Your analysis is well reasoned. Since I like TM, the more sense you made, the more I wondered why the movement isn't operating this way? I had a spark of inspiration when you said that "Once people experience it, they're hooked." As I have discussed previously, I conducted one of the movements largest scale efforts to contact all meditators who had been initiated in DC, around 15,000 if I remember correctly. What is easier to remember is that the results were dismal for people keeping it up and willing to come back for a free checking. I'll bet the sidhis are a hard sell these days. I wonder what those numbers are?
So the price thing may reflect that the movement wants people who either are already fully bought in to the beliefs somehow, or rich enough to not care about price, who might donate while their enthusiasm lasts. I think what you have uncovered is that there is a market for what you are proposing. I wonder how many old school teachers would give it a shot on their own the way those "Vedic" meditation teachers already have. I would not be able to endorse the way TM is taught with the beliefs package that I no longer buy. And I am very conflicted about the puja, which is one of the most beautiful aspects of teaching, despite its content being on the level of "Oh Poseidon protect us from these waves." I guess I am so detached from religious meaning these days I see the puja as a beautiful folk song and might include it. I might skip bowing down reverently at the end, that would be a bit much for me. In fact the whole big Guru Dev picture might not work for me either now that I consider his package of beliefs. I might be able to do a puja to that big Holy Tradition picture with the naked flasher Shukadeva. (Yup, I didn't make that up, the guy did not wear cloths in public.) That would defuse the whole devotion thing over the whole motley crew a bit and make it more palatable. Shankara was such a misogynistic douche,I hate to give him so much credit. And maybe the whole fantasy of God himself at the top passing this knowledge down through all those semi-divine and human beings (Was it Vyasa who gave us the caste system? Might be pretty hard to toss some flowers to his pre-Nazi ass! "Now you were born in this family so you are going to clean the toilets all your life. Oh yeah and your sister is a temple whore now.") might be hard to do in good conscience. Damn, I guess with what we know now the whole thing was just another TM marketing scam wasn't it? A fabrication of Maharishi's devious mind. He is the one I should be addressing the puja to, this was his baby. But doing the puja does indorse the bullshit myth of TM's origins....mmmm....thus the conflict. Singing puja is fun. Try it in the back of the next cab driven by an Indian! (Do it in low traffic.) I always get a big positive reaction. I don't have an answer here. I guess I am inclined to chuck it and just attribute it to Maharishi guru of the Beatles. Till he wasn't. So back to how someone could teach TM in the nice format Maharishi taught us without passing on too much of the bullshit that it is embedded in? I guess those guys who teach versions of the "Vedic" meditations have found their own compass on this. As such a non-believer, it would require some more surgery for me to find a way. I really like Maharishi's checking procedure which includes the instruction procedure. That was the best thing he created IMO. It works very well and doesn't have too much BS content transference.( I mean it specifically says we SHOULDN'T make a big deal about the DRAINING effect of animals. We really shouldn't. (Damn my cat just shot me a look, I think he knows something!) --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "seekliberation" <seekliberation@...> wrote: > > I understand this concept of paying the salaries and overhead. However, If > you charge $1500 per meditation instruction, you have to weigh the cost of > how many will learn as opposed to dropping the price. Basically, if you drop > the price to $500 and maintain a 3 to 1 ratio of people learning, you're > better off keeping it at $500. > > Also, I find it hard to believe that TM instruction is the main source of > revenue for the TMO. From my understanding it isn't just that, it's > donations, the $5000 it costs to learn the Siddhis, and many other advanced > programs and courses offered AFTER you learn TM. You can't expect someone > who is completely oblivious to transcendence to value it up front. Once > people experience it, they're hooked. So my opinion is, if you're going to > raise prices, raise the price of all subsequent meditation programs & > instructions (WPA's, TMSP, Advanced Techniques, etc...), but keep the price > of TM more reasonable. I paid over $5000 for TMSP because I felt it was > worth it AFTER experiencing TM. Prior to that, I never would've spent $1500 > just on TM with no prior experience to validate the bliss that TM has the > potential to give me. > > there are many POV's regarding the pricing of TM. Yours is the economic > version of earning enough money to fund the TMO. If that's the POV, then we > should continue the economic strategy of 'Bait and Hook' method. Give people > a small taste of bliss, they'll want more and be willing to pay a lot of > money afterwards. But prior to ever meditating at all, they're just simply > not going to want to pay an entire month's salary. > > > seekliberation > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "John" <jr_esq@> wrote: > > > > The most important factor is that the TMO has to pay its salaries and > > overhead. Since there are no tithing requirements from members, the main > > source of revenue has to be from the instruction fees. >
