary skill in a particular field, in the present life of that soul —-> Child Prodigy.
2) Why do Bad Things happen to Good People ?
A person may indeed have led an exemplary life in his present birth, but may still be stricken by misfortune. This seems grossly unfair.
And yet, the events that befall a person are a function of the Net Cumulative Karma accumulated by that person’s soul, over that Soul’s numerous lives up until that point, and are not just a function of that person’s Karma, from his present life.
Thus, some misfortune may befall even the best of persons, if there happens to exist some negative aspect in his Net Cumulative Karma, leading to the phenomenon of “Bad Things Happening to Good People”.
So, if I understand correctly, the Vatican is saying :
Pedophilia OK, but Yoga bad !
OMG, the Vatican sure does have egg-nog on its silly face !
Isn’t this the same Vatican that commissioned the Spanish Conquistadores to forcibly convert the native peoples of South America to Catholicism ?
Isn’t this the same Vatican that order the imprisonment of Galileo Galilei for daring to suggest that the Earth was round, and revolved around the Sun, as opposed to the then-held-notion of the Sun revolving around a flat earth ?
Wow… that has to be a bit of an extreme comment from the priest!
But in being consistent with his advice, I have decided stay away from doing pilates because it leads to nazism… and now I’ve reconsidered doing tai chi and qi gong, because it leads to communism…
… though looking at the picture you’ve attached to this article, the devilish yoga woman would be a welcome site in hell… and if that priest is what is going to greet us in heaven… I better keep practicing my sun salutations…
“Chief Vatican Exorcist” ?????
“President of the International Association of Exorcists” ????
What would JC have thought about this Vatican and its Giant Pyramid-Schemes ?
What would JC have thought of the rampant Paedophilia in the Catholic Church, and the Vatican’s efforts to sweep the problem under its saintly rug ?
Exorcists are completely insane so what does it matter how they view yoga? Isn’t it funny how nobody needs an “exorcist” until they’re pumped full of that devil/demonology BS, LOL.
Oh, how profitable it is to be the problem and cure all in one!
Seems the exorcist has based his life and his words on belief rather than knowledge. God is not a matter for belief, it is to be understood. Prerequisites for gaining that understanding would be punya – ‘merit’ or ‘grace’ as some religions may call it. That ‘grace’ would be coming from a persons prior actions and not from the concept of a God in the sky somewhere bestowing ‘grace’ upon who he feels fit for it. The prior actions could very well assume to include prayer and a desire for the ‘understanding’ to develop under some fruitful means. Although many practices can prepare a person to be able to accept that ‘understanding’ only a teacher with that ‘understanding’ can unfold the ‘understanding’ to the able student. The difficulty is that a teacher with that ‘understanding’ will not be recognized by a student unless the student has prepared themselves out of their own understanding. There are two types of belief. One type of belief is based on understanding and you can not disprove it – nor prove. This type of belief is feasible and cannot simply be discarded. However, the other type of belief, which is most prevalent in our world is not based on any kind of reality or understanding of reality. It is simply believed because someone in some type of authority has said so and it is passed on like that for 1000s of years. Eternal damnation is such a belief. The idea of ‘living in hell’ is something all of us have tasted, so we can allow ourselves to ‘believe’ in a place called ‘hell’, not a fun place (no matter who you think you might meet there). On the other hand, the idea of eternal damnation is only born out of ignorance, it is not based in understanding. Nothing in the form of manifestation can be ‘eternal’ the entire manifestation is temporary. Only you are eternal, but that is not a matter for belief, it is to be understood.