When the west meets Asian wisdoms, the capitalist monster of greed colonizes and corrupts the latter, mutating them into spiritual goods for sale in the religious supermarket.
Over the decades, there have been multiple iterations of such spiritual products—yoga, mindfulness, dharma of all persuasions but particularly the lucrative Tibetan strains, nonduality (advaita) premiums, neo-Hindu new age concoctions of all types from Chopra to Oprah, and many others. We now have the cynically saccharine “happiness industry” replete with conferences, programs, and products to cater to all stripes and orientations.
All the sales and promotional gimmicks one can think of has been applied to this lucrative money-spinning billion dollar industry. Many a spiritual guru has rocketed to fame and raked in handsome profits. Almost none is spared this capricious crusade of consumerism, with both seller and buyer embroiled in the (not so) hidden machinations of the money monster.
I am pretty sure the Buddha and genuine spiritual teachers would have been appalled by this rigmarole of commodification and monetization.
Credit: Krishnamurti Foundation Trust
