Spirituality and Commercialization
During our talk yesterday with our spiritual teacher, Dr. K. P. Kumar, we touched the point of two persons living from teaching spirituality and/or astrology. He was laughing when I mentioned a friend just told me that one of the persons is even offering to give initiations: “He has a strong Mercury, so he has a good sense of business…”
I know from Sri Kumar’s teachings and from previous talks with him that he strongly advises not to live on teaching wisdom, but to have a normal job in society. He says: “The Masters of Wisdom give the wisdom for free, they do not claim it for themselves, because it belongs to all. It is very grave if you earn money with conveying wisdom.” (See: Good Will in Action 11, Giving and Taking) Today people everywhere only think of earning money, and even in esoteric circles they take the knowledge given by the Masters, add their own language, and give it as their own thing.
This is the case of the other person. Sri Kumar remarked: “Teaching is somehow a life-insurance for her. What would happen to her if the people run away…” So she is clinging to them, not letting them free. It is a subtle way of controlling the people.
Of course people have their own logic legitimizing what they are doing: “It is my profession, I have to live from something, it is a job like any other… I need all my time to do good work, so this is my job…” But logic doesn’t change the spiritual principles. It is interesting to observe that by trying to do so they create subtle clouds of confusion and barriers for their progress. Sooner or later they will have to clear them away.
My wife said: “When there is a commercial motive involved, I feel myself regarded as a customer bringing money, but not as a soul, as I AM. I become a supplier of work or attention, a follower, being used for someone’s purposes.” It is a purpose foreign to me. In spirituality we want to experience the soul and be touched as souls and not as something else. Normally we come to know this difference only when we have experienced someone, who sees us as a soul and behaves with us as a soul, a genuine teacher This is touching you deep from within.
Madonnas in Montserrat: Commercialized spirituality
