The cost of knowledge

[Anand Hudli]

On Mon, 11 Feb 2002 11:59:05 -0500, Ravisankar Mayavaram
<miinalochanii at YAHOO.COM> wrote:

>On Sun, 10 Feb 2002 04:47:44 -0500, Anand Hudli <anandhudli at HOTMAIL.COM>
>wrote:
>
>>Having just completed a course on prANAyAma and meditation, I was struck
>>by a comment that the teacher made: "I could have taught all this free of
>>cost. But if I did, then no one would take it seriously."
>
>It has very little or nothing to do with money. There is a determiner
>called "adhikAri laxaNam" -- that should be met. Many requirements go into
>this term, just to mention two: a) Need/urge to know b) Qualifications/pre-
>requisites needed.
>

 The point is that some commitment has to be there from the student even
 if other qualifications are present. In olden times, the commitment
 was made clear by the student, even if he had the adhikAri-laxaNa,
 by performing the sevA of the Guru.
 The student was expected to serve the Guru, often for a long period
 of time, before the Guru would impart some knowledge.
 Nowadays, no one seems to have the time to do such sevA on a day to
 day basis. So the commitment from the student has to be expressed in
 some other way. And this other way is usually donation (money), though
 it could also be some kind of volunteer work, etc.

 The general principle seems to be that what you gain should be earned.
 Otherwise, it will be wasted. If you listen to lecture upon lecture
 from a Guru with no commitment, then such lectures will not, in general,
 do you any good, even if such lectures are about the highest reality.

Anand