HYPOSTATIC UNION AND THE SUBTLE BODY
AN ANALYSIS OF CHRISTIAN YOGIC PRACTICE
Keywords:
HYPOSTATIC UNION, SUBTLE BODY, CHRISTIAN YOGAAbstract
The issue of Christian yogic practice has been central in discussion of Catholic adaptation to Indian culture. Sister Ishpriya once wrote that Christianity and Hinduism meet in “the cave of the heart,” a reference to a central yogic practice of seeing the heart not only as a silent place of refuge but as a microcosmic representation of the universe itself.1 Of course, Sister Vandana touched on many central yogic themes in her insightful reflections on the prayer of the name in the Hindu and Christian traditions.2 Father G. Gispert-Sauch has also explored the sacred syllable “Om” and its relation to Christian spirituality.3 More specifically, authors such as V.F. Vineeth and J.M. Dechanet have outlined specific aspects of what can be called “a Christian yoga” that assumes its formal shape from the yogic tradition proceeding from Patanjali but draws its content from Christian spiritual and scriptural reflection.4 Within the West, the development of Christian yoga has been seen as a central and suggestive aspect of the ashram and inculturation movements within Indian Catholicism.
References
Sister Ishapriya, “The Cave of the Heart,” Vidyajyoti 40 (February 1976).
Vandana Mataji, Nama Japa (Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass, 1995.
G. Gispert-Sauch, S. J. “A Controversial Syllable,” Vidyajyoti 45 (May 1981).
V.F. Vineeth, CMI, Yoga of Spirituality, Bangalore: Vidya Vanam Publications, 1995;
J.M. Dechanet, O.S.B. Christian Yoga, London: Burns and Oakes, 1960.
Catherine Cornille, The Guru in Indian Catholicism: Ambiguity or Opportunity of Inculturation? Louvain: Peeters Press, 1991;
Helen Ralson, Christian Ashrams: A New Religious Movement in Contemporary India, Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1987.
Razinger, “Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on Some Aspects of Christian Meditation,” Word and Worship 23, 2 (February 1990),
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, “Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on Some Aspects of Christian Meditation,” Word and Worship 23,3 (March-April 1990).
Sita Ram Goel, Catholic Ashrams: Sannyasins or Swindlers, Delhi: Voice of India Publications, 1994.
Mathew N. Schmalz, “Ad Experimentum: Theology, Anthropology and the Paradoxes of Indian Catholic Inculturation,” Theology and the Social Sciences, ed. Michael Barnes, Maryknoll NY: Orbis Books, 2001.
Mathew N. Schmalz, “Christianity: Culture, Identity, and Agency,” A Companion to the Anthropology of India, ed. Elizabeth Clark-Deces, London: Wiley Blackwell, 2011.
Jean Varenne, Yoga and the Hindu Tradition, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1976.
“Maitri Upanishad,” in Hindu Scriptures, trans. R. C. Zaehner (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992),
Patanjali, The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, trans. Georg Feuerstein, Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions International, 1989,
Matri Dham’s “Twin Heart Meditation” is a Christian re-framing of “The Twin Heart Meditation” developed by Choa Kok Sui, see http://www. meditationontwinhearts.org
“Svetasvatara Upanishad,” in Hindu Scriptures, trans. R.C. Zaehner, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992
Guy Beck, Sonic Theology, Motilal Banarasidass, 1995,
Karl Rahner, “On the Theology of the Incarnation,” in A Rahner Reader, ed. Gerald A. McCool, New York: Crossroad, 1989.
Dan Sperber, Rethinking Symbolism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975.
Thomas P. Kasulis, “Philosophy as Metapraxis,” in Discourse and Practice, ed. Frank Reynolds and David Tracy, Albany: SUNY Press, 1992.
