Fees For Spirituality?

Taken from a Commentary by Alexis on Elodie's Blog: Pour Que Vive le Sahaj Marg

Fees for Spirituality?

Should an abhyasi contribute or not?

"We are a very humble, usually invisible, virtually unknown for the simple reason that we are asking no dues for membership (...)." Speech by Chari July 23, 2008 in Lucknow, in response to the speech by the spokesman of the UN.

The minimum amount of the 2007-8 French contribution amounts to 75 €. Those responsible for SRCM France are deploying a wealth of ingenuity to ensure that all abhyasis pay. In 2007, 1173 members have paid, but it would still remain that 25% abhyasis are non-contributors.

At the Annual General Meeting of the SRCM France, held at Vrads Castle, (Denmark), Chari wanted to double the membership fee for 2009 so as to eliminate the "deficit" (sic). The 2007 revenues amounted to € 260 per participant and financial investments to more than 750 €, and all equity reached € 1920 per participant…

The SRCM France also participated in the purchase of the ashram of Milan for € 115 000 or € 98 per participant, and it offered a bell of 250 kg to CREST, which required 3 days for installation.

At the SRCM, the fee is not mandatory, but it is very much sought after. One can therefore be abhyasi without paying, but on the other hand one can not be a member of the association without pay, lest one displeases Chari …

From there to say that SRCM is very humble, invisible and unknown because of lack of contributions, I have difficulty to understand the reasoning… unless it is all too obvious: the money, always money

It is true that with nearly 900 000 € investments (6 million french francs), SRCM France is poor… hence the doubling of the contribution fees.

4d-Don's Comment...

I saw this comment by Peter on Elodie's blog. I am just "borrowing" it, as it is appropriate and exposes directly the "lack of spirituality" mentionned often in this blog, by the Master of Sahaj Marg and others of the Management Team of SRCM (California), what we call Chari's Clan...


"It reminds me of an editorial by Philippe Bouvard in Corse-Matin du 17-08-08"

".... alone, the humility advocated by the Tibetan leader seemed to promise a less dazzling success-if only because humility ceases to exist the moment one boasts of possessing it"

In the case of the "no dues" issue, it does not seem to be true in France, at least according to Alexis and other abhyasis, who live there.

And "Humility" in Sahaj Marg and Chari? I don't see it when he arrogantly and falsely calls spiritual bloggers who question his tactics, his words, and his actions, the "enemies of Spirituality", as if HE and HIS brand of Sahaj Marg is the only SPIRITUALITY. Again, not according to many others more noteworthy, influential, and more closely connected to the SRCM of Babuji than 4d-don. He (Chari) seems to be acting more as an "agent provocateur", with anything (homosexuality) and anyone (bloggers) who question his tactics and his words and his action. He seems to be very divisive and not generally "humble" nor very SPIRITUAL, from the "outside looking in", that is! ;-))

What are those "main quotes" attributed to Christ by Christians again...Oh yeah! "TURN THE OTHER CHEEK"!!! and... LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR!!! They (Chari and his team) seem to very "opportunistic" in their use of quotes from other religions and their FOUNDERS, which they just recently disrespectfully called "corrupt"(see under sub- heading "other religions") and "promoting war", he even accuses Catholics of "lying in the confessional".

NOT VERY SPIRITUAL this Sahaj Marg (trade marked) and the current Master/Guru of SRCM (California) !

Oh Yes! That is "MASTER and PRESIDENT OF SRCM (California) FOR LIFE"...Is that Democracy according to SRCM (Calfifornia)? Does the UNDPI not require a DEMOCRATIC organization, not a dictatorship of its members? Will SRCM voluntarily withdraw its membership to UNDPI out of "honor" as the Jehova's Witnesses have done, or become "democratic"?

In light of Shashwat's comment (see comments) I include a small section from Chari's speech that anyone can read in it's entirety here: (Chari's speech)

Speech given by Rev. Master on 23rd July, 2008 at Lucknow, UP, India following a speech by Mr. Chandran, spokesman for India and Bhutan at the United Nations Organization.

Respected Mr. Chandran, we are very grateful to you for your presence in this spiritual assembly, which in the terms of my Guruji, Shri Ram Chandraji Maharaj of Shahjahanpur, should always have an atmosphere pervasive with spiritual values. When a couple of years ago, we were permitted entry into the awesome institution known as the United Nations, I must confess that I was a little nervous of how this, you know, the marriage of a very rich man with a very poor girl will survive. I discovered that throughout the history of romance, poor girls, so long as they were pretty, were able to marry very rich people and make happy homes. The opposite was never the case.

We are a very humble, generally invisible, mostly unknown organisation, for the single reason that we do not charge any fees for membership, and most of our ashrams have free accommodation and food, that being my Master’s specific charge, that in a country where even food is not available to most people, we should never charge for food. Of course, we do not have the resources that we would like to have to feed all the poor in India. Nor can I say that our abhyasis fall under the category of poor. But there are suffering people who cannot afford… For instance, I would like to say that in 1964 when I joined the Mission, I had gone to Shahjahanpur and my Master was expecting a busload of abhyasis from Sitapur, not very far from Shahjahanpur. And the bus fare was I think two rupees two annas, or something like that. And he said, “Poor people, they cannot afford this bus fare. So we should not charge them anything.” I said, “Babuji, people come from South India paying eighty rupees for train fare, and you are not expressing any sympathy for them.” [Chuckles] He smiled and said, “There is nothing political or geographical in what I say. I am only saying, if people cannot afford even two rupees two annas, how can we charge anybody?” So our feeding is generally free of charge in our ashrams, accommodation is free of charge, irrespective of time limits. There is no time limit. That is the first thing we have tried to ensure at all our ashrams.

Number two—Mr. Chandran would have seen just now—nine weddings were performed, and most of them were inter-state, inter-communal. Because when people want to be married, I make it very clear that there is no question of dowry ever. Dowry has been the biggest evil in our society. It has made families beggarly in their final result. Three daughters to marry, and the old man had to spend all his life savings and live on charity from other relatives. This is a well-known phenomenon in India. But so far we have conducted almost two thousand marriages and I wish to assure Mr. Chandran, that there was no dowry, no expense—mere exchange of garlands in the old tradition, that love must join two hearts; not money, not race,
not culture, not creed, not at all religion.

(...) Nobody who is at peace will take up the cudgel for any cause. He is content to remain at home. If we could bring peace of mind to everybody, there are no more wars, not even ‘a war to end war’ as the United States is always saying, and that is our endeavour. That today we have here people from Iran, from the UAE, and people from Israel, Jews. I mean there are representatives of everybody that you can think of. And the first thing that we ensure is equality among sexes.

4d-Don said:

See more of Chari's speech here and you decide if he is telling the "WHOLE TRUTH"! "People" in SRCM (California) do not all "want to be married"... in SRCM, marriages are arranged by Chari (some Indian men to western girls, and some Indian women to western men), and according to many reports, "race" is allegedly an issue in some marriages arranged by SRCM (California). Although he boasts (humbly ?) of 2,000 marriages (some arranged), there is no mention of the failure ratio of these arranged marriages. Do your own research, before accepting an arranged marriage by SRCM (California), or other such "cultural" rituals from medieval days promoted by SRCM (California) and Chari. Arranged marriages are certainly a "religion" influenced cultural practice.

I certainly question his statement on the "equality" of the genders at SRCM in light of Chari's statement that "women can't be Masters of SRCM (California)" because of their inability to "destroy". When questionned further, Chari said that the destruction a Master must perform is: "on a cosmic level"... Did you know that you are part of a "peaceful system" with a self-proclaimed Master who thinks his duty is to destroy on a "cosmic" level? Which part of the COSMOS did you or will you destroy, one may ask?