This has been an enlightening discussion! I am grateful to be able to participate with such insightful and brilliant minds.
My take is that these are companies, operating in a capitalistic world. The consumers have a choice whether to partake of their products and services, or not. It comes down to what value the consumer assigns for these products.
In India, the way it is generally perceived is that one shold not have to pay for spiritual teachings. If one desires, one may "donate" a small amount of money to the organization, which goes towards the maintenance and upkeep of the facilities. In fact, the more authentic the teacher, or organization, the less one should have to spend in terms of money. One can volunteer their time or energy towards helping and maintaining the orgainzation.
But we definitely are talking about two completely different worlds ....
