Namaste and The Controversial Truth

By Stephanie Woods

The gesture namaste represents the belief that there is a divine spark within each of us that is located in the heart chakra. The gesture is an acknowledgment of the soul in one by the soul in another. Namaste means “the god in me bows to the god in you.” Yoga instructors will lead students in saying namaste at the end of a class. Many Christians practice yoga for physical fitness and it has become a popular exercise regardless of age, race or religion. But can yoga be practiced for the physical benefits without compromising your spiritual beliefs? I think practicing the exercise of yoga without the namaste gesture, such as in the privacy of your home, is harmless and the time can also be used to meditate on scripture or in prayer.  One of my favorite verses to meditate on is Psalms 139:23-24, “ Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts; And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

It has been argued that saying namaste and even participating in more spiritually focused yoga classes does not go against Christianity. But as with so many things that have crept into popular culture and become tolerated simply because they are thrown in our faces on a daily basis, this does not mean it is acceptable in the eyes of God.  The first of the Ten Commandments says, “thou shalt have no other Gods before me”.  If I am bowing and saying that the “god” in me recognizes the “god” in you then I am, in fact, breaking the first commandment. God is saying that we are to have no other gods. In Exodus 20:5 God says that He is a jealous God.

Acknowledgement of other gods or divine entities will not be tolerated by the one true God nor should it be tolerated by Christians.  Be careful when choosing to follow popular culture, weighing everything against the word of God. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God, Romans 12:2.

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