Jesus as Yogi : The art of deception and conversion by Christian missionaries in India

Christianity has the rancor of the sick at its very core—the instinct against the healthy, against health. Everything that is well-constituted, proud, gallant and, above all, beautiful gives offence to its ears and eyes." said Friedrich Nietzsche

Large number of forced religious conversion in India by Christian missionaries through deception are not reported in mainstream news. In latest addition, Jesus Christ as a yogi is introduced as one of the main conversion ploys in the country. Christian Assemblies International published an article that Bible warns against yoga as yoga is a satanic practice. But on another hand in India, Christian missionaries depict Jesus Christ as a Yogi to deceit naive people. If yoga is a satanic practice according to the Bible then how come Jesus Christ be a yogi? Christian missionaries operates on a very subconscious level. I strongly believe that religion is a very personal affair of an individual and i will never discriminate another human on basis of religion he/she follows. Everyone must be free to follow whatever religion he/she believes in. The problem comes when a religion claims to be the only path of truth and start to suppress other religions/faiths. The Abrahamic religions are having the feeling of exclusivity over truth. Throughout history abrahamic religions has been engaged in bloodbath of native cultures/polytheists. In contrast, eastern religious gurus like Shri Ramkrishna Paramhansa said,"Many are the names of God, and infinite the forms that lead us to know Him. In whatsoever name or form you desire to call Him, in that very form and name you will see Him." This is the inclusive approach, an idea of mutual respect rather than war for superiority.

If you look at the economic and social status of the majority of the christian converts, you will find that money and money alone plays the biggest role. Christian pastors from all over the world are coming to India on tourist VISA, making fool of gullible people, luring them with money and false notion of heaven. Christian Missionaries often use devious tactics to deceive innocent villagers in order to convert them. Christian missionaries generally prey on the poorest, mostly rural people under the guise of helping them out of poverty when in fact they have chosen to convert them because they are the most uneducated and therefore they are the most likely to fall for their deception.

Example of deceit by Christian Missionaries in India :

In rural areas in India, Christian missionaries use to place a stone idol of a Hindu Deity in bucket of water. The statue will sink in the bucket. Then they bring a wax-coated idol of Jesus or Virgin Mary (though Christianity prohibits idols) and place those in the bucket. Due to the wax-coat, the Christian idol will float. The Missionary will then conclude that because the Christian idol floated, it is greater and more powerful. The gullible villagers, not knowing anything about buoyancy or density, falls for this fake propaganda of Christian missionaries.

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Another common deception is when Christian Missionaries will disguise themselves as religious leaders of the local religion and subtly attempt to convert the locals. The classic example mentioned by Christian Aggression organisation was that of Robert de Nobili, a Jesuit from France, who came to India in the early 17th century. He adopted the saffron robe, started to live in a hut, squatted on the floor for conducting his discourses, became a vegetarian and gave up liquor, projected that he was a Brahmin saint from Rome and that the Bible was one of the lost Vedas (Hindu holy scriptures), and generally tried to pass himself as another Hindu sanyasi (saint). He was successful, and many Hindus came to him for spiritual reasons of which many he converted. Though Nobili used this tactic centuries ago, this deceitful and treacherous method is still in use by Missionaries even today in different forms.

As David Frawley, an American Hindu teacher and author states in one of his article,"In India today, the image of Christ as a yogi is not used by Christians to honor the teachings of Yoga. Jesus as a yogi is a new form of conversion propaganda employed by those who do not follow Yoga at all, but use the story to subvert a deeper questioning of their motives and the biases of their theologies.

Christian Missionaries tell uninformed Hindus that Jesus was a yogi or the avatar Kalki (a ploy Muslim missionaries use for Mohammed). But they do not direct people to honor Yoga teachings or Yoga gurus as well. Rather they say that since Christ was a great yogi, you can gain everything spiritually by converting to Christianity and do not need the rest of Yoga. They quote Hindu gurus praising Jesus but do not praise these gurus or their teachings in turn. Some Christian priests in India formally study Yoga or Vedanta, not to follow these teachings, but to aid in communication for converting Hindus, using Hindu concepts for their advantage, like Jesus as a yogi.

If Christians want to honor the image of Christ as a yogi, let them first use it in Rome or in any other major Christian country or church! Otherwise it is dishonest. Let them honor Yoga, not simply Jesus, and the Hindu background of the Yoga tradition."

The war Christian missionaries are up against native cultures must be checked by government. It is high time we need an anti conversion law to prohibit such type of mass level conversion in tribal areas. Religion, should not be used as a tool to deceit people, rather than a path for higher enlightenment.

– by SHAURYA RITWIK, Shaurya is Sub-Editor at NewsGram and writes on Geo-politcs, Culture, Indology and Business. Twitter Handle – @shauryaritwik