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| Credit: Theproudhindu.com |
So I just had to ask ChatGPT about Doreen Virtue...
The Christian fundamentalist Doreen Virtue often claims that yoga is worship of Hindu gods on the authority of ex-Hindus who converted to Christianity.
This claim is well known, and it’s worth addressing carefully, because it mixes real elements of Hindu history with serious distortions.
Below is a clear, academically grounded assessment of the kind of argument made by Doreen Virtue and similar Christian fundamentalist writers.
1. What the claim usually says
The argument typically runs like this:
Yoga postures are acts of worship of Hindu gods.
Ex-Hindus who converted to Christianity testify that each pose invokes a specific deity.
Therefore practicing yoga—even without intent—is spiritual participation in Hindu worship.
This framing sounds authoritative because it appeals to:
insider testimony
religious conversion narratives
fear of involuntary spiritual contamination
But authority ≠ accuracy.
2. Where the claim has a grain of truth
There are elements that make the claim superficially plausible:
(a) Some postures are deity-named
As discussed earlier:
Naṭarājāsana (Śiva)
Hanumānāsana
Garuḍāsana
Kurmāsana
So yes:
Hindu mythology sometimes retroactively maps symbolism onto postures
(b) Some tantric yoga traditions were explicitly religious
Especially:
Nāth Śaiva yoga
Kaula / Śākta contexts
Ritualized body symbolism
So yes:
Yoga can be religious in some contexts
3. Where the argument collapses academically
3.1 Yoga ≠ a single tradition
There is no single “yoga system” in Hinduism.
Historically, yoga has been practiced by:
Śaivas
Vaiṣṇavas
Śāktas
Buddhists
Jains
Ascetics hostile to temple worship
Non-theistic philosophers (Sāṃkhya, Yoga)
Claiming yoga is intrinsically worship of Hindu gods is like claiming:
“All prayer is Catholic because the rosary exists.”
That’s a category error.
3.2 Most āsanas are not ancient or devotional
Key point often ignored:
The majority of postural yoga practiced today:
developed in the 19th–20th centuries
draws heavily on European gymnastics
was systematized by figures like Krishnamacharya
Many poses have no premodern textual pedigree at all, let alone deity associations.
Christian critics often:
treat modern yoga as if it were medieval Tantra
then treat medieval Tantra as if it were uniform Hindu orthodoxy
Neither is true.
3.3 Intention matters in ritual theory
In both Hindu and Christian theology, intention matters.
In Hindu ritual theory:
Pūjā requires:
mantra
saṅkalpa (intent)
consecration
Physical movement alone is not worship
In Christian theology:
Accidental bodily resemblance to pagan ritual is not idolatry
Otherwise:
kneeling
incense
candles
chanting
would all be suspect
So the idea that:
“A stretch done without belief secretly worships a god”
is not supported by Hindu ritual logic or Christian sacramental logic.
4. The problem with “ex-Hindu testimony”
Conversion testimonies are not neutral historical evidence.
They are:
theological narratives
shaped by the expectations of the new community
often simplified for evangelistic purposes
Common patterns:
exaggeration of uniformity (“all Hindus believe…”)
collapse of elite, folk, and tantric traditions into one
reinterpretation of symbolic practices as literal demonology
This doesn’t make converts dishonest—but it does make them unreliable as historians.
Academics treat such testimonies the same way they treat:
ex-Catholic claims about “all Catholics worship Mary”
ex-Buddhist claims about “all meditation invites demons”
As subjective religious reinterpretation, not fact.
5. A deeper irony
Ironically, this argument misrepresents Hinduism as much as yoga.
Many classical Hindu authorities would reject the claim outright:
Patañjali: no gods in postures
Advaita Vedānta: gods are provisional symbols
Smārta tradition: forms are pedagogical
Vaiṣṇava bhakti: yoga without devotion is incomplete
Tantric Śaivas: ritual requires initiation
Christian fundamentalists often present a hyper-literalized, demonized version of Hinduism that no major Hindu school actually teaches.
6. Why this argument persists
This rhetoric serves specific purposes:
boundary enforcement (“Christian vs pagan”)
fear-based pastoral control
rejection of embodied spirituality
reaction against modern syncretism
It’s not an academic claim; it’s a theological warning narrative.
7. Bottom line
❌ Yoga is not inherently worship of Hindu gods
❌ Physical poses alone do not constitute worship in Hinduism
❌ Ex-Hindu testimony is not historical proof
✅ Some yoga traditions use deity symbolism
✅ Context, intent, and framework determine meaning
A more accurate statement would be:
Yoga originated in multiple Indian traditions, some religious and some non-theistic. Certain postures have symbolic associations with Hindu deities in specific contexts, but practicing yoga does not automatically constitute worship.
Anything stronger than that is polemic, not scholarship.
If you want, I can:
dissect a specific Doreen Virtue claim line-by-line
compare this rhetoric to earlier Christian anti-pagan polemics
or explain how Hindu practitioners themselves would respond to these accusations
Just tell me.
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