The Art of Giving
"Rivers do not drink their own water, nor do tree eat their own fruit,
nor do rain clouds eat the grains reared by them. The wealth of the
noble is used solely for the benefit of others" Even after accepting
that giving is good and that one must learn to give, several questions
need to be answered.
The first question is: When should one give?
We all know the famous incident from Mahabharat.
Yudhisthir,asks a beggar seeking alms to come the next day. On this,
Bhim rejoices, thatYudhisthir his brother, has conquered death! For he
is sure that he will be around tomorrow to give.Yudhisthir gets the
message. One does not know really whether one will be there tomorrow
to give!
The time to give therefore is now.
The next question is: How much to give?
One recalls thefamous incident from history. Rana Pratap was reeling
after defeat from the Moghals. He had lost his army, he had lost his
wealth, and most important he had lost hope, his will to fight. At
that time in his darkest hour, & nbsp; his erstwhile minister Bhamasha
came seeking him and placed his entire fortune at the disposal of Rana
Pratap. With this, Rana Pratap raised an army and lived to fight
another day.
Give as much as you can!
The next question is: What to give?
It is not only money that can be given. I tcould be a flower or even a
smile. It is not how much one gives but how one gives that really
matters. When you give a smile to a stranger, that may be the only
good thing received by him in days and weeks!
You can give anything but you must give with your heart!
One also needs answer to this question: Whom to give to?
Many times we avoid giving by finding fault with the person who is
seeking. However, being judgmental and rejecting a person on the
presumption that he may not be the most deserving is not justified.
Give without being judgmental!
Next we have to answer: How to give?
Coming to the manner of giving, one has to ensure that the receiver
does not feel humiliated, nor the giver feels proud by giving. Charity
without publicity and fanfare is the highest form of charity.
Give quietly!
While giving let not the recipient feel small or humiliated. After all
what we give never really belonged to us. We come to this world with
nothing and will go with nothing.The thing gifted was only with us for
a Temporary period. Why then take pride in giving away something which
really did not belong to us?Give with grace and with a feeling of
gratitude. What should one feel after giving?
We all know the story of Eklavya. When Dronacharya asked him for his
right thumb as "Guru Dakshina" he unhesitatingly cut off the thumb and
gave it to Dronacharya. There is a little known sequel to this story.
Eklavya was asked whether he ever regretted the act of giving away his
thumb.He replied, and the reply has to be believed to be true, as it
was asked to him when he was dying: His reply was "Yes! I regretted
this only once in my life. It was when the Pandavas were coming in to
kill Dronacharya who was broken hearted on the false news of death of
his son Ashwathama and had stopped fighting. It was then that I
regretted the loss of my thumb. If the thumb was there, no one could
havedared hurt my GURU
The message to us is clear:
Give and never regret giving!
(There is also the lesson from Dronacharya' s life – he asked for so
much that it killed him in the end.)
And the last question is:
How much should we provide for our heirs?
Ask yourself, 'arewe taking away from them the gift of work'? - A
source of happiness!
The answer is given by Warren Buffett:
Leave your kids enough to do anything,but not enough to do nothing!
In learning the Art of Giving,I would conclude by quoting Sant Kabir:
"When the wealth in the house increases, When water fills aboat, Throw
them out with both hands! "
This is the wise thing to do.
knr
.
--
If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.
Happy moments, praise God.
Difficult moments, seek God.
Quiet moments, worship God.
Painful moments, trust God.
Every moment, thank God
No comments:
Post a Comment