The Mayapur Institute’s administration accepts the Vedic principle that sastric knowledge should not be sold. In the past, we called the money we collected from students "tuition fees", but this made it appear that we were "selling" Vedic knowledge. We now prefer the term "service charges", as this accurately describes how we use the funds. The service charges merely cover our administrative or non-human infrastructure expenses. Our teachers and administrative staff receive basic necessities from funds derived from non-designated donations that our supporters regularly give. The main principle that Srila Prabhupada emphasized -- that teachers not get salaries or charge for transferring transcendental knowledge -- has always been, and remains a cornerstone of the Mayapur Institute’s ethos.

We are now able to offer partial or full scholarships to qualified students who lack the financial capacity to remit the specified service charges.

Please note that our service charges do not include giving any daksina to the teachers. The Vedic system is for students to offer daksina in order to gain the most from learning. Teachers do not charge, and students freely give. So, we strongly encourage our students to offer their teachers some donation, whether money or gifts or service, remembering that most of our teachers are renunciates with no means of support other than charity.

“Any sacrifice performed without regard for the directions of scripture, without distribution of prasadam [spiritual food], without chanting of Vedic hymns and remunerations to the priests, and without faith is considered to be in the mode of ignorance."                                                                                       

- Bg 17.13

“Charity should be given to the devotees of Krishna who are engaged in His devotional service to spread the Krishna philosophy, or Krishna consciousness, throughout the world. … if one gives some amount of his money to persons involved in distributing Krishna consciousness, that charity, given to spread Krishna consciousness, is the greatest charity in the world.”

-Purport, Bg 11.54

Service Charges

Students remit service charges just for the courses they take. We calculate service charges per course based upon the number of class hours in the course (see the table below). Students remit these funds at the time of registration in Mayapur.

Service charges do not cover room and board (in the last three years we have been able to offer our students free lunch prasadam 5 days a week during the Bhakti-sastri and Bhaktivaibhava courses), but do cover course materials.

Please refer to our Course Descriptions for the starting date and duration for each course. You can add or drop classes through the second day of classes. You must get teacher approval to enter a course once it has begun.

Due to the enormous devaluation of the Indian Rupee in the last year, the MI has adjusted the service charges for the upcoming MI Gaura Purnima Courses and the Bhakti-sastri course to Rs 12,108 and each module of the Bhaktivaibhava course to Rs. 11,108.

We do not give refunds, but students may apply their remittances to other courses, another devotee, or another semester.