The act of giving is the only thing that is
appreciated by the Absolute. There is a necessity to share whatever one have in
excess with others. How much is excess to one is beyond other persons imagination.
The great saying of Lord Mahavira “LIVE and LET LIVE” mantra is followed only
in the first phase of “LIVE” and we have not reached the second part of the
mantra of “LET LIVE”.
A person who is does not share will never deserve
higher worlds. Even Absolute hesitates to help a person who does not help
others. There is a sarcastic saying about misers which goes like this: “A miser
is a greater donor!” Well, the reason is that a donor will donate his things to
others, but will also enjoy a little portion of his money, whereas a miser
keeps close guard to all his money throughout his life and without enjoying a
bit of it, and then his decedents enjoy after he passes away. The miserly
attitude is accustomed to a person because he has an intention that whatever he
possesses is for him alone.
Bhagavad-Gita teaches ethical and moral imperatives
in art of giving without any expectations of return or any strings attached. To
illustrate there is a story of a great miser who never gave anything to others.
When he passed away he was obviously taken to hell and was given huge
unbearable punishments. He used to lament very much for his poor state and beg
the attenders every day to save him from the hell.
Attenders took pity on his poor state and wanted to help
him. But even with a lot of search they found not even one incidence where the
miser gave anything to anybody in his entire life time. Finally attenders
managed to find a small deed of good that the miser did in his life span. The
miser once, somehow, had given a small piece of over ripe banana to a beggar.
Taking this into consideration the attenders thought
of helping the lamenting miser and made a stick appear before him, with which
he could climb out of hell. The miser was very happy and quickly began climbing
the stick. Other people in the hell also seize the opportunity and started
climbing the stick to get out. The miser started pushing down all the other
people and started shouting “the stick was provided for me for my good deed,
and you cannot use it”. Immediately the stick disappeared and the miser was
back in the hell.
A person has to be generous but his generosity
should not affect his family members. “One has to think of giving to others
only if he has enough to him and his family members” says Scriptures. It is
said by one greatest social reformer-poet Sarvajna of Kannada literature: “If
oil in a lamp gets exhausted, do not flood the lamp with a barrel of oil.
Barrel of oil serves no purpose to the lamp, but offer the lamp spoonful of
oil.” Sarvajna here warns of giving food to a person more than he can digest.
Bhagavad-Gita mentions about three gates to hell for human beings: Desire,
Anger, and Stinginess. By sharing, insightful knowledge and contemplation, we
can develop purity and feelings of right achievements.
Many law givers in their writings have induced the
philanthropic principles into rituals and rites of devotional life passage.
They stress that every important of a person's life is an occasion for giving
and celebration. Sant Kabir saying: “You came into this world with fists closed
and you go away with your palms open. So while living stretch your hand open
and give liberally.”
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