J. Clement Vaz

J. Clement Vaz ( – ) was an Indian writer, best known for publications like Yoga Today and Profiles of Eminent Goans, Past and Present (1997). He served as the secretary of the Bombay Chapter of World Conference of Religions and Peace at New Delhi and New York City. He was the director in Oriental Methods of Meditation at the Centre for Indian and Inter-Religious Studies (CIIS) in Rome and was also the secretary of the International Board of Yoga in Bombay.

Personal life J. Clement Vaz was born in in Goa, Portuguese India (now part of India). He earned his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) from University of Bombay for his thesis "Eastern Spirituality and Christian Ethics". He was also educated in classical yoga. He married Maria Correia Afonso Vaz, the couple had a son, Frederick Vaz.

Career Early years Vaz (extreme right) and a group of his friends with Jawaharlal Nehru at Teen Murti Bhavan on 7 June 1959. Vaz moved out of Goa at the age of 18 in early 1930s to pursue his English studies at the university level. As a young college student he admired the country's foremost leaders, Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. He was one of the thousands gathered at the Belgaum Congress Session of 1924. After Mahatma Gandhi's Assassination in 1948, Vaz visited Sabarmati Ashram at Ahmedabad and Sevagram near Nagpur. He also visited Nehru when he was imprisoned by the British rulers at the fort in Ahmednagar during India's freedom struggle.

Vaz was also featured in a number of publications like Role of Religions in National Integration (1984), In 1982, Vaz introduced Yoga to Pope John Paul II at Rome during his visit at the International Seminar on Drugs at L'Aquila.

Post-retirement Around the late 1990s Vaz was accompanied by Professor Giuseppe De Gennaro S.J., an Italian mysticist, with his unique concept of "University of Prayer" with his intense faith in God that he had been endeavouring to spread globally and had already had travelled from its place of origin at L'Aquila in Italy, Rome, Naples, Florence, Spain, U.S.A. and Russia. Your Health (1973) Dilip (1977) Religions and Man (1981) Journal of Dharma (1982) Role of Religions in National Integration (1984) Maranatha: Oriental Methods of Prayer and Meditation (1990) Profiles of Eminent Goans, Past and Present (1997)