क्या ज्योतिषी को फीस लेनी चाहिए ?
Astrology is based on Law of Karma and action - result / Give-Take / Credit-Debit theory . Based on these theories , Rishis who founded Indian astrology, had given a code of conduct for questioner and astrologer both and that was practised until 50-60 years ago . The same instructions apply to doctor -patient and Guru - Shishya pair and any consultancy subject . But , later on English education reversed this code of conduct . Let me discuss the old code of conduct and beauty of that system, though it is not applicable now .
The code for giver of knowledge / skill i.e. astrologer , Vaidya or Guru . They were :
1. Never ask money from seeker of service and do your best irrespective of the status of seeker of service .
2. But , if you get anything for your services voluntarily , it is to be accepted for personal use , after donating 20% to good cause ( voluntary income tax).
The code to seeker of service :
Never go empty handed to a consultant as it represents acute Saturn's effect on seeker of service and in that case the advice rendered will be made ineffective for the use because of various reasons . One may not listen properly or do not believe or not act on advice at all .
What should be appropriate fee to any consultant ?
It is should be one day's income of advice seeker .
What if Questioner or seeker of service is not having that fee at the moment of consultation ?
Based on law of Karma , the fee remains due as debt and one remains indebted to consultant forever and it may remain due for many future births . Also , it gets multiplied with divine interest rate which is very high ( seed to crop rate ) . So, it is in advice seeker's interest to pay it at the earliest , whenever one has it , like an old unpaid debt.
Despite not having anything, one is not allowed to go empty handed to a consultant . One can carry a flower , leave , fruit , grain or any such thing as per current capacity and give it to consultant , showing the bonafide intentions of seeker and pay balance when he has it.
As per Prashna Shastra, Astrologer has to calculate, keeping in mind whatever you came with and it becomes a factor in assessing the intensity of Jupiter and Saturn on seeker . The more costly offering means good Jupiter and therefore better chances of future outcome at earliest and smaller value means greater effects of Saturn and consequently more delays and problems in outcome.
So, a seeker without money / offering has to pay more in future because of divine interest rate while in case of immediate and appropriate ( 1 day's income ) fee balances the Karma immediately and there is no dues on anybody's part .
If both follow this advice , there can be no problem in this code of conduct .
Problem arises , when service seeker starts acting smartly and forgets to pay when he gets money . A student may start earning millions by knowledge gained through Teacher and education institution but would never think about teacher's or institution's needs in modern time so, teacher,consultants and institutes also had no alternative but to charge a minimum fee .
Not paying fee voluntarily is harmful to both astrologer and seeker because of Saturn influence . Despite best advice by astrologer freely , the person would not listen a free advice attentively because human mind will not value it and so it will not act on advice . Further , advice can be free , but means to act will not be free.
A doctor may give free advice but medicines would not be free , so ultimately that advice goes waste . Now if you can manage medicines , why you cannot pay fee ? Astrologer suffers on 2 count : by not getting the fee and not getting any good results from seeker because he would not act on advice . So astrologer will not get due publicity also for right prediction.
While the case of immediate and appropriate fee payment means that seeker of advice being very sincere , will listen attentively and act also on advice and Jupiter being favourable the outcome will also be positive for seeker and astrologer for doing right prediction , will get good publicity also .
The mind of astrologer or any consultant will definitely work better, because of happiness generated by prepayment of fee as it puts extra pressure on his mind to come up with best advice because of human psychology while in case of free advice seeker , the consultant's mind will not work at optimum level.
Because of all these issues , old consultancy texts strictly advised for immediate payment of appropriate fee to consultant , if one was capable and only in case of extreme poverty , the fee was to be postponed but to be paid immediately whenever capacity to pay happened.
Astrologer was also supposed to donate more, if he got more than a day's wages , apart from 20% voluntary donation , to keep his own Jupiter good and maintaining the predictive ability.
Fee has nothing to do with SPIRITUALITY as it is also a worldly Karma of give and take but these karma need to be done ethically as described above . A real spiritual seeker will abstain all worldly acts of name and fame and would not practice astrology at all.
All these rules apply only to genuine and knowledgeable , experienced astrologer just like a qualified doctor and not a learning , student kind or cheat astrologer .
PS : In modern world , where everything from electricity , computer , internet , books , accommodation , office ,hospital, education , tax , training cost of astrology cost money , astrologer has moral right to fix a minimum fee , just like doctors , lawyers and other consultants.
Only govt. can dole free things , that too without quality and free means massive demand also . Therefore , a minimum fee criteria is necessary to filter the non-serious , frequent questioners as nobody is going to pay voluntarily and spirituality will not feed an astrologer or pay monthly bills .
You can read a story on this ethics here : http://www.ycshukla.com/e
Also read this : http://www.ycshukla.com/e
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