THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
While the Anglican Church may shun Yoga, in Kerala the Syro-Malabar church -
regarded as the oldest in the country - has decided to embrace the Hindu
tradition of sanyas. This and other cultural aspects like bhajans are becoming a
part of new curriculum for training the Christian clergy in the
church.
‘‘Priests
have to work in the Indian milieu. So it’s necessary that they learn about
India’s strong spiritual foundations like the Gurukul system, Sanyas, and
Varnashram’’ church spokesman Paul Thelekat told TOI. The
curriculum, which is called the ‘Charter for priestly formation in the
Syro-Malabar church’, has been reformed and promulgated and is going to be
applied in every seminary, he
said.
‘‘We were
taught the basics of Indian philosophical systems as part of
theory,’’ says Thelekat, but now there’s focus on practical
learning.
The clerical
curriculum includes an introduction to Hinduism. Although the usual training is
given by Indologists, of late seminaries are being advised to take direct
assistance of sanyasis, to prepare students for ascetic life.
‘‘Undoubtedly, there are a lot of good ideas in the Indic way of
life which we must incorporate and use. Priests must imbibe the rich Indian
traditions and be open to new ideas,’’ said
Thelekat.
But then why all this
fuss about Yoga in the UK? ‘‘That’s absolute nonsense. Even we
were taught Yoga during our training. It’s a method by which you can
recollect yourself. I do it everyday. It’s good not only for the body but
also for the mind,’’ said the
priest.
Early this year, a
church was opened at Pariman in Kollam district with Jesus seated in padmasana
and was called ‘Jagat Jyoti Man-dir’. While the church calls this
Indianisation, critics are wary of all the changes, suspecting it to be an
attempt to confuse people.