2 8 S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 5 - 1 S p r i n g 2 0 1 9 tied to any elements typical for religions of institutionalized or social type. Thus, even though religious scholars research the phenomenon of numinous experience, religions cannot monopolize the “right to such experience”. The absence of the religious elements – according to our view, makes it impossible to put Yoga-darshana into the category of religions. Various authors like Werner (2008, 64–65) say that Yoga as a darshan was first a method developed in ashrams as a special area of training, but it developed also its philosophical system to give a reference frame to the training. Werner, does not seem to see a link between Yoga or Sāmkhya and religion. Eliade (1997, 50–51) considers Yoga as a practical system and a philosophy. He states that Sāmkhya is an atheistic system, whilst Yoga is theistic. Presently, in the UK a new wave of discussion about Yoga as a part of “Hindu religion” or its independence from religion started, due to an emerging pressure from UK government related institutions that would like to have Yoga teaching standardized (IYN 2018). This is in turn due to an exponentially growing wellness and fitness industry that needs simple, formalized Yoga training devoid of any mystical or spiritual elements. It also brings up the question, who is qualified to teach Yoga (here Yoga means not onlyāsanas, but the whole spectrum of yogic practices). Ambikananda (email conversation with the author, 2018), holds that “I do not believe we have to be Hindus to practice Yoga nor do we have to be Hindus to teach Yoga. It can indeed, be taught outside of a ‘religious’ context if you are teaching simply asana and a bit of pranayama. Once you go into its theology and start teaching that…well, it becomes more complex and people should know the limitations better than they do now. For example, one of the fastest growing ‘yogas’ in the States is ‘Christian Yoga’. Now, there are some very real and definite differences between the Yoga-darshana and Christian theology. Which one is going to be subverted, do you think?” Whilst there is no evidence of the existence of Yoga theology (of the Western type), it appears as if Yoga should be taught by a Hindu, as otherwise the deeper essence of Yoga is incomprehensible for a Yoga teacher not familiar with “Hindu religion”. Thus, even though it is true that many Yoga teachers had not studied Indian philosophy, but this depends on their understanding of Yoga. It is also true that to master the essence of any Yoga system needs a lot of study (theoretical and practical). Nevertheless, it is not a “theological” study, but the study of the processes and aims defined within a given school of Yoga. The great popularity of Yoga evoked an equally wide spectrum of Christian reactions ranging from concordance to discordance, as many Christians do practice Yoga (Manjackal 2018). Jain (2012, 1–8) investigates the ways of transforming Yoga from its “pre-colonial” forms to the present multifaceted but mainly postural Yoga. She notes that some Christians call Yoga demonic due to fear from eastern influence. Some Hindus call postural Yoga a Yoga designed for business purposes and call for recognizing all the structural aspects of Yoga. She also notices that Christian communities designed a number of applied Yoga types such as Christian Yoga or Holy Yoga, where Yoga is claimed to provide a universal set of techniques that can be used to strengthen a Christian’s relationship with Christ. Malkovsky (2017, 34–36) relates that he as a theologian gained much from practicing postural Yoga. Then he continues to analyze the Patañjali Yoga Sūtras from the point of view of benefits to a Christian. He also expresses a view on Īśvara-pranidhāna– the last point of the niyamas. The term Īśvara which – as it was mentioned above – in fact covers a wide range of interpretations from Lord, Creator to the Absolute Consciousness. Pranidhāna also has a number of interpretations from surrendering (our deeds) to Īśvara, to acknowledging that we are “players” in the grandiose project of manifested existence evoked by Īśvara. He then compares the differences between the perception of God by Christians and Yoga, though he notes that postural Yoga does not deal with other angas, “limbs” of Yoga. His conclusion is that postural Yoga and Christianity can be reconciled and practiced one along the other. He recommends to the Christian critics of Yoga that there is little doubt regarding the validity and significance of the Yoga experience of interiority, spirit, and transcendence. Ambikananda (2018) further notes: “To deny that Yoga is a part of Hinduism is a cultural misappropriation that is shameful and one that Western yogis have indulged for far too long.” This view is quite close to the observations of Veer (2009, 263–278) that in India Yoga became a “cultural heritage” and became also a part of nationalist politics. There have been Catholic monks like Déchanet (1965) [8], who discovered also that practicing Yoga helped them in both health-wise and in their Christian life. Also, it was found that through “Christian Yoga” religious people, who are dissatisfied with the standard tools of their religion, often have the desire to get deeper in their spiritual quest and for that purpose they start using Yoga. At present there is a vast number of publications and organizations that offer support in this direction (like Christian Yoga Association). Still, as Yoga
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