One of Mumbai’s finest yoga teachers is Father Joe Perreira, a catholic priest who has given thousands a glimpse of how our finite bodies can reach for the infinite.

So when two clergymen from Somerset, UK, recently banned a yoga instructor from using the Church premises for her ‘un-Christian’ classes, it was ironic but not surprising. Ironic because the essence of yoga is uncannily similar to Biblical theology. And not surprising because ever since Galileo had the temerity to suggest that the Earth revolves around the sun, the Church has always been suspicious of ‘heathen’ cults.

Of course, today yoga is more than a cult. It is a 30 billion dollar global phenomenon with an estimated 50 million converts from Beverly Hills to Beijing, and growing in inverse proportion to rapidly emptying Church pews in the Christian world. Presumably, this doesn’t exactly make it the Sunday sermon favourite in ecclesiastical circles.

Now, again, far from surprisingly — Somerset’s divine fracas has been hijacked by yoga’s secular motherland. “It is foolish to link yoga with any religion,” says Guru Baba Ramdev of the VHP, “it is just a scientific tool to make the body and mind healthier.” I humbly beg to disagree with His Holiness, and — again, ironically enough — rest my case with the apex body of the Indian Catholic Church. “Yoga is deeply rooted in Hindu tradition” retorts Father Babu Joseph, spokesperson of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, “it is not just physical exercise but sadhana too.”

... contd.