Charging for Yoga Classes: Greed or Good Practice?

This was in response to a post on the kundalini yoga teacher’s forum, subject: knowledge should be free. The gist was that this person thought it was hypocritical to charge for passing on spiritual teachings. The following is a response.accepting money for yoga classes

Many people believe that spiritual knowledge should be free. In many ways it is, but living in a world of duality, one has to give in order to get. That is also in accordance with karmic law. Karma is simply cause and effect, which was proven scientifically by Newton in his third law–“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” As far as charging for this knowledge, the waters get muddy here in the west, in our modern capitalist system.

In the past, spiritual tradition was typically handed down from Master to Student at great physical cost. A new Chela, or student, wishing to find a master and learn the spiritual path would travel arduously up into the Himalayan mountains and once he found the master, would then work for that master for several years or more until accepted. That is if the master accepted him in the first place and allowed him to work. After this tremendous expression of commitment, the student would then get one kriya to practice and master. In that context, if you stop to think about the volume of technology Yogi Bhajan passed on in such a short time, it’s mind boggling. (more…)

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Transcending Karma: Just Don't React

wheel of karma; courtesy http://EngravingCreations.comSince karma is simple cause and effect or action and reaction, if something happens to you and you just don’t react, you can stop karma in its tracks. Of course, like many practices of a spiritual nature, this is easier said than done.

The key word here is practice, though. Once you become aware of something that you were otherwise oblivious to, change begins to happen immediately. This is the power of the mind at work. It’s like shining a flashlight at a shadow in the corner. The shadow disappears. Whatever you put your attention on will grow and change. So if you make the decision to observe your reactions to things over let’s say, a forty-day period, you’ll begin to see change in how your life flows.

As you become a new observer to aspects of your life that previously went on automatically, you’ll begin to marvel at how you acted in the past. Perhaps you have a habit of getting into a road rage when you’re driving. Maybe you have to have the last word in arguments. You will change yourself if you just stop playing the game of reaction. Reaction is almost always emotional. Someone says or does something and it triggers in you a train of thought, which you then engage with emotion. This emotion swells in you and propels you into a reaction of some sort. This process always takes up a lot of energy that you could use for better things in your life. This doesn’t mean taking no action at all. It means not re-acting when something happens to you or someone does something that makes you want to respond. (more…)

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Keep It Simple… Stupendous

The key is to open your heart and give Love as much as you can to everyone within your reach because you are everything and everything is you and God is in the details. So when giving to others selflessly, you are actually giving it to yourself because, “Thou Art That.” This is why helping people feels so good. It’s like that John Lennon song “Instant Karma. ” When you give, you get instantly.

To put it simply as I can:

    “The most difficult thing on earth one can practice is to be humble. It is not easy; it is difficult, because you have to surmount the existence of whole maya (illusion) and to recognize that God is by your side. Then you feel the humility.” –Yogi Bhajan

  • God is inside you.
  • God is in everything you see.
  • There is nothing that God is that you are not.
  • There is nothing that you are that God is not. (more…)

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Service: The Selfless Vaccum?

So I was re-reading some of these posts and I realized they’re really long and quite a bit heavy. Not to mention they’re two months old. (I can mention it, you probably shouldn’t) So I thought I would put some things down in more raw form as they come to me. For example, this morning during Sadhana-meditation some stuff occurred to me. Yogi Bhajan saying (and I can’t reference the quote directly but…) basically when you serve others, The Creator serves you. I understood it as it came to me in meditation, but explaining what I think it is, is a whole other thing. (more…)

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