By Tatiana Tanskaya, yoga instructor, Kiev School of Yoga.
I wondered what arguments the priests put forward against yoga. And with this question I turned directly to the ministers of the church.
“Yoga is a sin,” Father Alexander answered softly. - Orthodoxy and yoga are incompatible. They are as different as a boat and a stone around his neck for someone who wants to cross to the other side of the river. Yoga is a cruel self-deception, not striving for God, but a desire to become God yourself. Beware of this - that's what I can tell you about yoga."
“The asceticism of Orthodoxy and the asceticism of yoga are really similar. But it only seems at first glance. In fact, the difference is enormous, - said Father Vincent. - An Orthodox ascetic, accomplishing a heroic deed, is strengthened in humility, deepens in the vision of his sins, his shortcomings, begins to cry about his sins. And a yogi, when he is engaged in his exercises, the more he becomes stronger in pride, exalts himself, believing that he is becoming omnipotent. Such behavior is unacceptable, because the Lord resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble."
After interviewing a few more priests, I came to the conclusion: no one really knows what yoga is and what its adherents do. And if you have heard something, we are sure that the goal of yogis is to take the most difficult pose and be very proud of it. And who even read some works, gives such arguments for the sinfulness of yoga: there is no repentance for sins, there is no love for God, yogis are cold and indifferent, because they are focused on themselves, their body and psyche, which speaks of the desire to achieve only personal prosperity, they have no love for people, because they are ordered not to communicate with people, not to experience emotions.
It would be possible to laugh at these statements, if it were not for the sad desire to denigrate everything that I did not understand, the peremptory desire to prove that only your path is the only true and correct, if it were not so sad attempt to answer all "why " just because".
Are they really so different?
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I have no theological education and I have not achieved enlightenment in yoga. But I was born and lived all my life in an Orthodox environment and have been doing yoga long enough not to see the existing points of contact. Let's think together.
What is the minimum goal of yoga? Get rid of diseases so as not to distract the soul from cultivation. What is the main method of soul cultivation? Dissolve your Ego, remove it from the honorable pedestal, from the foreground, stop considering yourself the center of the Universe. Only by getting rid of the predominance of the Ego can one cleanse oneself of the husk of petty passions, resentments, hatred and contempt and perceive the world with that spontaneity, joy and love that are inherent only in young children.
And what is the most terrible sin in Orthodoxy, the most serious, the most unforgivable, for which one must repent incessantly and without interruption? No, not murder at all, not adultery or gluttony. The worst sin is pride. And oh, how many believers do not know about it. Or they know but do not realize. After all, it is one thing to say in confession “I repent of pride” and to commune with a pure soul. And it’s another thing to go after that and scold your son angrily for unwashed dishes, not to let a subordinate go on vacation, so that he doesn’t think about himself, to tell his wife harshly where she belongs in the house, and to despise a neighbor for drunkenness.
Pride at every turn. Unconscious and from this even more terrible. A person blinded by pride will kill and rape and commit all other mortal sins. And he will find an excuse. But, having got rid of pride, people merge with God and the light of God's love illuminates their souls.
Aren't pride and ego the same thing?
Deadly sins in Orthodoxy
In total, there are seven deadly sins: pride, greed, envy, anger, adultery, gluttony and despondency.
Greed leads to a multiplication of worries, to internal anger and isolation, and provokes fear of loss and anger at potential competitors and envious people.
Jealousy or ill will presuppose a belief in the injustice of the order established by God and is contrary to the Christian virtues of magnanimity and compassion.
A person who succumbs to anger, feels resentful or irritated, is in constant danger of doing terrible things, and harms himself and others. The main cause of anger is pride.
Fornication and gluttony are forms of voluptuousness. They cause both bodily suffering and the suffering of the soul, since the object of pleasure of a voluptuary is not a true good. Fighting the vice of gluttony involves not so much volitional suppression of cravings for food, as thinking about its true place in life.
Despondency is a state of pointless discontent, resentment, hopelessness and disappointment, accompanied by a general breakdown.
All deadly sins are the flip side of pride or ego. And the ego is based on a sense of self-importance, fear of death and a sense of self-pity. It is clearly seen that the sins of pride, greed, envy and anger are manifestations of a sense of one's own worth, and fornication, gluttony and despondency are indulgence of one's own weakness, which is regarded as self-pity.
Ten "commandments" of yoga
In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, ten guidelines are given for the yoga practitioner: five forbidden (yama) and five prescriptive (niyama) - "not" and "follow" the spiritual path. As Swami Kriyananda writes, their significance is that they prevent our energy from “leaking”. The first rule of the Yama is nonviolence, no harm. As soon as the tendency to oppress others is expelled from the heart, to offend them in one way or another (including striving for personal gain at their expense), then benevolence appears by itself.
The next principle of "no" is to abstain from falsehood. Truthfulness is a natural tendency for us as soon as the desire to distort the truth is overcome.
The third pit is non-acquisitiveness, that is, the absence of greed. This applies not only to material things, but also to more subtle ones, such as praise or position.
The fourth yama is self-control (brahmacharya). Usually this attitude is associated with the practice of sexual abstinence, but it has a broader meaning. Brahmacharya means the control of all natural wants, of which sex drive is the strongest, but not the only one. A huge amount of energy is spent in thoughts or in the search for sense gratification. Yoga does not raise the question of the correctness or sinfulness of sex, it talks about how and where we should direct our energy.
The fifth pit: non-acceptance. Non-acceptance is a natural pair with non-acquisitiveness. Non-possession means detachment from what is not ours, while non-acceptance means detachment from what we usually consider our property. The point is that nothing really belongs to us. Everything - our bodies, actions, and even thoughts - belongs to the Lord.
Niyam or “should” is also five. These are purity, contentment, self-restraint, introspection (introspection, self-knowledge) and devotion to the Lord, piety.
By "cleanliness" is meant the heart, and not the bodily cleanliness, although, of course, it also includes the latter.
"Contentment" is not complacency, but a state in which one should bravely face the most difficult vicissitudes. That is, you need to accept everything that happens as the will of God and be content.
"Self-restraint" is not the bearing of external austerities, but a state of non-involvement with everything external. You should learn to be the master of your “want” or “don't want” and be able to bring your undertakings to the end.
Introspection (introspection, self-knowledge) is, it would seem, turning inward, but it is more than introspection. Introspection still keeps the mind attached to the ego, while, first of all, it means turning the mind to God. Introspection allows us to see God in ourselves. There is no need to condemn yourself and your qualities, you just need to develop the ability to have an absolutely clear mind and objectivity.
Piety is devotion directed inward, not thrown outward in religious ceremonies and rituals. Piety directs the natural love of the heart from worldly objects to God.
As you can see, mortal sins are very much in line with the principles of yama-niyama. And if you also remember the 10 commandments, in particular, love the Lord God with all your heart; love your neighbor as yourself; do not kill; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not build false evidence; do not covet a wife and the good of your neighbor, then this relationship becomes even more obvious.
Moreover, I will take the liberty of saying that not only the general principles of life are similar, but also specific methods. In Orthodoxy, there has been a spiritual practice since ancient times, as a result of which a person experiences unity with God. This practice is called hesychasm.
What is hesychasm?
According to one contemporary Orthodox theologian, if monasticism is the focus of Orthodox spirituality, then hesychasm is the very core of this focus.
The word "hesychasm" comes from the Greek "hesychia" - "rest", "silence". The practice of hesychasm is based on contemplative prayer, rejection of thoughts, emotions and images. As a result of practice, deification and ascent to God occurs.
I cannot but cite here excerpts from A. S. Rigin's wonderful article "Silence and Light" dedicated to hesychasm.
“The main method of hesychasm consists in repeated repetition of the“Jesus Prayer”(“Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.”) Taking a sitting position and lowering his chin on his chest, the prayer“directs his mind to the heart”, slows down his breathing in order to calm the flow thoughts, and begins to "create prayer", linking its rhythm with breathing, until the prayer becomes "self-propelled", and no longer the person prays, taking certain actions for this, but the prayer, as it were, flows through him, without requiring any effort. the praying person consistently throws away "thoughts" (ie, thoughts), thus purifying the mind and making it like an empty mirror, in which the graceful touch of the "uncreated light" can be reflected, - writes Rigin.
The contemplation of this light, which is called uncreated (that is, uncreated, existing forever) or Tabor (this is the light that the disciples of Jesus Christ saw during his transfiguration on Mount Tabor), is of great importance for the practice of hesychasm. Through this light, the ascetic enters into communion with the Incomprehensible God. Filled with this light, he participates in the divine life, becoming God by grace. This is how theosis happens - the deification of a person.
Further, we read from Rigin: “It is believed that“placing the mind in the heart”and slowing down the breathing while performing the“Jesus Prayer”is a basic technique that goes back to Simeon the New Theologian and Gregory Sinait. The mind "enters the heart" along with the inhaled air, following it. An additional technique suggested by St. Nicephorus the Solitary is that the inhalation and exhalation are associated with heartbeats, and each word of the prayer is pronounced with one heartbeat. In this case, the first three words of the "Jesus Prayer" are pronounced on inhalation, and the next three - on exhalation. The rhythm of the repeated prayer associated with the breath gradually leads to the fact that thoughts fade away, and the mind calms down and dwells in the heart, where, according to Simeon the New Theologian, at first it meets only "darkness" and seething passions.but then behind this “darkness” in the depths of the heart “unspeakable joy” opens up.
As he advances in prayer practice, the ascetic begins to visit a state of ecstasy, however, according to Simeon the New Theologian, ecstasy is only an initial stage, and not the goal of the practice, which consists in achieving a permanent, unbreakable unity with God, affecting the entire human nature - spirit, soul and body.
The practice of hesychasm is also associated with the doctrine of "body centers". This is the "head center" with which the activity of the mind is connected; "Laryngeal center", in which speech, reflecting thought, is generated; The “thoracic center” and, finally, the “heart place” (located in the region of the heart), which is of such great importance in the practice of hesychasm. Below the "heart place" is the "womb" area, the focus of the "base passions" (end of quote).
Isn't it really very similar to the techniques inherent not only in yoga, but also in other Eastern practices, and the "body centers" evoke absolutely clear associations with the chakras? But the author very wisely avoided answering this question. “The doctrine of body centers, as well as the techniques of breathing and repeated repetition of the same words evoke natural associations with a number of oriental traditions, but we do not set ourselves the goal in this article to develop these associations for a number of reasons, the main one of which is the self-sufficiency of any spiritual tradition and the presence of the potential to explain its ideas, while remaining within the confines of this tradition itself, "he says.
A bit of history and philosophy of hesychasm
Reading about the history of hesychasm, it is impossible to get rid of the thought of the amazing similarity of methods and practices inherent in Orthodoxy and yoga. See for yourself.
This teaching appeared in ancient times, long before its basic principles and methods were developed and described in detail in the treatises of the church fathers.
So, in the writings of Macarius of Egypt (IV century) there is a doctrine of "deification" - the touch of the divine principle to man, transforming the soul and body. For the ascetics, this was not an abstract idea, but a fact of their inner spiritual life, the reality of their spiritual practice. During unceasing prayer, the mind is freed from passions and illuminated with light. This brings a special inner peace to the soul. This is not apathy or indifference, but a deep silence and equanimity of the spirit, refusing to speak and manifest. Such a state can be compared to the smooth surface of water on a windless day, it fills the soul with joy and bliss. This bliss gives purity of heart and virginity of the soul, that wholeness of the soul, which is the goal of the spiritual practice of the ascetic.
The true father of Hesychasm is considered to be the classic of Byzantine mysticism, Simeon the New Theologian (949-1022). It is he who is credited with the authorship of the treatise "On the Three Methods of Concentration and Prayer", which describes the methods of practice that we spoke about earlier - after taking a sitting position and bowing his head to his chest, the ascetic deliberately slows down his breathing and begins to say the "Jesus Prayer", combining it with rhythm breathing and directing to the heart until the prayer becomes "self-propelled."
In the second half of the 13th century, the ideas of Simeon the New Theologian were developed by Nikifor the Hesychast (Nikifor the Uedinennik), an Italian who converted to Orthodoxy and became an Athos ascetic; the author of the treatise "On sobriety and keeping the heart", which systematically sets out the technique of spiritual practice of hesychasm.
The main development of the methods of hesychasm is associated with the name of the abbot of a number of Athonite monasteries, Gregory Sinait (about 1250 - about 1330). In his work "On Silence and Prayer," Gregory the Sinaite writes about two stages of monasticism - monastic activity (fasting, asceticism, withdrawal from the world, etc.) and contemplation, which consists of not doing. Contemplation, according to Gregory Sinait, has three stages:
- concentration and "prayer with the mind";
- grace and spiritual joy, the descent of the “uncreated light”, the acquisition of silence of the mind;
- the highest clarity, sobriety ("sobriety of mind"), comprehension of the essence of all things and contemplation of their own spiritual essence.
The most developed tradition of hesychasm was in the XIV century by Gregory Palamas.
Gregory Palamas (1296-1359) received a secular education in his youth, in 1315 he accepted monasticism on Mount Athos, where he was for some time abbot of the Esfigmen monastery, and then became a hermit. According to the teachings of Palamas, a person who has achieved perfection in love, having loved God without any selfishness and selfishness, can, through prayer, join Divine energy, that is, the living and universally acting grace of God and ascend to God himself, seeing with his own eyes the Light of His eternal glory (Tabor light) - to adore.
And the ideological opponent of Gregory Palamas, the monk Varlaam Calabriets, who later became a Catholic, considered the Light seen by Palamas to be an ordinary autosuggestion, and he defined hesychasm as a series of semi-magical savage techniques. Varlaam argued that it was impossible to see the Divine light, because it was impossible. The dispute between theologians was resolved in 1351 at the Blachernae local council: criticism of Barlaam was condemned, Palamism was declared the official doctrine of the Byzantine Orthodox Church, and in 1368 Gregory Palamas was canonized.
Palamas gave hesychasm a truly philosophical frame, developing the doctrine of the fundamental difference between the essence of God, which is unmanifest and inaccessible to comprehension, and the self-radiating energies of God that permeate the whole world, descending to man. This uncreated radiation of God is that uncreated Tabor light. At the same time, Palamas refers to the words of Dionysius the Areopagite about "unapproachable light" and God as "superluminous darkness", again and again affirming the fundamental inaccessibility and transcendence of this light entering the heart of the ascetic, whose "thoughts" (thoughts) have died out, and the soul is empty and transparent.
The theme of transformation, achieved with the help of light and the descent of grace, is central to the ascetic teaching of Gregory Palamas. He believed that such enlightenment of the spirit, once achieved, should also affect the body. The Spirit gives life to the flesh, transforming it, for "the body is a temple in which all the fullness of God dwells bodily." The path to such a transformation is “silent” or “spiritual” prayer, about which Isaac the Syrian wrote that at the first stage prayer consists of words, and at the second stage it no longer has either words or form. This is a really silent, spontaneously occurring or "self-propelled" prayer that gives the ascetic deep peace, silence and involvement in the uncreated light of divine energies.
Rus became the successor of Byzantium. The ideas of hesychasm began to penetrate here long ago, from the very adoption of Christianity. For example, Anthony - the founder of the Pechersk monastery in Kiev - made a pilgrimage to Mount Athos, and lived for some time in the Esphigmen monastery (where later Gregory Palamas was the abbot), studying with the Athonite hermits.
Sergius of Radonezh was a follower of hesychasm. The best ascetics of the Orthodox world, Seraphim of Sarov, John of Kronstadt, Ambrose Optinsky, Ignatius Bryanchaninov, thought and felt in many ways the same as Palamas, who believed that a person can ascend to God, believed that a person should not resign himself to his own imperfection, but must overcome it.
I do not aim to prove that elements of yoga are used in Orthodoxy. It would not be reasonable, as well as comparing the incomparable - yoga and religion. These are two completely different paths. But it seems to me that they run in parallel and lead to the same goal. Therefore, the methods of self-improvement, spiritual practices, methods of contemplation, getting rid of the Ego or pride are similar. Doesn't this testify to their effectiveness?
Relationship with God, in my opinion, is a very intimate matter. Only you have the right to decide which path suits you best. I want to say only one thing: I do not consider myself a believer, because I do not believe, but I KNOW that God exists. And I do not consider myself an adherent of any one church, because I do not like the intermediaries between me and God, who endlessly fight for power, for spheres of influence, for finances, finally.
If the highest goal of religion, in this case Orthodox, is to bring a particle of the light of God into the soul, repentance for sins and foster unlimited love for God in the heart, then I am Orthodox. Because I love God with all my heart and see His presence in everything that is on earth, and I strive to give all beings - living and inanimate - the joy and light of the Lord's love. Isn't this yoga in the highest sense of the word, which means UNITY?
My friend, who was discussed at the beginning, goes to the Kiev School of Yoga. My friend goes to church. Each is a person of a beautiful, bright soul. I see a lot in common in their pursuit of excellence. May God give them strength on their Path.