[quote=thomas;39861]Does this accurately reflect the teachings of the Liberal Catholic Church?
http://www.liberalcatholic.org/teachings.html[/quote]
That is the site of the LCC International, another splinter within the family of Catholic Churches.
Here is a link to the LCC in South Africa, the views expressed here are those of the greater LCC: http://www.liberalcatholicsa.co.za/index.html
My apologies for my misunderstanding about the Liberal Catholic Church. I thought it was a faction within Roman Catholicism that claimed it could be both Roman Catholic while denying certain doctrine, but i was mistaken.
I am glad that your understanding has expand. 
[QUOTE=Surya Deva;39068]…Catholicism has nothing to do with Yoga. There is no teachings of asanas, pranayama and dharana anywhere in the bible.[/QUOTE]
Wow! That is just simply bold. Surya Deva, for one so usually well read, I am surprised by such a rash statement. The Holy Bible was written with many influences from throughout the world. Simply search breathing and bible and you will quickly find some wonderful references. Are they pranayama? Who are we to say that they are not?
As for our doubting Thomas, you are not alone in this journey, be comforted and enjoy the ride.
Namaste
It is easy to prove me wrong, just cite the relevant verses from the bible you think teach about asanas, pranayama and dharana. Until then I am going to maintain what I said.
Excuse my ignorance of holy scripture, i.e the Bible in this instance, but Does it not say somehwere? something to the effect:-
‘Let thine eye(s) be single(beam of light or whatever…)’
I’ve heard this interpreted by some yoga-persuaded peeople, to mean, refer to dharana, concentration,meditation or the [U]third-eye[/U], inner spiritual sight and so on.
I may not have the exact correct quote here.But interpretation can be myriad.
I think SD is absolutely right that Catholicism has nothing to do with yoga.
Though whatever truth pertaining to faith or morals that yoga has, so does Catholicism.
For your eye “to be single” means to be fixed on God and his ways, and not trying to have it both ways, such as God AND the world, or God and sin.
I can tell you what i think yoga is roughly- harmonious living. I’m not so sure about catholicism, i.e what it might or could be- a structure of beliefs perhaps?
I don’t see, or i don’t like to, incompatibilities with things. Yoga Versus, or &, this or that seems irrelevant. What may work for you in your life? That seems more relevant.
I think if you percieve conflict i think that is a choice you make.It can be hard not to potentially offend folk who may really dig any given religion but i think they all have a lot in common.
There is another one “Be still and know that I am god” this could mean 1) Still your mind and realise the divine 2) Sit still, and behold that I am god 3) Sit still, and recognise and pray to me
In order to decode what it means we have to look at the context. The context shows us that the first meaning is highly unlikely because there is no theme of meditation and self-knowledge and enlightenment in the bible. There is however a theme of obediance to a monarch like god that does anything he likes, punishes and rewards and dictates, so the latter two interpretations are more likely.
We have to recognise here that Catholicism is not an enlightenment tradition like Hinduism and Buddhism. There is no enlightenment philosophy(Samkhya, Yoga, Vedanta) There are no scriptures giving detailed instructions on how to get enlightenment like the Yogasutras, Upanishads. There is no tradition of gurus. But rather of prophets. So we should not try to see things in Catholicism that are not there.
Yoga is the complete opposite of what Catholicism teaches.
Self-realization vs worship of monarch god
Critical thinking vs faith in monarch god and god men
Controlling the mind vs following the ten commandments
Reincarnation vs resurrection
Dharama and Karma vs eternal damnation or eternal reward
Diversity vs dogma
Well, I see here something really beautiful in the Catholic church. Brother Andre was
canonized as a saint on 17-Oct-2010 in Rome, by the Vatican.
Brother Andre was a Catholic. He lived a modest life, helping the poor and the sick. He
performed thousands of miracles:
On TV I saw the church St. Joseph in Montreal. Impressive was the collection of many people who left their crutches there, after being healed by Brother Andre, now St. Andre.
[QUOTE=oak333;40432]
On TV I saw the church St. Joseph in Montreal. Impressive was the collection of many people who left their crutches there, after being healed by Brother Andre, now St. Andre
.[/QUOTE]
Sorry for writing this wrongly. It should read:
“On the TV I saw the church St. Joseoh in Montreal. Impressive was the collection of crutches left by the many people healed by Brother Andre, now
Saint Andre.”
Core 789.Quote…Let thine eye(s) be single(beam of light or whatever…)'
I’ve heard this interpreted by some yoga-persuaded peeople, to mean, refer to dharana, concentration,meditation or the third-eye, inner spiritual sight and so on.
Then Thomas replies with… For your eye “to be single” means to be fixed on God and his ways, and not trying to have it both ways, such as God AND the world, or God and sin.
Kareng says
The line is …Let thine eye be single and thy body be shall full of light…
The Gnostic’s have another suggestion: To the one Thomas gave…
The Lord is speaking of something more esoteric.
An interior STAR IN YOUR BROW
The centre of divine energy in your head.
If you are attached to things below, you cannot cleave to the things above
If your desires move through the body, heart or mind seeking objects of your desire in the world, your soul is held in bondage to those things and cannot ascend to the kingdom of heaven. To make this ascent of consciousness to the Divine Centre in your head, you must go, inward and upward…
Sounds familiar anyone?..Core789 you are correct in my humble opinion, and well spotted
The thing about the Gnostics is they said to look inward, that you dont have to leave the spot you are in to reach the kingdom of heaven
This being so, think about why the Gnostics were excluded from Biblical text
The single eye is the Ajna Chakra, a powerful tool, to see, know, heal, raise the dead, levitate, etc and reach the divine, and to know the truth of those around you, the liars, cheats the deceivers!.. …it can also be used incorrectly and that is also true, and then there is no light, only a darkness that also emanates from the eyes and body.
When the Ajna Chakra is being used correctly, the person emanates a light from their eyes that is immense, when the Ajna Chakra is permanantly open the lights emanates from not only the eyes(all) but the entire body, powerful in the company of others, attractive like a magnet,.The person is ALL KNOWING, nothing is hidden from them.
Jesus was operating with Ajna Chakra fully open!
Jesus was operating with Ajna Chakra fully open!
He could heal
levitate…walk on water
know the thoughts of others
know deceivers in his midst
know the demons of the Astral world and how they can enter the bodys of the living…M.Mag
Know his own outcome
Be so attractive that millions folow him still
His messages powerful and wise and so on
Read New testament again and you will see he was
In fact, references to breath and meditation are plentiful in the bible, and even Patanjali barely touches on asanas and I won’t.
As for breathing and breath control the very first reference appears in Genesis 2:7:
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
This first reference sets a pattern for the rest of the Bible, where breath is often equated with life itself, the soul or what some yogis call the Devine self within.
I am not a theologian but Catholics accept that the Holy Bible has many authors and the debth and breadth of their influence may have been influenced in turn by many spiritualities, as indeed Yoga itself has been.
Let us remember that Yoga seems to predates Hinduism, and we hear so often that Yoga is not a religion.
My point was not to get into a theological debate, I couldn’t hold a candle to this effort, but perhaps I’ll light one. My point was simply to reassure Thomas that yes there are many aspects of Yoga that mirror some wonderful values he seems to have embraced.
Namaste