Category:Charging Money
Theme Analysis
In a world driven by commerce, spiritual life is frequently corrupted into a lucrative business. Śrīla Prabhupāda heavily criticizes the phenomenon of pseudo-yogīs and false holy men who travel to the West specifically for charging money in exchange for fabricated, secret mantras. He points out the tragic irony of Kali-yuga: if a teacher presents a sublime, free, and simple process like chanting Kṛṣṇa's holy names, people often ignore it, but if a cheater demands fifty dollars for a mystical gymnastic process, foolish people eagerly follow them.
The true Vedic standard, as established by Śrīla Prabhupāda, is that absolute spiritual knowledge must be distributed freely. Because a genuine brāhmaṇa teaches without demanding a salary, institutions like the varṇāśrama college and the gurukula can ideally operate without charging fees to their internal students. Furthermore, Śrīla Prabhupāda established that temples should provide free prasādam and lodging for sincere members, relying entirely on love, trust, and voluntary contributions rather than mandatory entrance fees for events like the Sunday love feast. However, Śrīla Prabhupāda was also a highly practical organizer. While the chanting of the holy name is free, he approved of charging standard speaker fees for formal university lectures and ensuring that books were sold to cover printing costs. Yet, he strictly warned his managers against irreligious profiteering or charging exorbitant prices to the temples, maintaining that the ultimate goal is always the compassionate distribution of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
- The Business of Fake Gurus: True spiritual masters do not sell God. Śrīla Prabhupāda exposes the cheating propensity of those who make a business out of charging money for secret mantras or magical formulas.
- The Free Gift of the Holy Name: The Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra is an open, public secret. It is distributed completely free of charge to anyone willing to hear and repeat it.
- Free Education and Prasādam: In an ideal Vedic society, education and spiritual nourishment are not commodities. Gurukula students, varṇāśrama students, and sincere temple guests are to be educated and fed without charge.
- Practicality vs. Profiteering: Charging money is acceptable for formal university lectures or to cover the actual costs of printing books, but charging exorbitant markups or turning the mission into a mundane business is strictly considered irreligious.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: Charging Money - The Priceless Gift of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness.
Subcategories
This category has only the following subcategory.
Pages in category "Charging Money"
The following 20 pages are in this category, out of 20 total.
A
- About Trinity College lectures, I think I can stay in Hartford for the days I have to lecture there, and the fees may be charged $100 per lecture as the New York City College has offered
- All of you were feeling unhappy that no one was purchasing My goods and that I would have to carry them away. Therefore, by your will only, I have distributed them without charging
- Along with our temple, we shall have to construct some residential quarters for the students. And the students will remain with us. There will be no charge for their fooding or lodging. They will remain as brahmacari and go to their schools, colleges
I
- I am against the policy of our ISKCON Press charging exorbitant prices for books and other things which they sell to the temples
- I approve your scheme not to charge money for love-feast. Whatever voluntary contribution you receive, that is alright
- I don't want any charges for my mantra, no. My mantra is open, Hare Krsna, and there is no charge for it. And I have no necessity. I require a little clothing and two capatis. That's all
- I hope very soon Back to Godhead will be a very popular magazine. If you give me some advertisement it will be a great asset to the publication, and we will be glad to print it free of charge
- If I would have prescribed some gymnastic process and if I would have charged fifty dollars for some secret mantra, then your countrymen would have followed me. Because it is presented very simply, although very sublime, we don't get any followers
- If it is possible to get a place free of charge for holding kirtana and discussing on the Bhagavad-gita in some quarter where there are mostly English-speaking people, that will be very much convenient
- In my opinion all Gurukula students should be educated free of charge, but outside students may be charged
S
- So any member can come to our temples and live as long as he likes and take free prasadam. So if any Indians students come here as our member, we shall welcome him and give him a place as well as prasadam free of charge
- So far as musical instruments are concerned I don't think it is worthwhile. Shipping charges and packing and duty come to more than that one could purchase in the states
- So we're very shocked and astonished that so many people are coming to the West, to the United States, and posing as holy men and simply making business, charging money, and giving somebody some magical formula whereby they can become God
W
- We are distributing this Hare Krsna mantra not with any charges. Free. We are chanting; anyone can hear and repeat it
- We don't charge any fee at the varnasrama college. There is no question of money. Because the brahmanas, they'll teach free. They require money because they have to give fat salary to these rascals. But we haven't got to
- We're very shocked and astonished that so many people are coming to the West, to the United States, and posing as holy men and simply making business, charging money, and giving somebody some magical formula whereby they can become God in half of a year