Knowledge of Yoga should be free

[Guest113]

yalgaar,

"Yoga is so beautiful. I am wondering the knowledge of yoga should be available to anybody and everybody who wants to pursue it for “free”

This is a very popular idea - that anything spiritual is something that is to be given for free. The fact is that if the yogic sciences is something that is to be made available in the kind of society in which one lives, then it will have to adapt itself according to the ways of the society. Yoga will need as much financial support as possible if it is to become something which reveals it’s light from the hidden darkness. Otherwise, it will always remain some obscure thing which is hiding in the background. It is simply the way this world in which one is familiar with works, nothing can be done without money, nor can there be much progress in any field without money. Unless masses of people by some miracle decide to become less greedy, and more compassionate.

If somebody can afford it - even if there is an option to learn the methods of the yogic sciences for free, it may be far better that he pays for it. You are already willing to spend so much money on so many things which are absolutely irrelevant to your well being, and taking them all for granted in the process. And I can understand if you are perhaps too poor to afford it, that is a different matter. For such people, yoga should be made available to them without any financial cost. But the average person in this society is well beyond materially comfortable, he is simply spoiled like a child. Because the fact is that to live a comfortable life, does not require much. Other than some basic psychological balance, all that is needed is enough food, water, inhalation, exhalation, defecation, urination, and shelter. Otherwise, anything beyond this is simply a luxury. Man has been entertaining himself with all kinds of luxuries, demanding more and more for his own well being, creating so many conditions and boundaries for his freedom. And one is always living by comparison to others. Because one is living by comparison to others, one feels a sense that one is either ahead of somebody else, or lagging far behind. If you are lagging far behind, then there is a desire to surpass others, and in a competitive world in which everybody is struggling to pass others - it comes all too easy for one to become entangled in the game. So - the reality is that for most people, it is not that they cannot afford to use their money to learn something like yoga - which would cost almost nothing in comparison to what they are spending on things which have not brought any joy or freedom to their being.

It is very rare that a human being is capable of valuing anything which is given to him for free. It is just a psychological fact - man is a creature of habit, always overlooking the obvious. Otherwise, by now - no yoga at all would have been needed, just sitting here silently, doing nothing, one would have already come to a great contentment. But the ego is in such a way, that it has already raised a thousand and one barriers to prevent oneself from such a thing, one’s likes and dislikes, belief systems, assumptions, conclusions, prejudices - these are all standing like a vast China wall. Unless one has tremendous awareness, it will be almost impossible for one not to try and convert everything into one’s own egoistic agenda of self-preservation. So, some price is needed. It need not be something financial, if you understand paying for it as something financial - you have missed the essential matter. It has nothing to do with what you are giving - whether it is flowers or money. Something within yourself must be sacrificed in the process if one is to truly awaken a sincere desire to come to the Truth.

“Somebody who wants to learn about yoga should not be worried about how will he/she will pay for it.”

He should worry about it. It should not be taken for granted that things are to be given without any effort on your part. You will have to earn it.

[Guest113]

Starr,

“I do think that if a person genuinely follows a path of yoga, they should be more than willing to share that information”

Those who have come to a certain wisdom and understanding have always been reluctant to share their understanding openly. People like Gautama Buddha, who himself was in a great dilemma after coming to awakening as to whether to teach or not to teach, are very rare. For the majority of the enlightened beings, they have decided to remain silent. It is not that they were not willing to share, it is simply that if you give something to somebody who is not prepared for it - then it can only damage what may already be a complicated situation. And there is another aspect to it as well - because if the methods for transformation of consciousness are to be preserved, then it will have to be transmitted in a certain way. Some safety mechanisms are needed to make certain that it does not loose it’s original spirit. Otherwise, it can become reduced to something which is just an entertainment for one’s ego. And that is exactly what has happened in the West - yoga has become distorted in such a way, that it has lost it’s original spirit completely. A tremendous disservice was done, because what was intended as a ladder towards the divine has become just nothing more than physical exercise to nourish one’s ego. So there is a good reason why many of the masters decided to remain either silent, or relatively unknown.

But it is my own understanding that this situation is another limitation that is to be cast off. There should come a point where man has enough responsibility and maturity to be able to become involved in the spiritual sciences without having to resort to such means. And the fact is that if the yogic sciences continues to be something which is reserved only for a select few, then it will just disappear from the Earth. Already, in Tibet, Tibetan yoga is becoming almost extinct that now, many yogis have been willing to share techniques which otherwise were meant to be kept secret by a vow of silence. It is not unique to the traditions that have happened in Tibet, traditionally this is how the yogic sciences have always been transmitted, from master to disciple with a strict vow of silence. It may have been useful at a certain time, but now, when you are living in a society in which more than half of the population in this kind of society are suffering from something like stress, who have lost all joy and love for life - then it may be time that the methods for transformation are made available to anybody who has any desire to move beyond their sufferings. If even a single human being is transformed, then even if he is sitting in a cave, isolated from the whole world - his life will have an impact on thousands of individuals, it will be impossible for his energies not to create a chain reaction of some kind. And it is possible - because if one recognizes that everything in existence is interconnected, then it is not difficult for one to understand how just the transformation of the consciousness of just a single human being is in itself, by it’s very existence, is capable of assisting the transformation of others.