Yoga leads to possession by devils

[Denise]

Yoga leads to possession by devils?

LONDON: It's a spiritual practice that provides all the health benefits of physical exercise. Yet, a British exorcist has claimed that yoga could put people in danger of being possessed by evil spirits.

According to Father Jeremy Davies, exorcist for the leader of Catholics in the UK, yoga puts people at risk from devils and the occult is closely associated with the scourges of "drugs, demonic music and pornography" which're "destroying millions of young people in our time".

But Madhavi Padhy, one of the foremost yoga exponents based in New Delhi, laughed off the claims of the 73-year-old Catholic priest, saying "they are baseless".

"Yoga originated in India thousands of years back. It has no connection with evil spirits. On the contrary, it helps you become more aware of your body, mind and environment. It also plays a key role in relieving stress and bringing inner peace," Padhy said.

Father Davies has argued in his new book 'In Exorcism: Understanding Exorcism In Scripture And Practice' published by the Catholic Truth Society, that people who practice yoga may end up afflicting themselves by demons, British newspaper the 'Daily Mail' has reported.

"The thin end of the wedge (soft drugs, yoga for relaxation, horoscopes just for fun) is more dangerous than the thick end because it is more deceptive -- an evil spirit tries to make his entry as unobtrusively as possible.

"Beware of any claim to mediate beneficial energies (eg reiki), any courses that promise the peace that Christ promises (eg enneagrams), any alternative therapy with its roots in eastern religion (eg acupuncture)," he wrote in his newly published book.

Father Davies has also said that occult practices such as magic, fortune-telling and holding seances to contact the spirits of the dead are "direct invitations to the Devil which he readily accepts".

"Even heterosexual promiscuity is a perversion; and intercourse, which belongs in the sanctuary of married love, can become a pathway not only for disease but also for evil spirits... young people especially are vulnerable and we must do what we can to protect them."

[Denise]

I will pray

[MarieT]

At Rome, from the offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, October 15, 1989, the Feast of Saint Teresa of Jesus.

Joseph Card. Ratzinger

CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH

LETTER TO THE BISHOPS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
ON SOME ASPECTS OF CHRISTIAN MEDITATION*

October 15, 1989
Prefect

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congr ... na_en.html

[KarlB]

Another great contribution to understanding the Faith from B16 (as Cardinal).

There exists, then, a strict relationship between Revelation and prayer. The Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum teaches that by means of his revelation the invisible God, "from the fullness of his love, addresses men as his friends (cf. Ex 33:11; Jn 15:14-15), and moves among them (cf. Bar 3:38), in order to invite and receive them into his own company."4 This revelation takes place through words and actions which have a constant mutual reference, one to the other; from the beginning everything proceeds to converge on Christ, the fullness of revelation and of grace, and on the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Especially that the discipline of Christian meditation does not involve an 'emptying' of consciousness as most Eastern mysticism espouses.. or the accumulation of the purely material and gratuitous data that much of gnostic and occult spiritualism strives. Much different is the fullness of Christian communion through meditation.. which is founded in prayer.