Question from reader:

Should a teacher (Guru, Swami, Master) charge his disciples a fee for the spiritual teachings that he/she teaches? Isn’t this in conflict with Aparigraha (non-possession)? I am not saying about the cost of books, room rentals, mailing, etc. I am saying about fees charged on top of all these normal expenses. (They say: “The truth will set you free”, but they charge the followers for the privilege).

shakti’s response:

You ask, ‘Isn’t this in conflict with Aparigraha (non-possession)?’

If you are practicing Aparigraha (non-possession) as an absolute concept, then you may be right, if a teacher charges money for his teaching you can see it as possessing BUT in the same breath you as a student are now possessing the knowledge, the dharma, the teaching as well as, potentially, even realization itself. Since possession is possession, no matter what, which one is more ‘right’ ?

Conflicts arise when we try to have a black and white approach; opinions, solutions, expectations etc.

Teaching is an exchange, like everything else in existence; breathing, eating, loving. You receive knowledge; you return love, energy, and support. So holding back on your own money at the time of a teaching exchange is not less of a possession then receiving the money for giving the teaching.

In the old days students/disciples/followers used to make sure that their teachers were being taken care of. They took care of their food, shelter and other needs. Often in the past and still to this day it even reached to the extreme, when disciples actually gave everything they had to the ashram that belonged to the teacher. Depending on the location and circumstances, teachers were sponsored by an entire village or even a king with all of their needs taken care of as a way of showing gratitude and to make sure that the teacher was free to simply be, practice and share valuable knowledge with others.

The tradition of disciples or students supporting their students is slowly disappearing as the world becomes faster paced, materialistic and overwhelming for most people. As a result, everyone is now looking after themselves, trying to do their best to survive.

So teaching becomes part of the everyday business world.

How can one see a teacher making a living in this materialistic world when the main source for food is the nearest supermarket and the possibility of finding a cave for free accommodation is zero?

How can one expect a full time teacher to make a living in this world with no money?

As a nourished students, where is one’s concern for the one that nourishes them?

As I said earlier, everything in life has two sides. A spiritual teacher doesn’t invent his teaching. The teaching is universal, always was and always will be. Teachers are just a vehicle for the teaching. This is why they cannot hold onto it, or own it, or manipulate it. I agree that money should never be a reason for the teaching; it should flow to where it is needed. I agree that sometimes teachers may take advantage of their status like everyone else.

On the other side, as a teacher I can see how often people will not hesitate to spend a fortune on a new sofa or a car or even a fancy meal in a restaurant but when it comes to spiritual teaching they expect it to be give away for free.

I remember an example from a few years ago when one of my students was complaining that she didn’t have the funds to come and join me on a meditation retreat which was really important to her. Even though the retreat was sold on a cost only basis, I agreed to have her join us for free.

2 weeks after the course I received a postcard from her saying how much she had enjoyed the retreat. The postcard was written from the Caribbean cruise she was on.

If there are excess funds available they can be used wisely and meaningfully. Odds are, a person with a higher consciousness will spend their excess funds more conscientiously which is why it is so important for spiritual people to master the art of manifesting the material world so they can turn around and create powerful change in the world around them.

I myself as a teacher prefer to be on the provider, rather than the needy side and one of the ways to get there is to charge for my services.

For further understanding of my response to you, you may want to read ‘Money and Spirituality’ which has been posted on this blog site.

Namaste,

shakti

Most people separate money from spirituality. They perceive spirituality as pure higher consciousness and money as an incompatible negative.Money is like anything else, a form of energy. Neither good nor bad, it simply is.All forms of energy can be channeled either in a positive way or in a negative way, in a destructive or a creative way.For example, you probably would consider pure organic food as a great and healthy source of energy. Take the purest health food and over-consume it, and you will get ill. Have it in a balanced amount, and you turn it into positive fuel for your body. If you become obsessed with eating only healthy food and worry about it constantly, to a point where it becomes an issue, once again you turn it into a negative by the energy of your intent.Nothing as a form of energy can be accounted as good or bad; or pure or filthy; in its absolute essence.The same principle applies to money.

Sell drugs to kids, money becomes filthy, buy flowers for a loved one, and money becomes bliss.It is never about the money itself. It is how we use and relate to it.In yoga philosophy, we relate to energy centers (chakras) in the body, which control our existence on the physical, mental and energetic level.The first energy centre is located in the perineum, a group of muscles located between the anus and the genitals. This energy centre (or Chakra) belongs to the element earth, and one of its aspects is our relation to money and making a living.If this energy centre is not balanced, we may experience difficulty in generating money or the opposite, not controlling the money we have.As a yoga teacher, over the course of my life I have met countless spiritual people who had a problem charging money for their spiritual service. They did not have a problem getting paid for work they didn’t like, but not for what they believed in. Perhaps the Biblical declaration of “money being the root of all evil” is a phrase too deeply ingrained in our psyche.

This separation of money into good or bad creates a pattern of guilt towards money, and guilt as an emotion has no place in the realm of spiritual existence.The perspective that money is a negative energy makes most people dislike paying for services they get. If we hold money back and constantly try to get as much as we can for as little as we can give, we create a very weak community and it will simply rebound back to us.It is relatively easy for us to understand that when it comes to love, you cannot just take without giving back.

Somehow, we do not always see this with money, despite the fact that it is simply another form of the same energy.When you happily pay for services you get, you allow the person you paid to be able to exchange money with others for their services. It keeps expanding in circles echoing far and wide, until it may came back to you in different forms. As money, work, clients, deals, services, products etc. We are all interconnected in the ocean of energies, including the one we call money.

Prana Yoga College

www.pranayogacollege.com

Question from reader:

How does karma affects those that know and have learned some very powerful and practical techniques, practices, and spiritual exercises, but they not apply them in their daily life? Are them affected more that those that don’t know and are not aware about these laws, practices, etc?

Shakti’s response:

Dear Sebastien,
On the high level of spiritual practice all concepts we use must be contemplated. Often you will find seekers using concepts they take for granted like for example, the concepts of Karma. Before I answer your question about Karma we should clarify what this concept means.

Karma in Sanskrit means Action.

The law of karma means the law of Causation; whenever there is cause there is an effect.

There is no argument that every action has a result, it’s a fact you can experience yourself. Drop an apple and something will happen, as long as you don’t have any expectation of the result.

But it doesn’t end here.

Swami sivananda said ‘ the people’s own Karma brings reward and punishment’
This is where the problem startsâ?¦

True spiritual practice manifests beyond the conceptual mind. If we perceive reality within the mind’s concepts we are still trapped in the Maya- the illusionary dimension.

What does good action and bad action mean? Good and bad has nothing to do with reality as it is, they are simply mind-relevant concepts that at the end of the day have no absolute meaning except the one which defines them in that particular moment.

So how can we describe any action as good or bad? Good to whom? Bad from what point of view?

True spirituality is never involved with fear or reward. If we talk about Karma in terms of punishment we come from fears if we talk about Karma in terms of reward we talk expectation. Talking punishment and reward make spirituality no different than religion. The use of punishment and reward is a passive aggressive way to control the masses.

O.K so let’s talk Karma on a higher level of knowing.

Every action and thought carries a frequency of energy. If the actions and thoughts come from the need to survive, the frequency of the action’s energy will be low and dense. If it comes from experiencing reality from the higher self as being a union with everything around us, the frequency will be high.

Low frequency energy leads to low consciousness (experiencing reality with limited perception) High frequency energy leads to high consciousness: seeing reality as it is.

So for your question, Karma will affect the one that believes in it. The effect will be in the form of the meaning that each person gives to it.

Lets say that as a spiritual seeker you move through life trying not to do ‘bad’ things to avoid creating bad karma. By doing so you don’t really care about anything outside of yourself but about your good or bad karma. So where is you spiritual evolution? You still live for your own sake. You still act like a little child who’s mainly afraid to be punished. But if you move in the world knowing and experiencing that everything around you is your reflection, you will always try to act from love as everything is one, everything is you.

Scroll down for shakti’s response.

Hello Shakti Mhi,

Thank you for your reply to my e-mail. I hope i had not seemed to be de-valuing or contradicting the beauty of what you had said in your article; but i hope you believe me when i say that i had only intended to share my thoughts for your consideration. I did so because i was impressed by the sincerity expressed by your article and moved by your devotion to teaching yoga (a technique that has greatly helped to uplift me). I share my own opinions but do not presume to know what is right for you. I wish only to help you accept naturally whatever you choose is best.

While i believe it is true that calling one thing holy denies the holiness of everything else. I believe that all is equally holy. It seems to me, however, that it was difficult to actually believe that all is holy. So in the processes of teaching myself to accept this, i had to abandon reverence and dislike. Some places and people (due to their vibration) helped me to facilitate this process. It is true that every asana is as holy as every other; however, for meditation, i found sucess more readily in padmasana than slumping in a chair. This does not detract from the sanctity of the chair-slump, only its utility as a meditative pose.

It is true that the modern indian society has many pernicious customs from caste discrimination to sati to ‘religious’ riots. I do not wish to defend the words of shivananda, because he is capable of doing so himself, and i, too, think it is good to speak from my own experience. There have been many selfish acts inflicted in the name of religion, but if the teaching of religion is to develop selflessness, these acts are a perversion of true religion. I used to abhor the catholic church (in which i was raised). I blamed the religion for the acts of a few men (or even many). I wrongly believed that Catholicism and not the greed of men caused the crusades. I could not let go (or bow) my own desire to seek vengence, to the healing love of god. I believed that because i had been raped as a child, that that proved god was not good. Yoga helped me to forgive the men who raped me and this helped me to realize that my anger had been misdirected at religion. I realized i thought that they denied me happiness, but that was realy only my own refusal to heal. When i began to heal the anger lifted.

I realy do believe that all is holy and worthy of worship. I believe that the men who raped me are as holy as my guru. I believe that all the people who suffer from social abuses (like caste discrimination), do so only because they choose to. I think this because; I know that i stopped suffering by the grace of my guru when i had convinced myself to. This is a very difficult process, but i have seen so many others do it, that i am convinced that it is possible for all who try. I do not advocate any discrimination or hurtful act, even against those who are guilty of the same. I believe that all are equally worthy of love.

It seems to me that all is as good or bad as people choose to make it. My ‘abuse’ was ‘bad’ as long as i chose to remain the angry victim. It became a huge blessing when i began to view it as an opportunity to access the world within me. I realized, through the urge my rapist caused, many useful things. I never took the time to look inside until the pain made me. I saw within my own self ulitimately ever power in all the universe. I realized not only that god is everywhere but that he was my own True self. Through this I gained the siddhis (mystical powers) of yoga.

My first guru was Subramuniyaswami, but my second guru Ammachi, sent me eventually to the Guru within. My guru today is the highest Self within. The instuction of the living teachers for me was neccessary to learn to bow to the self within. That Self is Loving and helping but will not work against our desires however selfish or ignorant. I do not think that anyone SHOULD bow to any other, but until each individual gets a good sense of who they realy are (by giving up fear and accepting love) it can be very helpful. The lower tendancies must bow to reveal the higher. Someone who knows that the self is everywhere wants to worship it everywhere.

My gurus never did any work for me. I did everything, but their guidance helped to keep me moving foward. They knew the Self so they could help me see it. Their wisdom helped steer me away from painful mistakes. I also believe that the purity of their intense practice generated an energy that helped fuel my practice. Some people do not perceive subtle energies, but i did and found them very helpful.

It is true that no one needs protection, but yoga is a practice that can attract many innerplane beings. When people practice deeper yogic practices with selfish motives or with intent to harm it can give harmful negetive energies and entities a way to cause pain in the world. A qualified guru can prevent any student whose intent is pure from welcoming this pain. The self can do this, too. But it is sometimes hard for the selfish ego to conect with the high self. There are people who seek to hurt us too; it is only logical to seek the association of those who help.

This is only my personal impression from my own experience. It might interest you to have a demonstration of the assistance which is available from a guru. If you are open to this, i will showing you. If you do not accept this that is a valid option. A guru can help overcome personal difficulties in conecting with the bliss of the Self. The job of the guru is to help awaken the divine self within the student. People accept that guru’s help because they desire it. The guru helps because he/she wants to. There is no thought of reward, because selfishness must be abandoned to view the self. There is no hope of being worshiped or appreciated. The guru simply tries to help because he/she serves the Self.

The Self within you is yearning for you to realize it. It wants to free you from every suffering and grant you every power. I know this because i have seen it. I see it in you now. I believe that self is granting you a chance to experience it. Look for it within you. You can seek the help of the Self if you know how to. If you do the same and welcome my help as you look inside; i will show you what i have seen. I welcome you to try this just once. It might change you thoughts on receiving the assistance of those who help.

You have a very good point, that bowing to a guru will only distract you from the Self within. The realy guru does not really accept worship; but he/she does help those who appreciate a need for the particular aid he/she provides. The guru needs permision to help. The guru welcomes questions, and answers in words. This was a huge support to me until i could hear the instructions of the Self. Only then could i seek it securely.

I recall when i revealed the words in the ‘devi mahatmyam’ quoted earlier but i will translate from sanskrit now because i enjoy worship.

To the cause of ever increasing Fortune; to the power of Tranquility; perfected in Her control of all things; to the Victory in struggles; to the three-eyed, Mother of the Universe, and Daughter of the Mountains; to the Sustenace of all the world, i bow.

No one has to bow. But i wanted to. As i did, She, within me, took away my pains and gave me all of Her qualities. Now i have conquered the realm of desire. There is no need to bow, but i do so to show others how. I worship Her, in you, because i love Her. I can not see you to be anything less. Please accept my humble offerings, my Divine Mother.

Namaste,
Ganapati

Reply from shakti

Dear ganapati

~My response to you is written in between your comments all the way to the end.~

Hello
Namaste,

I wanted to comment upon an article by Shakti Mhi entitled ‘avoid worship.’

~The action of worship makes one greater and another lesser and creates great separation, the opposite from oneness, the essence of any spiritual path. This approach takes us even further away from realization. When you make one thing holy naturally you make another thing unholy.

In my youth I spent enough years among gurus and masters observing how far seekers will dive into stupidity resulting from worshiping.~
Swami Shivananda has written many many books, most of which explain the esoteric beauty of worship. Many expressly state that worship of the Satguru is essential to encounter the state of jnana (knowledge) neccessary to progress on a spiritual path. Patanjali who authored the yoga sutra and first codified the ashtanga style of yoga makes clear in those yoga sutras that 1) a guru is nesseccary to practice yoga 2) that, as one of the 5 yamas, worship or ‘ishvarapujana’ is essential to master before even asana practice should begin and 3) that the student progresses only by the grace of the guru as that student is able to accept the grace of the guru.

~Swami Shivanada is the same guru who said that ‘women will never contribute anything to society by becoming doctors and other professional and they should only stay at home and function as mothersâ?¦’ He described women in words that should not even be in print.

If I should take for granted Shivananda’s words about worshiping just because he is a guru or a master should I live by his words about women as well?~
Patanjali who authored the yoga sutra and first codified the ashtanga styleâ?¦

~I can understand how impressed you are by the scripturesâ?¦. (this usually lasts until one connects with their own inner guru). Do you know that if you will go back to the ancient yogi scriptures you will find in the Vedas themselves the seeds to the caste system that is rooted so heavily in India? The reason why such an unimaginably oppressive social system has been created in the most so called ’spiritual country’ (India) is because the ‘holy’ Brahmans who were on top of the social pyramid wanted to keep their power. By using karmic non sense they imposed a horrible existence on endless generations. If you are blindly accepting the yoga scriptures you are supporting the caste system.

Taking the path of questioning and not following blindly (isn’t that what worship is?) is to be awakened.~While i do not mean to tell anyone what to do or to prepose that i have the only proper way of viewing spitiual practice, i think these teachers are saying something important. It is not neccessary to have a teacher because the world is a teacher. This is difficult to see the teacher in the world. I can hear the trees and buildings and air talking to me and they tell me how to better my practicve but i still favor a LIVING TEACHER because i lack the faith to believe the trees are helping me when i feel pain.
Sometimes those who are afraid to be hurt avoid living teachers for this reason, but fear does not lead sensible steps on a yogic path. It is more often to find peoples with a strong ‘ahamkara’ or ego who avoid teachers so they can avoid growth! Growth is pain full sometimes. The teacher is useful because he or she can push us through such pain and assure us we are improving. Their guidance can be instrumental in such growth.

~Communication has an interesting twist. While I am talking about non worship you perceive my words as having no teacher. A living teacher is very important thing on the spiritual path, but even here people miss the point as usually they have in their minds a specific image of how this teacher should look, behave or be and often they miss great teaching which may come on their path because it doesn’t fit their description.

That is right if you are talking religion. If you are talking spirituality you cannot worship god without worshiping evenly everything around you as well as yourself. Everything is Bhraman, god, higher self, the essence.~
It is true that a bad teacher will like being worshipped, but we will help him and ourselves by doing so. We will learn from him how not to behave. There is no need to fear on a spiritual path because our past karmas will protect us from attack.
Any pain we experience is surely a bless in our parabdha karmas which has come to us to help unburden ourselves.

~I can not relate to any of the above words as you are parroting somebody else’s words without obviously having any direct experience in the matter. It is no different then repeating a fairytale that somebody told you.~
While i do not intend to tell you to seek a guru or to change your web page, it seems a shame that many who need to bow their ego may be detered from a path of bhakti. This has been the only thing that has ever help me better raja and jnana yoga (bhakti). It seems a shame to know that people may miss out on the diksha (initiation) of a guru because they have found it useless to ask after reading this article.

~If initiation is something that works for you go for it, but if you think that is the only way for realization you are limiting Realization, a ’state beyond all concepts’, to as tiny a concept as initiation.

I am providing diksha for all who ever read this article and decide to avoid guru. I will protect them in their spiritual practice until they choose a guru.

Only the one who fears talks about protection, the one who trusts lives with inner peace.

I will protect them in their spiritual practice until they choose a guru.

You mean your way is the only way??? Isn’t this how fanaticism starts?

These are important things for them to have, so i will not deny them.

~Can you really tell what is important for them or maybe you are treating them as perhaps your guru treats you. Like a little child that doesn’t know what is good for him.

As you know there is no right or wrong. There are different approaches and different deliveries.~
I bow to Shakti Mhi because she is verily the devi i pray to every day

~Bowing to shakti is bowing to yourself.~

AUM sarva mangala mangalye shive sarvartha sadhike /
sharanye tryambake gauri naaraayani namo’stu te //

~I would be much more interested to hear your own words. Do not allow your beauty as a free spirit to vanish beneath what you perceive as the impressive words of others.

Being your true self is the first step on the path of spirituality.
Namaste
shakti mhi ~

Worship is a common phenomenon in the spiritual world. When you observe this phenomenon, which endless numbers of disciples go through, you wonder if it is a result of the weakness of the disciples that are looking for authority to follow or the weakness of the teachers/masters that are in need of power and control. Or maybe both. After all life is a tango.

As children we look at our parents as our saviors. Our parents are our protectors, our teachers, and our providers. We are fully dependant on them. They are our source of safety and love. If we don’t get the basic safety, nourishment and love from our parents as children it can affect us enormously throughout our adulthood. As we grow up to become adults ourselves, sooner or later we discover that the parents we looked up to during childhood are people like ourselves with needs, confusion and often with no answer to our grown up questions of what it is all about and other wonders. As a result the inner child that remains within us seeks someone else to look up to for guidance and acknowledgement. No matter how much money we have, what power we gained, and how high our status in society is we often feel very fragile and lost in the realm of existence. It is often easier to worship a live guru as you instantly are gaining a new mom or dad. Someone whose approval and acknowledgment you reach for at any time. Their acknowledgment may make you feel loved again as a child but will surely move you away from becoming a master yourself. Reaching for acknowledgment and approval turns us into slaves, and the teacher that feeds this need is an abuser.

You will never find gurus among gurus. Gurus will be worshiped only by weak people, never by masters. It is one thing to appreciate or have an immense gratitude to a great teacher you meet on your path, it is another thing to get lost in blind worship.

Since the beginning of human kind there were always spiritual leaders in the form of teachers, shamans, medicine men, wizards, master and gurus who transmitted the universal wisdom from generation to the generation. The essence of this knowledge has to do with deciphering the codes of what we are beyond our evolutionary role as humans. Imagine this as breaking the code of the higher self’s DNA.
Teachers come and go but the teaching is always there, available to those who are willing to rise above the human programming. Spirituality is the human alchemy of turning man into go(l)d.
In Zen, the moon is a metaphor for the Teaching. The master points his finger to the moon and shows his student the direction of the light. As the student stares at the moon, her eyes, from time to time shift to the master’s pointing finger, confusing the finger with the moon. In other words, students often confuse the teaching with the one who conveys it. After a while, when the finger moves away from the moon, the eyes of the student, which were resting mistakenly on the finger, move with it away from the moon, following the teacher instead of the teaching.
This happens when the student confuses the teaching with the teacher.

The obligation of a true teacher is to make her students free, to manifest their essence as masters. A true teacher will force her student to leave once she is ready, avoiding keeping her around forever which would stunt her spiritual growth.

If a teacher creates dependency or admiration towards herself it is a false teaching.

Unfortunately through history among great true masters you can see the false teachers abusing their power to control and manipulate weak and confused disciples on their quest for unconditional love.

Prana Yoga College

www.pranayogacollege.com

Yoga Teaching Question: Is my Student Too Deep?

When my student is in half twist she is able to go very far and is very flexible so her leg is pressed up really hard against her tummy. This allows her to get the most benefit opening up her external hip rotator and the stretch in the arm as she reaches for her ankle, however, she finds it hard to breathe deeply. (Same thing happens when she binds) As I watched her more intensely my instinct told me that she is fine and should stay doing what she is doing – if she were to release the leg she would not have the same physical benefit to the posture… so she just has to reserve the DEEP breathing for postures where her abdomen is not
be pressed against… but I am not SURE.

Response from shakti:

Here is the answer to your question:

- she is too deep!!!!
- do not compromise the breath for the posture.
- she should be finding a variation of half twist which allows her to breathe with ease.
- even if she is holding her ankle or knee or keeping arm bent.
- BREATHING IS THE FIRST PRIORITY!!!!!!

- even though she is so flexible, she may have no breath due to a lack of internal space.
- her inner space may be cluttered with emotional tension, physical tension, physical toxins, or mental toxins.

- the best way to release internal tension is to breathe deeply.
- bring more focus into her breath work while settling into an easier variation of half twist (or other asanas, if this is her common problem)

- physical flexibility shouldn’t be a priority at this point.

it may be blockages in either the 3rd or 4th chakras; encourage her deep belly breaths as priority in her practice.

- through the release with deep breathing she will begin to develop more inner space and find more freedom physically.

Prana Yoga College

www.pranayogacollege.com

Prana is a suspended bridge that connects the muddy land of the small-self with the fertile land of the higher-self. When the bridge sways from side to side in the storms of the mind, it is impossible to walk on it and reach the higher-self. In extreme storms, you may continuously fall from the bridge into the ocean of ignorance. When the bridge is still, you arrive safely on the other side to the island of realization. The moment you step on the land of realization, the bridge disappears and with it the ocean, the storm, the mind and the ignorance…

Prana Yoga College

www.pranayogacollege.com

Unlike photography which records an image as seen from a single viewpoint, a hologram is a record of an image as seen from many viewpoints.
Imagine your small self ( “I am”) as a hologram image reflected between 3 lenses; time, space and mind. The resulting image is made of tiny dots of endless concepts (your name, age, identity, gender, childhood experiences, profession, nationality, religion etc). When time, space and mind vanished, a fusion of all the dots (your concepts) occurs in an instant. The 3 lenses merge to be one, and the holographic image disappears. This is where you start experiencing oneness beyond your definitions as a self.

Prana Yoga College

www.pranayogacollege.com