FEBRUARY 25/MARCH 9, 2016

New Age author Luis S R Vas

Luis Santa Rita Vas

Human Potential Institute, 203 C, La Chapelle, Evershine Nagar, Malad (W), Mumbai 400 064, telephone 28885600, vasluis@hotmail.com, luissrvas@gmail.com.

Who is Luis S. R. Vas?

He is a Goan Indian “Catholic” living in Malad, Mumbai, a prolific writer on New Age themes and the occult.

In my assessment, he is the most hard-core of Indian New Age/occult writers with a Catholic background.

His works range from a compendium of the works of secular humanistic psychologists to a biography of Theosophist/failed (he abdicated and ran away) New Age messiah J. Krishnamurti to alternative therapies and holistic healing, and eastern meditations and their “masters“.

Several of Vas’ books are copyrighted and published by the Catholic-run Bombay Saint Paul Society, St. Pauls “Better Yourself Books”. I bought copies of the books from Catholic bookstores across the country. One of the titles, “Discover the Power of your Inner Self” is presently on sale at the Liturgical Centre in the National Shrine Cathedral Basilica of St. Thomas in Madras-Mylapore which is operated by the Sister Disciples of the Divine Master.

He is a regular contributor to India’s leading New Age journal Life Positive.

The Human Potential Movement is New Age (Vatican Document on New Age, February 3, 2003).

Luis SR Vas
is cited by leading motivational teacher and best-selling
New Age authors such as Caroline Myss.

He
has authored at least three dozen books, some with Anita Luis, “during a decade-long career in feature writing, publishing, and corporate communications“, some of which are examined on the following pages.

1. Mind of J.Krishnamurti, Jaico, December 1975

http://www.vedicbooks.net/mind-krishnamurti-p-869.html
EXTRACT

“The Mind of J Krishnamurti” edited by Luis S R Vas is a must read for those who want to know the brilliant mind of J Krishnamurti. Call him what you like, a philosopher, theosophist, psychologist, spiritualist or a teacher he has carved a place among the greats. The book contains a collection of commentaries, reviews and evaluations of his thoughts. The editor is being too modest to call the book an introduction to Krishnamurti’s thinking. It is a compendium perceived and understood by his many admirers among who were Aldous Huxley and Henry Miller.

Krishnamurti gave up fame, wealth and a well organised group of 100,000 followers under the Order of the Star for his inherent belief in liberation and truth. He has had a chequered history. He was discovered at the age of 12 by Dr Annie Besant, herself a genius and a great theosophist and the first foreigner to hold the post of President of the Indian Congress, a rare achievement. She brought Krishnamurti and his brother up like her own children. She gave them the best of education and an environment conducive for their intellectual development. Dr Besant herself was a noted clairvoyant. She saw in him the making of a world teacher, the ability to bring a new era. Indeed, he was heralded as an awatar.

He, however, did not want anything to do with power and organisational structure. He wanted to find his way alone and unaided. He dissolved the society, “Order of the Star”, gave back all that Dr Besant and her colleague, C W Leadbeater had raised to ensure his economic independence.

He renounced the role of a teacher and considered himself just a man among men. “I cannot “teach” another, he says, “the perception of Truth, of Reality, is essentially an individual process.” He believed that man being free is wholly responsible to himself unguided by any plan, by any spiritual authority, by any divine dispensation whatsoever.

2. Discover the Power of Your Inner Self – Effective ways to Enhance Your Well-being and Spiritual Growth’, St Pauls Better Yourself Books, 1998

http://shop.ucanindia.in/discover-the-power-of-your-inner-self.html

The human mind contains a wealth of power that can help a person face up squarely to the challenges posed by the stressful life one is forced to live today. What it does however need in order to tap its resources is effective stimulations. It is this need that is ably fulfilled by this book.

On the back cover of the St Pauls edition (an extract):

Modern men and women live in a state of perpetual anxiety as a result of the uncertain times and mounting pressures from all quarters. The outcome is accumulating stress in the workplace, at home and everywhere else. Fortunately psychologists of different persuasions have developed techniques to help cope with these stresses and maintain one’s sanity.

These include Carl Roger’s (sic) Client-centred Therapy, Fritz Perls’ Gestalt Therapy, Eric Berne’s Transactional Analysis, Aaron Beck’s Cognitive Therapy, and Albert Ellis’ Rational Emotive Therapy.

There are sections inside on Neuro Linguistic Programming or NLP, Yoga, Zen Meditation, Vipassana Meditation, Centering Prayer, John Main’s “Christian” Meditation, etc.

The book has a chapter on the New Age Holistic Healing Centre run by the Medical Mission Sisters at Bibwewadi, in Pune to which he pays tribute. In it, Vas writes about their treatments that also employ AcuYoga, Zen Shiatsu, Polarity Therapy, Dream Therapy, Reflexology, mandalas, etc.

3. Master Approaches to
New Age Alternative therapies,
Pustak Mahal, 2001

http://www.pustakmahal.com/books/book.php/master-approach-new-age-alternative-therapies-luis-s-r-vas/isbn-9788122307450/zb,,26b,a,0,INR,0,a/index.html

This book is a masterly volume providing an overview of the different approaches to healing as propounded by thinkers and researchers over time.
For instance Choa Kok Sui, a Philipino, practising Pranic Healing claims to cure illnesses of eye, liver, kidney, heart in a few session through it.
Dr. Benedict Lust, the father of Naturopathy believed that man could stay healthy and strong as long as he lived in accordnance with Natural laws.
Including these, the book in all brings the basic theories and practices of over 30 such masters from every part of the globe.

4. Meditation, Pustak Mahal, 2001

http://www.pustakmahal.com/books/book.php/meditation-luis-s-r-vas/isbn-9788122306910/zb,,228,a,21,USD,0,a/index.html

The book brings you teachings of
*Zen Masters
*Mahesh Yogi, John Main, Chanmyay Sayadew, Deepak Chopra
*Taoist, Tibetan, Hara and Therapeutic Meditation Masters
*Jose Silva, Vilayat Inayat Khan, Raimon Panikkar, Osho Rajneesh, Douglas Harding

5. Pranic Living and Healing, New Age Books, Pustak Mahal, 2003

https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Pranic_Living_and_Healing.html?id=8QOqK221Xf0C&redir_esc=y

Is it possible to live on sunlight and boiled water and no other food? Practitioner of Pranic living assure us that it is possible. The practice is called pranic nourishment and its practitioners claim that in the coming decades it may be the answer to global hunger and malnutrition. Anybody can live on light provided they follow an eight-point plan to change their lifestyle, some of its practioners maintain. In this book, the author presents all the evidence for the claims and counterclaims and other fascinating material on this subject of pranic nourishment, giving all sides of the picture to enable readers to decide for themselves on the merits of the concerned issues, including the healing properties of prana.

6. A Handbook of Holistic Healing, St. Pauls Better Yourself Books,
2003

http://stpaulsbyb.com/byb_book_show.php?book_id=540

On the back cover of the St Pauls edition (an extract):

Prayer, visualization, nutrition, touch, awareness, faith, intuition, meditation, exercises, reflexology and a host of other techniques and therapies go to make up holistic healing. Put together in this book are related practitioners from equally varied fields of medicine and healing therapy that would greatly benefit readers without the bother of extensive reading.

Chapter 2 of the book dwells on esoteric life force energy, chakras, soliciting the help of spirit guides for healing, “connecting with the Tao”, etc. Chapters on (New Age) Intuitiveness, Therapeutic Touch and Reflexology are included, and a whole lot more.

7. The Healing Breath, New Age Books, Motilal Banarsidass, 2004

http://www.amazon.com/The-Healing-Breath-Luis-S-R/dp/8178221640

Life force is contained in the breath that we breathe. Altered states of awareness and profound healing are possible with just using the breath. Scientists have found that just 15 minutes of deep breathing can give us all the energy we need for the day. The Healing Breath described the numerous benefits that simple breathing techniques can bring us, e.g., proper breathing, pranayama, colour breathing, etc.

8. J. Krishnamurti (Great liberator or failed Messiah), Motilal Banarsidass, 2004

https://books.google.co.in/books/about/J_Krishnamurti.html?id=9-fzHE8pRlUC

This book makes an appraisal of various assessments of and changes against Jiddu Krishnamurti who was selected to be a Messiah and a World Teacher by the Theosophical Society, Did he come up to the expectations of the Theosophical Society? How original a thinker was he? How great was his impact. How accessible are his teachings? Luis S. R. Vas tries to find answers to these and many other related questions in this book

9. Meditation Masters and Their Insights, St. Pauls Better Yourself Books, 2009

http://stpaulsbyb.com/byb_book_show.php?book_id=936

On the back cover of the St Pauls edition (an extract):

Meditation masters covered: Ramana Maharishi (sic), D.T. Suzuki, Alan Watts, Ama Samy SJ, Thich Nhat Hanh, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Fr. John Main, Thomas Keating, Fr. Basil Pennington, S.N. Goenka, Fr. Tony de Mello, Kim Nataraja, Eknath Easwaran, Jon Kabat-Zinn, J. Krishnamurti, etc.

Other Luis SR Vas titles published by St. Pauls Better Yourself Books:

10. Use Your Mind To Heal Your Body, 1989

http://stpaulsbyb.com/byb_book_show.php?book_id=1013

Can your mind change the physical structure of your brain? Recent research in neuroplasticity shows that it can. This volume gathers together the results of various scientific experiments on how to use the mind to heal the body.

11. Let Your Brain Be Your Doctor, 2010

http://stpaulsbyb.com/byb_book_show.php?book_id=1248

Pioneering doctors are showing their patients how they can consult their brains and cure themselves in case of chronic illnesses through simple techniques known as ideomotor signalling. This book provides extensive instructions on how you can do likewise.Scientists have also discovered that there is a brain in the heart, in addition to the one in the head. The book provides you with techniques to synchronize it with the brain in your head so that your overall health is the beneficiary.

https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Let_Your_Brain_Be_Your_Doctor.html?id=BmL1lAEACAAJ&redir_esc=y

This book provides extensive instructions on how you can consult your brains and cure yourselves in case of chronic illness through simple techniques known as ideomotor signaling.

12. Build A Better Brain At Any Age, 2011

http://stpaulsbyb.com/byb_book_show.php?book_id=1389

Numerous discoveries made in the 20th century about the nature of the brain have overturned earlier beliefs about the brain and have made it clear that you can rebuild your brain at any age to achieve a more fulfilling life. The author details the new discoveries about the nature of the brain and its capabilities. He also demonstrates here the numerous ways in which you can use this knowledge to rewire your brain so that you perform at your optimum capabilities. The book brings you a new vision and points the way to a new vigour in mental faculties.

13.
28
New Age Healing Therapies, Pustak Mahal, 2011

Image not available

https://www.sapnaonline.com/books/28-new-age-healing-therapies-luis-sr-8122307450-9788122307450;jsessionid=3EBB6C7DD68B48C2C9684C0D5F1A5E86

Luis S. R. Vas’ articles on the web pages of Life Positive editor@lifepositive.net New Age magazine:

1. Mindfulness Meditation
http://www.lifepositive.com/Spirit/Meditation/Mindfulness_meditation102009.asp October 2009

Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, is a scientist, writer, and meditation teacher engaged in bringing mindfulness into the mainstream of medicine and society. He gives public talks and workshops throughout the world on mindfulness and its applications for moving towards greater sanity and balance in today’s 24/7 multi-tasking-addicted, high-speed world. He is Emeritus Professor of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he was the founding executive director of the Center For Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society, and founder (in 1979) and former director of its world-renowned Stress Reduction Clinic. He is the author of Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain and Illness (Delta, 1991), Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life (Hyperion, 1994), and co-author, with his wife Myla, of Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting (Hyperion, 1997). His work has contributed to a growing movement of mindfulness into mainstream institutions in our society such as medicine, health care and hospitals, schools, corporations, prisons, and professional sports.
“Mindfulness is a certain way of paying attention that is healing, that is restorative, that is reminding you of who you actually are so that you don’t wind up getting entrained into being a human doing rather than a human being,” says Kabat-Zinn. “The practice of mindfulness meditation can be profoundly transformative and healing, and make it easier for one to experience the web of interconnectedness in which we live and work. It can give rise to greater insight and clarity, as well as greater empathy for oneself and others.”

The most recent study using the pioneering work of Dr Kabat-Zinn comes out of the US, where researchers associated with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre showed chronic lower back pain can be eased by meditation.

“At the conclusion of the eight-week programme, those with chronic lower back pain noted a decreased amount of pain and a slight improvement in physical function,” the researchers said in an article in the journal, Pain.

John Coolidge was alone with his mind. Paralysed and rendered deaf by a disease that had attacked his nervous system, Coolidge’s eyes were his one link with the world. Now to protect his eyes, the doctors had decreed that each night they must be covered with gauze. He was left totally isolated – unable to feel, unable to move, unable to hear, unable to see, unable even to breathe without the respirator, which kept him alive. “The good news was that my mind worked fine. The bad news was that my mind worked fine,” says Coolidge, looking back on the experience.
Through the long hours of the night, Coolidge lay awake and alone, too terrified to sleep. For some, it would have been a prescription for panic. However, John Coolidge knew to seek refuge in the one physical sensation he had left – his breath.

“I had been taught a meditation technique in which you watch your breath–in goes the good air, out goes the bad. The ventilator was moving my chest up and down, and it was the one solid thing I had going for me,” he recalls. For Coolidge, the simple act of concentrating his awareness on the flow of air into his body provided the anchor that kept his mind under control.
In the two decades since Kabat-Zinn founded the Mindfulness Center, more than 10,000 patients have been through his stress reduction programme –almost all referred by physicians and other health care professionals.

Thousands have taken classes at the more than 240 mind-body stress reduction clinics that have sprung up around the world, many created on Kabat-Zinn’s template. Dramatic reductions in physical and emotional symptoms are common among course participants suffering from a broad range of chronic diseases and medical problems, even as their ability to handle pain and stress increases. It was at such an eight-week programme that John Coolidge learned to watch his breath, three years before the auto accident that left his pelvis crushed and triggered the onset of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a trauma-related disorder that causes paralysis by attacking the lining of the nerves. “It felt like I was dying in phases,” recalls Coolidge, shortly after he was released from six months of hospitalisation. “I basically meditated my way all through it. My folks would literally see my heart rate and respiration rate go down on the monitors. You could literally see the relaxation electronically.” Before the ordeal was over, Coolidge would use the techniques for more than just stress management. As feeling slowly began to return to his limbs, the lumbar punctures that tracked his recovery – tests in which electrically charged needles were inserted into the nerves –became increasingly painful.
“It was like getting hooked up to an electric fence for an hour,” he recalls with a shudder. Once more, Coolidge resorted to meditating on his breath. “It absolutely helped to offset the pain,” he says of the breath meditation. “You are still aware of it, but it doesn’t control your thinking. The pain or the fear does not have to be dominant. That doesn’t mean it disappears, but it doesn’t have to be the only thing going on.”
Would Coolidge have survived if he had not gone through the Kabat-Zinn programme? Probably, but he suspects the experience would have been much worse. “The meditation allowed me to concentrate the fight that was in me on productive areas,” he explains. “I was able to fight the disease, the paralysis, the pneumonia, and not at any time fight the fact that I was in those circumstances – not spend any time being angry.” Participants in the stress reduction classes do more than just sit watching their breath. They are taught simple yoga movements and introduced to a ‘body scan’ technique borrowed from Vipassana meditation, in which they are guided through a process of shifting the focus of their awareness to different parts of the anatomy. The point of it all is to “be present in your body,” as the instructors constantly remind their students, in order to “see events with more clarity and directness” and thus consciously “control what is controllable, and release the rest.”
“Most people don’t listen to their bodies at all,” says a medical doctor enrolled in a recent course. “They are so busy doing whatever they are trying to do, they are not thinking about what their body’s telling them they should or shouldn’t do.”

Each student in the course, which meets three hours a week for eight weeks, is given a set of guided meditation tapes and expected to do at least forty-five minutes of practice each night.

Mindfulness meditation may have its roots in an ancient tradition alien to most westerners, but what Kabat-Zinn and others like him have done is strip it down to an essence everyone can understand. “It’s the heart of Buddhist meditative practices, the heart of Sufi practices, the heart of all spiritual practices,” he says. “We’re pointing to something that lies in the heart, not out there in history. You don’t have to go off and retreat to a cave to do this,” argues a practitioner. “It’s very practical.”
“It’s great to have a practice and sit on a cushion and get whatever you can from that,” observes Friedman, a CEO. “But for me, the real value is integrating it into my everyday life.” “I get excited about the fact that breath is something I always have with me,” agrees Janet, a housewife. “That I don’t need an extra bag for it, that I don’t need to pay for it, that I don’t need to ask somebody for it. It’s a tool I just have and I can call on it whenever I need it.” John Coolidge, whose breath helped him survive the isolation of paralysis, can testify to that.
See MINDFULNESS MEDITATION

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/MINDFULNESS_MEDITATION.doc

2. At the cutting edge of Christian Spirituality July 2004

http://www.lifepositive.com/Spirit/Christianity/At_the_cutting_edge_of_Christian_Spirituality72004.asp

Several contemporary Christian thinkers have delved deep into spirituality, often dialoguing with other faiths and imbibing from the Indian heritage

Anthony De Mello
When Bombay-born Fr. Anthony de Mello died of a heart attack at Fordham University, USA, at the start of a lecture trip across the US in 1987 at the age of 56, his numerous admirers were stunned and aghast. De Mello was at the height of his powers. Readers were lapping up his books which straddled eastern and western spirituality for the first time in a way that was accessible to people everywhere. Sadhana, a virtual transcript of a workshop on vipassana meditation, was his enduring best seller. His other books included The Song of the Bird, One Minute Wisdom and Wellsprings. The first two were collections of transformative stories and the last a collection of exercises in the mould of Sadhana.
De Mello’s admirers were somewhat relieved when they learnt that he had left with his publishers Gujarat Sahitya Prakash a manuscript collection of more stories which were later published as The Prayer of the Frog in two volumes.  Later two more manuscripts surfaced: Contact with God (a collection of conferences), One Minute Nonsense (some more stories) and The Call to Love.
As Fr de Mello’s popularity mounted, 10 years after his death the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith (CDF)  woke up and issued a notification warning of the dangers of de Mello’s work which it declared “incompatible with the Catholic faith” and a cause of “grave harm”.  
Fr. David Toolan S.J., a Jesuit editor, wrote: “In my judgment, Father de Mello’s Sadhana remains the best Catholic ‘how to’ book for someone looking for instruction in methods of prayer. Some of de Mello’s early texts, the CDF acknowledges, ‘can be helpful in achieving self-mastery, in breaking the bonds and feelings that keep us from being free, and in approaching with serenity the various vicissitudes of life’. But overall de Mello’s writings are said to exhibit a ‘progressive distancing from the essential contents of the Christian faith’. Particularly objectionable, it is alleged, are his concept of the unknowability and cosmic impersonality of God, his sense of Jesus ‘as a master alongside others’, a preference for ‘enlightenment’, criticism of the church, and an excessive focus on this life rather than life after death. Bishops were ordered to ensure that the offending texts are withdrawn from sale and not reprinted.” Fr. Toolan goes on: “The Vatican is bewildered by de Mello’s emphasis on ‘awareness’ and ‘interior enlightenment’ over against Scripture, doctrine, and belief—and puts the worst possible construction on de Mello’s awkward formulations. His stress on awareness, I would say, tries to get at the difference between theory and experience, external conformity and interiorised faith, or the letter of the law versus the spirit. The Vatican complains of ‘ambiguity’ and ‘perplexity’ in interpretation.
“But of course. De Mello was not writing theology; he was a collector of parables, and loved to shake people up, get them thinking or reimagining. Above all, he was an artist in helping people to reimagine God—as much greater and more giving than they had dreamed… De Mello used an odd principle to get at the unfathomable goodness of God—the idea that God couldn’t be worse than you and I, but had to be at least as good as we are at our best. What came out of that pedestrian principle was a radical doctrine of divine abundance and grace.”
“He loved stories,” says Fr. Joseph Brown, a Jesuit priest who coordinated de Mello’s workshops in St. Louis, USA. “He was an entertainer, a storyteller and a challenger. He blows your mind. He is one of the most powerful speakers I have ever heard. He makes you see things in different ways. He was a genius of devising exercises for people to get in touch with themselves and to pray out of that experience.”
Joanne Callahan, a pastoral minister, says her friendship with de Mello had helped her in her work with the dying. “His exercises put us in the presence of our own death and our own feelings about that,” she says.
Sadhana Institute was founded in Pune by Tony de Mello in 1973 (later relocated to Lonavla) as a centre for spirituality for the training of spiritual guides and retreat masters.
Today it has evolved as an institute that attempts to integrate psychology and spirituality in an experiential way. From the very beginning there was a definite emphasis on the integration of the different aspects of the human person such as the emotional, intellectual and the spiritual. And there was also an emphasis on the integration of Christian spirituality with the Indian heritage. It offers courses that provide the flavour of the de Mello approach and point to his surviving legacy, despite CDF’s strictures which have been largely ignored. The courses are:  Midi Sadhana (a retreat), Human Sexuality and Affectivity, Vipassana Retreat, Chetana: A Journey into Light, Breath and Spirit, Gita Sadhana: A Spirituality for Today, Breath & Spirit and Spiritual Emergencies, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)—Basic and Advanced, Intensive Journal and Process Meditation and Mini Sadhana.  

Raimon Panikkar
Fr. Raimon Panikkar is to Fr. Tony de Mello what J. Krishnamurti is to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, that is cerebral to the experiential, but no more of a conformist. […] Tony de Mello and Raimon Panikkar have followed in the tracks of pioneering spiritual dialoguers like Fr. Hugo Enomiya Lassalle, Bede Griffiths and Thomas Merton.

MY COMMENTS

Listed above, (Fr) Raimon Panikkar, Fr. Hugo Enomiya Lassalle, (Fr) Bede Griffiths and (Fr) Thomas Merton and the Jesuit priests are either ashram leaders/inculturationists, liberals, New Agers or influencers of New Thought.

Gujarat Sahitya Prakash is, most unsurprisingly, a Jesuit publishing house whose web page http://gspbooks.in/aboutus.php states:

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEURO-LINGUISTIC_PROGRAMMING.doc

VIPASSANA MEDITATION

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/VIPASSANA_MEDITATION.doc

FR ANTHONY DE MELLO-WRITINGS BANNED BY THE CHURCH

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/FR_ANTHONY_DE_MELLO-WRITINGS_BANNED_BY_THE_CHURCH.doc

3. Meditation-The Yogic Priest

http://www.lifepositive.com/Spirit/Meditation/The_Yogic_Priest102008.asp October 2008

Father Joe Pereira is a priest, a student of BKS Iyengar, and a teacher of yoga to addicts to help them cope better with rehabilitation therapy

In his early days as a priest, people knew Father Joe Pereira from Mumbai as the singing priest. His deep bass voice and love for music, led him to attend a performance in Mumbai of the internationally renowned violin virtuoso, Yehudi Menuhin. Menuhin’s own interest in Eastern arts, led him to play with sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, and to write the foreword to the BKS Iyengar classic, Light on Yoga. At the performance, Menuhin’s introduction of Iyengar as “my next violin instructor,” piqued the young priest’s interest. He soon began taking weekly classes from Iyengar near his Mumbai parish. That was in 1968. By 1971, Father Joe was teaching yoga. In 1975, he became a certified Iyengar instructor. He incorporated hatha yoga and meditation into his pastoral duties, and eventually added a ministry for alcoholics to the parish’s services.
Initially, the church did not favour his teaching yoga for any purpose. “My vicar-general was very concerned about my yoga,” Father Joe recalls. “One day he had to go to a doctor for surgery to remove his varicose veins. The doctor told him, ‘If you go to this priest I know, who teaches yoga, you won’t need surgery.’ Mother Teresa, too, did not seem too happy with the situation. She asked him, “What is this yoga that you are teaching to my nuns?” Father Joe explained that the nuns worked so hard that they fell asleep during their prayers. Yoga helped them cope better with their tiredness, and stay alert. He introduced them to simple yogic breathing, and Benedictine mantras.
Father Joe adds, “Today I get a lot of support from the church. I must acknowledge that it is a conversion of sorts.” He attributes his ability to be unconventional, to his mother. She was one of the first graduates in the country, while his father was not, and was four years younger.
Father Joe is far more than just a healthy and fit Bombay priest, who does not look his 50-odd years. His story and his presence are one of those unique products of India, innately spiritual, and embracing the fluidity that moves between traditions, while staying true to one main path. He ambles easily between cultures verbally. He quotes a Sanskrit phrase of meditation, refers to a speech at a Cambridge University conference on the use of yoga for drug rehabilitation, and shares his love of Mother Teresa. Beyond the story of a priest teaching yoga, there is a deeper more compelling one of healing the poor, and being open to those most in need.
His yoga practice has taken him on a personal healing journey, as well as a charitable one. “I had two serious accidents and needed surgery three times on my legs. Now I can sit in full lotus position and do all my exercises. I do not have any memory of them.” In 1997, 17 years after those perations, Father Joe needed remedial work on his spine. He was fortunate to be able to meet Iyengar personally every two to three weeks.
Iyengar devised a special programme for him of 26 exercises, “each more painful than the last”. After a year and a half of the exercises, there is no pain. “That is Iyengar. You trust the process.”
In 1971, Father Joe approached Mother Teresa. He was having a crisis of faith. After the seminary years, well protected from temptations of the world, he fell in love. As part of the generation of priests after the Vatican Council, he was frustrated with the progress of change. “I was in a hurry to change the church.” He approached Mother Teresa and asked her to pray for him. “I do not pray for priests, I pray with them”, she said and together they prayed, Father Joe crying like a child. “Don’t quit,” she said, “the Lord has work for you.” She added that it might take 10 years or more.

Ten years later in 1981, he and one of the recovering alcoholics he had brought into the parish programme founded the Kripa (“Grace”) Foundation. It focused on serving addicts through a unique recovery programme, combining the “12 steps” of Alcoholics Anonymous with instruction in yoga and meditation taught by Father Joe. Eventually, he added western psychological models, such as dyads and gestalt therapy, (it is New Age) and Christian Meditation launched by Irish Benedictine Fr. John Main. Christian Meditation consists of repeating the mantra Maranatha (Come, Lord) for half an hour, twice a day.
From its humble origins in the annex of the parish church in Mumbai, the programme has grown. It includes more than 30 counselling, detoxification, and rehabilitation centres throughout India, and offices in Germany and Canada. The recovery rate of the programme is an astonishing 65 per cent.
For Father Joe, this work was perhaps the most fitting byproduct of his own spiritual journey. He struggled with alcohol abuse himself as a young man. “I have all the qualities of an addict,” he says. “I am not exempt from the self-destructive behaviour patterns people come here to be healed of.” Father Joe’s collegial relationship with Iyengar (he returns to the latter’s institute in Pune every July for intensive studies in yoga therapy), led him to ask Iyengar to devise practice techniques and sequences (of asana and pranayama), specifically, to help people cope with addictive traits and residues.
Eventually this led him to taking drug addicts from Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity. As a result, he was offered the Boys Town on Diamond Harbour Road in Kolkata. Instead of three addicts, he was attending to 250 a year. “Mother was thrilled,” that such a thing was possible. As addicts recovered, they went back to their own states and new centres were set up. Soon there were centres in Delhi, Goa and all seven of the North Eastern states, totalling 31. Now he wishes to work in the largest slum in SE Asia, Dharavi in Bombay. Before that, he had been invited to work in the North East of India, in the states known as the ‘seven sisters’. “We started helping those with HIV+ and Aids. Ten years ago, they were thrown in jail for having Aids, and food was thrown through the bars, to avoid contact”.
Now he wishes to build Aids hospices, and more drug rehabilitation clinics, in India. Forty per cent of his funds are from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
He helped 150 drug pushers find other jobs and gave 50 sewing machines to their wives to offer alternative employment recently. He continues to practise, and preach mainly through the Missionaries of Charity. Mother Teresa inaugurated his centres in Mumbai and Kolkata. She had asked him to give a talk at retreats for her nuns. It seems like the mantle from Mother Teresa has fallen to a degree on his shoulders. As he said to his superiors when he first applied to set up his rehabilitation centres, “We cannot let Mother Teresa have a monopoly on this work!”
So how can one deepen one’s faith and spiritual practice? He quotes Iyengar saying, “Holiness is wholeness”. “Sometimes this leads to your being out of control. You really go through a period where you can see two levels of existence. Finally, one comes to live by faith alone. The more you learn to let go, the more you are in tune with the present. The struggle comes when you forget this, and try to control life, which brings stress.”
Sometimes he has encountered problems with fundamentalists within the Church. “Oh those fundamentalists, they are always seeing the devil on my shoulder,” he jokes. In his mind, “Jesus is the supreme Yogi because he said the Father and I are one, and yoga means yug = union = one.”

He says, “For all those interested in inculcating the values of this special field, and practising and teaching yoga therapy to addicts, I present an outline of the yoga workout thatis programmed within the Kripa Model of Recovery. I present the first two phases of practice. Phase I is at the primary care level and Phase II is practised at the after-care level of treatment.

“Phase I consists of postures that are called ‘restorative’ and are done with the help of a bolster. The purpose of such a prop is to induce the patient to honour and affirm the body. During the active days of addiction, it is the body which has been badly abused. This initial phase helps to reverse the process by ‘loving the body into life’. The patient eventually recognises the body as the very temple of God. This set of postures, reduces the need of dependence on medications and conditions the person to set himself on the path of wholeness and holiness.
“Phase II leads the person to ‘communicate’ with the various systems of the body thus ‘rejuvenating’ them. This calls for ‘tapas’, austerity brought about by a structured time management at the Kripa Rehabilitation Centres. It is necessary that the one who leads the group is a practising Iyengar Yoga Instructor, and that he/she is quite transparent in upholding the spirit of dedication and commitment to this special work of God.”

MY COMMENTS

1. Fr Joe Pereira is a notorious name-dropper, exaggerator and consummate liar.

2. Mother Teresa is notorious for her naivete. Recently, a Brazilian visitor to my home who has close associations with Propaganda Fide, Rome lamented her statement that one should let a Hindu be a good Hindu… etc., as that flies in the face of the spirit of the Vatican document Ecclesia in Asia. He also promised to send me a picture of Mother Teresa paying obeisance to an icon of Buddha. He didn’t, but I sourced it.

See

FR JOE PEREIRA-KRIPA FOUNDATION-WORLD COMMUNITY FOR CHRISTIAN MEDITATION

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/FR_JOE_PEREIRA-KRIPA_FOUNDATION-WORLD_COMMUNITY_FOR_CHRISTIAN_MEDITATION.doc

FR JOE PEREIRA SUPPORTED BY HIS BISHOPS CONTINUES TO MOCK AT CATHOLICS

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/FR_JOE_PEREIRA_SUPPORTED_BY_HIS_BISHOPS_CONTINUES_TO_MOCK_AT_CATHOLICS.doc

MOTHER TERESA AT PRAYER IN A BUDDHIST TEMPLE

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/MOTHER_TERESA_AT_PRAYER_IN_A_BUDDHIST_TEMPLE.doc

4. A dossier of alternative therapies available around the world April 2005

http://www.lifepositive.com/Body/Healing/Holistic_Healing42005.asp, https://www.lifepositive.com/holistic-healing/

WHO has identified more than 300 alternative therapies like acupressure/ acupuncture, aromatherapy, reiki/pranic healing, folklore medicine and others which are popular in different part of the world.

Today, worldwide, alternative health science therapies are gaining ground. Together with the modern system of medicine, alternative health sciences and therapies offer cheaper and easily adaptable solutions to various ailments for positive health.

Not all alternative therapies are equally effective nor are all backed by equally sound research. Here we present a survey of various alternative therapies along with the claims made for them by their practitioners and adherents.

Yoga Therapy

Yoga therapy tries to re-establish the inner balance by various means, working from the gross to the subtle. On the physical level it uses:

Asanas: They energize the organism, create awareness of the body and its function and stabilize the mind.

Kriyas: These are simple hygienic procedures which support the body’s own cleansing mechanisms and draw the attention of the mind towards the affected area.

Pranayamas: These are breathing techniques which have very subtleinfluences on the whole organism.

Yoga has claimed that tension is disease and relaxation is health. To this end the whole eightfold path of yoga is to purify the body-mind complex.

Homeopathy

Homeopathy, founded by Dr. Samuel Hahnenmann, a German allopath, is now a little over two decades old. It is based on the principle of Similia Similibus Curentur. In English it would translate into ‘a substance which produces symptoms in a healthy body, cures the symptoms in a sick body when taken in small, diluted quantities’.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture is a branch of Chinese Medicine, which has more than 3,000 years of history. The method of acupuncture is to encourage one’s body to promote natural healing and to improve its functioning. Acupuncture starts the therapeutic ball rolling by stimulating the appropriate organs and systems to create more chi and blood in the body as well as addressing specific problems.

Classical Chinese theory behind acupuncture: In the body there are channels of energy that run all over its surface. These channels are called meridians. They are like rivers flowing through the body irrigating and nourishing the tissues, allowing a smooth flow of chi and blood, which runs through the body to various parts, structures and organs. An obstruction in the movement of these energy rivers is like a dam. The obstruction backs up the flow in one part of the body and restricts it in others. Any obstruction and blockages or deficiencies of energy, blood and chi eventually lead to a disease.
Needling the acupuncture points can influence the meridians. It unblocks the obstructions at the dams re-establishing the regular flow of energy through the meridians. Acupuncture treatments can help the body’s internal organs to correct the imbalance of digestion, absorption and energy producing activities. They can also help in the circulation of energy through the meridians.

Acupressure

Acupressure, as an alternative therapy to allopathy, is second only to yoga in India. Acupressure is a traditional Chinese medicine that concerns itself with the anatomy and physiology of the human body. It maintains the regular flow of bio-energy (or chi, as the Chinese refer to it) in our body. According to this science, the human body is divided into 14 meridians which are situated in the back and in the front. Each of the meridians, identified as either the Yin (the female) or the Yang (the male), have specific points that link it to different glands and organs. Like the urinary tract, gall bladder, stomach, liver and the kidney, fall under the Yin meridian.

Unani

Unani medicine, like any other form of medical science, strives to find the best possible ways by which a person can lead a healthy life with the least or zero sickness. It prescribes drugs, diet, drinks and other regimens including codes of conduct which are conducive to the maintenance and promotion of positive health, as well as the prevention and cure of disease. The ultimate aim of these scientific prescriptions and prohibitions is the creation of a healthy society.

Unani medicine believes that diseases can be kept at bay by the use of clean and fresh water, breathing clean air and consuming fresh food. Likewise, a balance should be maintained between the mind and the body so that the metabolic process can take place easily and the body waste evacuated. Unani medicine also believes that all life forms have originated from the sea.

According to the unani discipline as it stands today, the human body is composed of seven natural and basic components called ‘Umoor e Tabaiyah’ which are responsible for maintenance of health. These are:

• Arkan (elements)

• Mizaj (temperament)

• Akhlaat (humours)

• Aaza (organs)

• Arwah (vital forces or neuro)

• Quwa (faculties)

• Afaal (functions)

The loss of any one of these basic components or alteration in their physical state could lead to disease, or even death. It is highly essential to consider all these factors so as to reach the correct diagnosis and consequently the correct line of treatment.

The unani system of addressing whole health considers illness as an event serving to cleanse, purify, and balance us on the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual planes.

Magneto Therapy

At the beginning of the 21st century, the most promising pain relief therapy is biomagnet therapy. Compared to other pain relief therapies, biomagnet therapy has at least six advantages causing its explosive, worldwide growth today.

“Today magnet therapy is seeing a resurgence in use and is an officially approved therapy in over 45 countries worldwide,” writes William H. Philpott, MD, author of the book, Magnet Therapy: Alternative Medicine, the Definitive Guide.

Mantra Therapy

Mantras work directly upon our karma: the accumulated latencies and tendencies with which we are born. The vibrations of these ancient formulas work through the chakras to increase the flow of beneficial energy throughout the subtle body where these latencies and tendencies are stored. Mantra therapy starts by increasing the total amount of energy available for all of our activities. Certain mantras used singly or in combination can greatly accelerate the quality and quantity of energy used in the healing process. However, if the karmic propensity for a given condition is overwhelming, mantra therapy will not remove the difficulty any more than conventional therapy will. However, it will reduce the karmic baggage you take into future lives.

The energy created through mantra practice may lead one to forms of therapy quite different from the ones used initially. Thus, some unexpected new form of treatment may appear as the result of mantra practice. Investigate it. Ultimately, we do not know through which door the route to recovery might manifest, and it may be in some form of conventional or traditional care of which we had been previously unaware.

Spiritual Healing

Any technique that uses subtle energies for healing is spiritual healing.

Such energies are only now starting to be recognized by western medicine. Most eastern medical systems have acknowledged and used such forces for hundreds to thousands of years. Chi and prana are two of the better known names for these energies. They are related to, and can be directed by, a person’s consciousness. Because of this, one can receive such healing forces either in the presence of, or at a distance from, the healer being worked with.

Methods that are commonly used for spiritual healing work include:

• Visualisation (understanding, caring, healing, protecting)

• Channeling of spiritual energy (for instance: chi, prana, reiki)

• Channeling of spiritual helpers and guides

• Psychic abilities

Mental Healing

In three of his works, The Inner World, Shamans, Mystics, and Doctors, and The Analyst and the Mystic, Sudhir Kakar explores multiple facets of Hinduism in the East, weaving the rich exchange between religion and psychology.

For Hindus, moksha, unity of the self and the world, is the ultimate aim of existence. The attitudes that spring from this mindset manifest themselves in everyday life, and are fruitful in the workplace. Hinduism emphasizes self-realization and “refinement of the soul” rather than monetary or earthly wealth; this in itself is liberating and humanizing, especially in the political realm. Since mutual respect is of the utmost importance, business settings are personalized.

Time in India has far different implications than in the West. For Hindus time is cyclical, never-ending, but always repeating itself. In India sexuality is understood as an aspect of human nature that can be translated into altruistic energies; in fact, that is its ultimate form. However, Hinduism’s unequal treatment of gender seems somewhat faulty. It views male sexuality as tainted, something that must be transcended because it hinders fusion. Femininity, however, is beneficial to integrate into the psyche. The female entity exposes “being” as it relates back to the mother-child relationship and the idea of self objects. Kakar explains that “the male element does…while the female element is”.

Forms of therapy in Indian culture vary greatly. Raja Yoga implements nonviolence, truth, cleanliness and a healthy body with its main goal as transforming sexual energy. Therapy in its less structured forms appears in common interaction. Away from the guru or temple, a bhuta is referred to as an unruly child, so that mentally it becomes more manageable for the person afflicted. He “begins to feel he has the neurosis instead of the earlier feeling that the neurosis has him”.

Surrender to the guru is the utmost turning point for a religious Hindu. The responsibility of the disciple’s inner transformation is taken from the pupil himself and placed upon the guru.

Hypnotherapy

The brain operates in four general states determined by the frequency of the electricity generated by the exchange of chemicals in the neural pathways. The four states include full conscious awareness, the hypnotic state, the dream state, and the sleep state.

Full conscious awareness is where we spend most of our waking hours. In this state, our mind is attentive and uses logic to reason, evaluate, assess, judge, and make decisions. Unfortunately, when making life changes, the conscious mind often gets in the way.

In the hypnotic state, the doorway between the conscious and the subconscious is opened, memories become easily accessible, and new information is stored.

Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy means “treatment using scents”. It is a holistic treatment of caring for the body with pleasant smelling botanical oils such as rose, lemon, lavender and peppermint. The essential oils are added to the bath or massaged into the skin, inhaled directly or diffused to scent an entire room. Aromatherapy is used for the relief of pain, care for the skin, to alleviate tension and fatigue and invigorate the entire body. Essential oils can affect the mood, alleviate fatigue, reduce anxiety and promote relaxation. When inhaled, they work on the brain and nervous system through stimulation of the olfactory nerves.

Reiki

Reiki is one of the more widely known forms of energy healing. Energy healing involves direct application of chi for the purpose of strengthening the client’s energy system (aura).

A reiki healing is very simply performed. The practitioner places his or her hands upon the person to be healed with the intent for healing to occur, and then the energy begins flowing. The reiki energy is smart since the Universe is a very smart place indeed. The energy knows where to go, and what to do once it gets there, or else is being directed by a higher intelligence. The energy manages its own flow to and within the recipient. It draws through the healer exactly that amount of energy which the recipient needs. All this happens without direct conscious intervention by the healer. The healer’s job is to get out of the way, to keep the healing space open, and to watch/listen for signs of what to do next.

Pranic Healing

Pranic healing is a highly developed and tested system of energy-based healing techniques that utilizes prana to balance, harmonize and transform the body’s energy processes. Prana is a Sanskrit word that means life-force.

Pranic healing is a simple yet powerful and effective no-touch energy healing. It is based on the fundamental principle that the body is a “self-repairing” living entity that possesses the innate ability to heal itself.

Pranic healing works on the principle that the healing process is accelerated by increasing the life force or vital energy on the affected part of the physical body.

Pranic healing is currently being taught to doctors, nurses, massage therapists, acupuncturists, chiropractors, the clergy, homemakers, engineers and many others in all walks of life. It has allowed them to heal confidently and consistently in the shortest learning time possible. They find pranic healing very effective and easy to apply.

In the palm of your hands are energy centers called chakras. Through a simple exercise these chakras will be activated. Once activated, these chakras will become sensitive to feeling others’ energy. You can scan that energy field to locate blockages and be able to cleanse, energize and revitalize the area with new prana. You will also learn techniques to stop the drain of energy on your body that many health practitioners experience while working on others. You will actually energize yourself while you are healing someone else!

Psychic Surgery

This phenomenon was a well-known attraction in the Philippines, where healers would claim to be able to operate without anaesthesia or antiseptic. Package trips are arranged to the Philippines specifically to visit healers. Tony Agpaoa established psychic surgery in Manila but was indicted for fraud in the US in 1967. Psychic surgeons continue to practice their trade in Manila today. They operate with their bare hands without any instruments. They work with spiritual energy to heal their patients.

One theory is that this form of psychic healing works because the patient believes that they will get better. Therefore, the surgeon heals the patient by putting the idea in their mind that they are going to get better. Researchers began to look into placebo surgery. Although there is proof of fraud, it is hard to determine whether psychic surgery works or not if performed by a genuine healer who is not using sleight of hand. There are many who claim that they were cured by this method.

Iridology

Iridology is the scientific analysis of patterns and structures in the iris of the eye which locates areas and stages of inflammation throughout the body. The iris is the portion of the eye showing color. It reveals body constitution, inherent strengths and weaknesses, health levels, and transitions that take place in a person’s body according to their way of life.

The complex iris is composed of hundreds of thousands of nerve endings which are connected by impulses to every tissue of the body through the brain and nervous system. The nerve fibers, or trabecula, respond specifically to tissue and organ conditions with a corresponding physiological reflex manifested in the iris as lesions and color variations. The iris chart, which is the result of many years of clinical observation and intensive research by Dr. Bernard Jensen and others, represents the basic placement of body organs and tissues similar to a map. An accurate iris analysis is possible by superimposing the chart over an iris image projection, allowing detailed observation of the valuable and reliable data recorded there.

A complete iris analysis will show whether a person exhibits a generally good constitution or a poor one, depending upon the density of the iris fibers. The patterns, structures, colors and degrees of lightness and darkness in the iris tell if an area of the body is inherently strong or weak. It also reveals the relative site of over-activity, irritation, injury or degeneration of the tissues and organs. Toxic accumulation levels can be observed as well as nutritional and chemical imbalances.

Dowsing

With the aid of one’s superconscious mind, using a suitable device, one may gain unseen information at a distance, (even through material barriers), about a person, creature, object, substance, place or “thing”, beyond the limitations of one’s five senses and so-called logical, thinking mind.

Combination of mental, emotional and intuitive faculties are focused, in right order, upon the object of one’s quest. Presently, the device moves beyond one’s physical control, according to a pre-established code.

Dowsing is an intuitional science and can be learned. Divining is not just a gift miraculously bestowed upon a “few”.

The quality of dowsing efforts do vary, depending upon how one approaches the work.

To dowse, we must have a suitable device and be simultaneously aware on two planes. We live in two worlds; the material outer and imaginative inner worlds of existence. “Higher” (knowing) mind, flourishes within the realms of intuition and responds to noble questions posed by the “thinking” intellect. Quality and quantities of valuable information may be tapped from this great universal source, beyond material considerations.

Some persons actually receive contact from a distant target, buried object or energy field, without the benefit of an instrument. Others claim they make contact with the help of an invisible guide. One has seen convincing demonstrations of this. The former is more voluntary and, in the latter case, responses are usually involuntary.

Alexander Technique

The Alexander technique is an intelligent way to solve body problems. Many people are mystified by their own back pain, excess tension or lack of coordination. They often see problems in their joints or muscles as structural, or unchangeable. But, as they learn the technique, they are surprised that they really can make lasting changes in the way they walk, their degree of muscular tension or the shape of their posture. They learn how dynamic and changeable the body really is.

Urine Therapy

Urine is not, as many believe, the excess water from food and liquids that goes through the intestines and is ejected from the body as “waste”.

Medical researchers have discovered that many of the elements of the blood that are found in urine have enormous medicinal value, and when reintroduced to the body, they boost the body’s immune defenses and stimulate healing in a way that nothing else does.

In 1975, one of the founders of Miles Laboratories, Dr. A. H. Free, published his book, Urinalysis in Clinical Laboratory Practice, in which he remarked that not only is urine a sterile body compound (purer than distilled water), but that it is now recognised that urine contains literally thousands of compounds.

Researchers have discovered that allergic responses are caused by “renegade” white blood cells that inappropriately attack substances even when they may be no threat to the body. So it is the activity of these renegade white blood cells, called antigen receptors, that needs to be corrected in order to cure the allergy.

Realising that the urine of allergic individuals contains the allergy causing antigen receptors, researchers thought that to re-introduce the urine back to the allergic individual would mean antibodies would be produced which would then stop the allergic response. And that is exactly what happens. Allergies have been completely turned around with urine therapy.

Laughter Therapy

The experience of Dr. Mohan Kataria, pioneer of Hasya Yoga, with laughter clubs worldwide, taught him that people were definitely deriving health benefits from laughter yoga exercises. But there was no scientific proof that Dr. Kataria could offer to satisfy logical minded people especially in the west. “I had no problems in India as more than 100,000 people laughed every morning without asking me for any proof but when it came to the West everybody asked, do you have the data?”

Finally, in 2003-04 the first authentic research was completed by Dr. Ilona Papousek from the University of Graz in early fall 2004. According to the news release by Ananova – March 2004, a new study shows that laughter really is the best therapy for stroke patients, according to scientists.

Chelation Therapy

Chelation therapy is claimed by its practitioners to be a safe and effective method for drawing toxins and metabolic wastes from the bloodstream.

Chelation therapy is used to rid the body of unnecessary and toxic metals, and is employed by a growing number of physicians to reverse the process of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). The reversal is accomplished in part through the removal of the calcium content of plaque from the artery walls through the injection of chelating agents. By restoring good circulation to all the tissues of the body, chelation therapy can help to avoid bypass surgery, reverse gangrene, alleviate intermittent claudication (cramps) of the legs, and restore memory.

Dream Therapy

For Dr. Francis A. Menezes, author of Dreams and Their Interpretation Made Easy, dreams represent a deeper understanding than mere visions that come visiting while you sleep. It is the intrinsic esoteric and telepathic aspects of dreams and its relation to the conscious world that interest Menezes.

Menezes is passionate about the positive aspect of dreams. He states, “Very few people are aware of it, but dreams help not only in revealing several subconcious repressed thoughts, but also speak about different other aspects which are intrinsically related to one’s character like health problems, desires and emotional maladjustments.”

Dr. Menezes narrates his own case when he was being treated for cancer and his dead father visited him in a dream and warned him against proceeding with his chemotherapy. He stopped it and later the doctor who was treating him admitted he was getting an overdose.

Bach Flower Remedies

Roses on Valentine’s Day, chrysanthemum on Thanksgiving, evergreen or holly on Christmas – flowers definitely have an impact on people’s moods. This understanding was converted into a therapy by an English physicist, Dr. Edward Bach, in 1930.

Dr. Bach’s Remedies are an easy way to heal oneself of various mental and emotional conditions like fears, anger, anxiety, and despair. Bach Flower Remedies are an effective and private alternative to going to a psychiatrist or counsellor.

Dr. Bach noted that all patients reacted differently to the same disease and so there had to be a link between physical health and emotional health. Inspired by his work in homoeopathy and disappointed with the approach towards healthcare in his era, he wanted to discover natural means of healing. That is when he researched the remarkable effects that flower essences have on the moods and emotions of a person. He found that certain flowers correspond to certain human emotions. Hence, he used these flowers as healing aids. He took the flower, immersed in water and kept it in the sunlight for two to three hours. The water, which then became potentised, was used as a remedy.

Bach Flower remedies are 38 in number and are strictly English flower extracts. In India, Drs. Atul and Rupa Shah have created extracts of such indigenous blooms as lotus, gulmohar, morning glory and bougainvillea. The Rescue Remedy offered by Bach Flower is particularly effective in treating shock, buying the victim time till medical treatment is adminstered. There are no known side-effects since the treatment does not involve the administering of any chemicals. It simply uses the energy fields of flowers.

Past Life RegressionTherapy

“Past life regression therapy includes the mental act of going back to a time prior to this life in order to retrieve memories that may still negatively influence a person’s present life. They are probably the source of symptoms running the gamut from phobias to addictions,” avers R.Chandran, a past life therapist.

Dr. Francis Menezes, who has regressed using hypnosis states, says, “To be able to go to your past life, most therapists take you back to yesterday, two days ago, last week, five years ago, ten years back, finally to your mother’s womb and beyond. To be born you have to die.” Interestingly all those who practise past life therapy don’t feel the need to prove it. “What is of value here is the outcome which is certainly effective. Besides, how can I try to convince someone who doesn’t want to be convinced?” opines R.Chandran.

People who are healed through past life therapy are people who remember names, dates and geographic details. But perhaps, even more important than curing of physical and emotional symptoms, is the knowledge that we do not die even if our bodies do. We are immortal!

Luis SR Vas is felicitated by Mangalorean Catholic site daijiworld:

Panaji: ‘Veni, Vidi…Goa’, a Book on Visitors’ Views of Goa Launched

http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=117357

By John B. Monteiro, Daijiworld Media Network – Panaji, September 28, 2011

‘Veni, Vidi…Goa’, a travellers’ Views of Goa, by Luis S R Vas was launched here on Tuesday September 27 by Lambert Mascarenhas, a veteran journalist.

In the absence of the author, his sister, Isabel Santa Rita Vas, a prominent theatre personality of Goa, made a presentation on the book.

MY CLOSING COMMENTS

Almost all of the alternative therapies that Luis SR Vas has examined in the above Life Positive article (No. 4) and elsewhere in this compilation of information are the subjects of various articles and reports (I have give the titles and links to only a very few) at our web site.

The majority of them and/or the occult/New Age philosophies that underpin them may be seen in the February 3, 2003, Vatican Document, “Jesus Christ the Bearer of the Water of Life, A Christian Reflection on the New Age.” Vas runs the “Human Potential Institute”. The Document defines the Human Potential Movement as New Age.

The discerning reader can see that Luis SR Vas’ books are spiritually very, very harmful and must be avoided by Catholics.

Therefore, it is shocking that St Pauls holds the copyright to several of them and sells them to unsuspecting Catholics as “Better Yourself Books”.

Where is their discernment? They’ve been selling Vas’ books for more than 15 years!

Vas’ titles (along with scores of other books on esoteric and New Age subjects) are available at all Catholic bookstores across the country.

Do our Bishops ever visit these bookshops and examine for themselves the utter rubbish that is displayed for sale (especially in the “self-help” section)?

If St Pauls is guilty of sin in breaking the First Commandment by the sale of these evil books, aren’t our bishops complicit in the sin by their allowing them to be made available to Catholics?

LETTERS TO MY ARCHBISHOP

From:
michaelprabhu@vsnl.net
To:
gasamy152@gmail.com, georgeantonysamy@yahoo.com

Date: Thu, 25 Feb 2016 16:52:27 +0530

Subject:
SPIRITUALLY DANGEROUS BOOKS SOLD AT CATHEDRAL’S LITURGICAL APOSTOLATE CENTRE

Dear Archbishop George Antonysamy,
Today, February 24, 2016, I purchased some Catholic books at the Liturgical Centre of the Sister Disciples of the Divine Master on the premises of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Thomas.
I noted two books which are definitely not for Christian reading.

One of them is Creative Meditation by Manohar Bhatia, 2008, published by The Bombay St Pauls Society St Pauls Better Yourself Books, Rs. 60.00.
It is about Transcendental Meditation (T.M.) and its contents are dedicated to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
You will be aware that the October 15, 1989 Vatican document Letter to the Bishops on…Some Aspects of Christian Meditation warns of the dangers of T.M. and other eastern meditations.

The second book is Discover the Power of Your Inner Self
by Luis S.R. Vas, 1998, 3rd print 2005, published by The Bombay St Pauls Society St Pauls Better Yourself Books, Rs. 60.00.
I can assure you that the book is New Age from cover to cover like almost all of his other over three dozen titles which are of a highly occult nature.
His articles appear regularly in India’s leading New Age monthly, Life Positive, and some of his books are even published by a company named New Age Publications.
I am preparing for my web site a long overdue report on Luis S.R. Vas’ books.
May I request you to intervene and ensure that the above two books are immediately removed from the Liturgical Centre?
Yours obediently,
Michael Prabhu

Archbishop Antonysamy ensured that the two offending titles were removed from the Liturgical Centre.

Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2016 08:16:48 +0530

Dear Archbishop George Antonysamy,
Let me express my appreciation for your confidence in my discernment and your having arranged to remove the two below-mentioned books from the Liturgical Centre.
Michael Prabhu

Date: Mon, 29 Feb 2016 10:37:22 +0530

Subject: THE OCCULT AND NEW AGE BOOKS OF LUIS S R VAS

Dear Archbishop George,
I trust that you have used your episcopal authority to get the two titles removed from the Liturgical Centre.
As promised in my earlier letter, please find attached herewith my report on LUIS S.R. VAS.
Please note that several of his titles are copyrighted, published and sold by St Pauls (Armenian Street as well as at St Luke’s Church, Annanagar) in Chennai.
God bless you,
Yours obediently,
Michael Prabhu

Categories: Eastern Meditation, new age