It is well known that meditation teachers do not take money for teaching meditation. But why? And what is the real payment for meditation?
It is well known that meditation teachers do not take money for teaching meditation. But why?
One of the most common arguments in favor of payment goes like this: any work is an exchange of energy, and so any labor should be paid for. There is some truth in this, since what a person receives for free they seldom value. But in the case of meditation, such an approach is unacceptable. Why?
The answer is simple: any fixed sum would limit, devalue and diminish the worth of the practice of meditation. Meditation teachers should not teach the practice for money because, when you receive a meditation technique and then practice it, your progress in one life will equal the development of dozens of lives. Your experience, your life will become dozens of times richer, and the fullness and beauty of one life will be comparable to ten.
How much is that worth? Is there any measure at all for such an opportunity? An attempt to monetize the teaching of meditation looks very cynical in relation to the process of meditation itself. Besides, there is no such profession as meditation teacher. It is a calling, so if you want to make it your profession, you are unfit to teach meditation. A meditation teacher must live at least at the level of the anáhata A center of psychic energy in the body; seven major ones lie along the spine.; self-interest pulls the mind lower.
If you want to teach meditation and get money for it, you are unfit. To teach meditation, you must have a sense of mission. As a meditation teacher you must long for the welfare of all beings to such a degree that you will teach meditation even without any reward and in spite of all obstacles and misfortunes, because it is your duty, your calling! Such a teacher cares as much as possible for the well-being and development of their students and will never give them anything that could harm them. Such a teacher will sense which practice a student needs right now and which is untimely, because it would strengthen tamasic tendencies in the student's mind and could lead them to "the dark side of the Force."
What is the real payment for meditation?
And yet... Should one pay for meditation? The payment for meditation must be infinite. Because this debt cannot be repaid. There are debts that can never be repaid — to one's father and mother, and the sacred debt to the Guru, the spiritual teacher. But how can one repay the debt to the Guru? For that, first of all, one must understand the Guru's desire, know what the Guru needs. Above all, it is necessary to understand that the microcosm has many desires but few possibilities. The Macrocosm, Cosmic Consciousness, has many possibilities but one desire. And that one desire is that all living beings attain happiness and liberation. So you will fulfill the Guru's desire if you contribute to the welfare of all living beings. That is, if the Guru wanted something personally for themselves, that would disqualify them as a Guru. But if you understand that the Guru has a mission, you will do everything possible to help that mission come true, that is, help carry out this mission at your own level and in your own environment, thereby contributing to the welfare of all created beings. This will be your payment for the practice of meditation you have received.
Learning the process of meditation is our birthright. But your payment for it should take the form of service to the world. You kindle in yourself the fire of selfless love, and with its help you work to create well-being for other beings. This is your true payment to the Guru for the practice of meditation.
If you live having embraced this ideology, you are a mature person, and your life is lived at the level of the upper cakras. A person living in the lower cakras thinks differently: "Leave me alone, please — how much do I owe?" Such a person is willing to give only a tiny little piece of their energy to that world.
Bargaining with the Master
A certain man, a businessman who had received initiation, managed to get a personal meeting with the Master. They went for a walk, and the businessman proposed: "Listen, let me sponsor all your schools, all your ashrams, and you will bless me and multiply all my wealth." The Guru became very angry, did something to the businessman's mind and then said: "Look over there, look at that mountain — what do you see? What kind of mountain is it?" The businessman answered: "It is golden." The Master went on: "Do you think I need your pennies, your crumbs? Who do you think you are? All your fortune is dust compared with the practice I have already given you. These things cannot be compared! How can you insult me like this?"
Some people think that infinity can be bought with some kind of physical wealth. No. That is an unequal exchange. An equal exchange is one to one. You exchange yourself for infinity. You devote your whole life to the welfare of this world, of all beings, to the realization of a lofty mission, of lofty ideals. One could say that in this way you earn meditation. Of course, meditation gives you immeasurably more. And even service itself gives you far more. Because when you serve, you are in the divine flow, and there is nothing that can compare with that.
Fulfilling the Guru's desire…
When a person passes on universal knowledge, at that moment they become a vessel, a conductor, a receptacle of the cosmic. They feel the divine flow and feel that they are living rightly. This flow inside sets a great many things right.
How much is that worth? How much is such a delicate operation on body and mind worth — one that transforms you, makes you a completely different person, opens new horizons, kindles the fire of love inside? How much is it worth? It is not measured in money. One must understand that a true Guru needs nothing. That is, nothing physical is needed — the Guru has everything. Nothing mental is needed — that is there too. Fame is not needed, honor is not needed, worship is not needed. None of this is needed. The Guru is self-sufficient. But what does the Guru want? The Guru wants you to change yourself, to attain freedom, to become just like the Guru, to attain infinity. So, by fulfilling the Guru's desire, by carrying out the Guru's mission, you simply live for your own liberation, for your own evolution and development, and for the evolution of other beings. This is the payment for meditation; no other payment is provided for, and it should not be otherwise.
We may need something. But the Source needs nothing. An A teacher of meditation trained to give personal instruction; monks, nuns and family people can be ácáryas. gives initiation from the Source, not from themselves. Can one take money for what is transmitted from the Source? Surely not. An ácárya carries out a mission that comes from the Source and is relevant at all times. If you want to help the mission — please do! Come and stand alongside and help!
