Yoga and Christianity: OM

This is the second article in my Yoga and Christianity series. As stated before, I am a practicing Catholic, and these articles are meant to be both an introduction to the philosophy of yoga and proof that that philosophy is not entirely incompatible with Christianity. Today we will discuss the sacred syllable OM.

Symbolism is the language of spirituality. And Language itself is of course a symbol-words symbolize concepts and things. In the Book of Genesis, God says “Let there be light,” and of course the light appears. The point seems to be that God didn’t have to do anything. He isn’t tinkering with photons or determining the speed that light will travel-He just has to say something and it is. The ancient authors of Genesis are saying something profound about both the nature of God and the awesome power of language. Mothers may tell their children “it’s just words” when a bully teases them, but both the bully and his victim know words have the potential to wield great power.

Saint John calls Jesus Christ the Logos, or Word. “In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God (John 1:1).” Christ is both the Thing (God) and the symbol of the Thing. Greek philosophers had long speculated on the concept of Logos, and early Church leaders like Justin Martyr used the Logos philosophies to bring people who were already familiar with these concepts into the Church.

Speaking of words and symbolism, one of the most familiar words to the yogi is “Om,” pronounced Aum. Words are the symbol of their underlying concepts, and yoga philosophy takes this a step further. Words can be symbols of other words. These symbolic words are usually only one syllable and are usually referred to as “seed sounds.” The word “Hatha,” as in Hatha Yoga, combines the seed sounds “ha” and “tha,” or “sun” and “moon.” The Sanskrit word for “sun” is of course surya, as in surya namaskar. Ha is the symbol of surya. In Hinduism and yoga philosophies you can find seed sounds for deities, abstract concepts, and more. Om is one such seed sound. Each of the chakras has a seed sound, and Om corresponds to the 6th (ajna) chakra, the Third Eye. The Third Eye is considered the “eye of knowledge” and “the teacher within.” It is our bridge between the physical and spiritual, between the bodily chakras and the crown chakra, which is not physical.

In yoga philosophy, the sound Om was literally the first thing. The vibrations of that first spoken Om emanated outward from the divine and led eventually to the created order. Sounds an awful lot like the Genesis account, in which the sound of God’s voice is the driving force behind creation, doesn’t it? Om is a profound symbol to meditate upon, and is the basic mantra of yoga, Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism. Even the short syllable “om” is broken down in such meditation into something like “ah-oo-um,” A-U-M. The three syllables within the syllable provide further meditation. They are seen as symbols of the Hindu triad Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva, of mind-body-soul, of creation-preservation-destruction. I would dare say it could be meditated upon as symbols of Father-Son-Holy Spirit.

Etymologically, Om may be related to the Hebrew word “Amen.” “Amen” is used to mean “verily,” “truly,” or “so be it.” “Om” is often part of longer mantras in which is has the same meanings. Because it is considered the sacred sound and the agent of creation, Om is sometimes said in yoga or Hinduism to be the name of God. In the Book of Revelation, Christ is referred to as “the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the beginning of God’s creation. (Rev. 3:14)” In this context, Amen is a lot like Om, no?

This article is just a taste of the many meanings of Om. Only by meditating on the sacred syllable can we truly understand the symbolism contained in it. I encourage you, next time your yoga teacher chants Om in class, make the most of it. Chant along, feeling the vibrations of the word, knowing that one small sound can have a world of meaning. Namaste!

Yoga and Christianity: Namaste

Human beings have an innate desire and perhaps need of ritual. I provide ritual in my yoga class-outside of any religious context-and sate my own need for ritual in the Catholic Mass. Yes, this article is about religion, so if you are offended in any way please stop reading. I won’t hold it against you. I intend this to be the first article in a series.

In the mass, according to the Vatican II Council Fathers, Christ is present in four ways, as this article so articulately states it (I highly recommend both of Louie Verecchio’s articles on St. John Chrysostom’s Homily on the Holy Pentacost for any Catholics interested in learning more about the liturgy and the upcoming changes). He is present in the scriptures, congregation, in the priest, who acts in persona Christi at the consecration, and of course, in a very special way, in the Eucharist itself. During the Mass at key moments the priest will say “the Lord be with you,” to which the faithful reply “and also with you” or “and with your spirit,” more accurately. Beginning in 2011 or 2012, congregations in the United States will go back to saying “and with your spirit.” The congregation and the priest acknowledge that the same Spirit (as noted in the linked article, St. John Chrysostom plays with the relationship between “spirit,” lower case, and “Spirit,” as in the Holy Spirit) is in all present.

This reminds me very much of the Indian word Namaste, which I find myself saying often in my yoga classes. It means “the spirit in me bows to the spirit in you,” or “the Divine in me acknowledges the Divine in you.” Yoga sprang up in the Indus Valley millennia ago in an essentially Hindu context, but it can be seen as the philosophy that underpins Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism-to varying degrees respectively, of course. To the Hindu, all beings share the same Spirit-Atman, and at Enlightenment the individual soul is reunited to the universal Atman. The “divine” that is meant in the term Namaste refers to Brahman, a concept that is too overwhelming to dive into in this brief article. Suffice it to say Brahman, in simplest terms, can be called “God.” The profound truth one supposedly understands at Enlightenment is that Atman is Brahman.

Now, of course, I’ve already declared myself a Catholic and as such do not subscribe to the belief in Atman, at least as Hindus understand it. Even as a yoga teacher, I do not feel the need to believe this, even if many of my students do. As a Catholic, I can see similarities and parallels between my religion and Hinduism that make me feel that yoga can be a philosophy for people like me as well. For instance, at the Eucharist, God joins himself physically to me. I can in a real sense say that “God is in me.” Any yogi, regardless of religion, would say the same thing. When I say “Namaste” to my class, I do not mean that I acknowledge that my students and I in any sense “share” a soul, but I acknowledge that they, like me, have a soul. We’re made of the same “stuff.” I acknowledge that there is something divine in them (a “divine spark” if you want to bring Kabbalah into this) that my own soul can see, and I bow before that divine spark in awe and humility. Namaste.