How To Give?🔗

Authored by

THE SPH NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM

The straightforward, integrated and authentic approach to the truth is what Kṛṣṇa calls sātvika dāna.

Charity is done out of love and gratitude.

Enriching others enriches you back!

Dāna, charity is sharing out of the space of enriching. It is not done with the attitude of giving. It is done with the attitude of sharing and not expecting good results because of it or some easy route into heaven because of it. Charity is done out of love and gratitude. There are three kinds of dāna.

Understand, annadāna means giving to enrich with food, clothes and whatever is related to someone's physical needs

Next is vidyādāna. This means giving to enrich with education and also whatever someone needs for mental growth. For example, when somebody is depressed, if you enrich him with some consoling ideas, this is vidyādāna. If somebody does not know how to clean a room and you teach him, this is vidyādāna. If somebody does not know how to cut grass and you teach him, this is vidyādāna.

And the third kind is jñānadāna, giving to enrich with spiritual knowledge.

If we give annadāna, we satisfy a person for three hours. After three hours, again he needs food. If we give vidyādāna, education or knowledge, he will have food for himself for one life. If we give education, he can earn food for himself. He will make money and buy food for himself. If we give jñānadāna, we will satisfy that person birth after birth! He will never fall into depression or the ocean of material world, birth after birth.

Jñānadāna is the ultimate sharing of enriching with knowledge. The knowledge that you have received now will transform your whole life even if you don't practice it. These words are so powerful that automatically they will start working on you. You will not remain the same person. Your depth of depression will be reduced. Your depth of suffering will be reduced. You will feel that you are entering a new life. You will become courageous and a new confidence will enter your life. This is jñānadāna. This is the ultimate puṇya (virtuous deed) of giving knowledge. No other good deed is equivalent to giving spiritual knowledge.

One more point is that the person who gives loses nothing with jñānadāna. With all other dāna, the person who gives has a little less. In annadāna, he who gives will lose and he who receives will gain. In vidyādāna, the giver does not lose. He retains the same level. In jñānadāna, The more you share, the more it grows in you! The more you enrich others with the science of completion, the more you grow in completion. It is a win-win situation. Here, you receive automatically. It grows in the person who shares and enriches.

Don’t think you are the only one being enriched by listening to me now. By expressing these truths, even I am being enriched. Enriching others enriches you back! Listen! Enriching others enriches you back!

If the woman is unable to give birth to a child, she cannot be a mother. Similarly, until you become enlightened, I cannot be called a Master. Be very clear, by sharing this knowledge, I also grow. The person who shares with simplicity and humility, who is very clear, very integrated and authentic about the whole truth of sharing and is not caught in the false ego, his dāna, his sharing of thoughts is sātvika and is related to satva guṇa—attribute of goodness.

When you ask questions, if I don't know the answer, I say I don't know the answer. People ask, 'What is this? Swamiji, you are enlightened and you say you don't know.'

Confusing the audience is not a complicated job. It is easy because they are already confused! There is nothing more to be done. Just use some words, that's all. And it's not a big thing. Only an Enlightened person is courageous enough to say, 'I don't know' when he doesn't know. To answer a question without knowledge doesn't require Enlightenment. It needs foolish hypocrisy. The straightforward, integrated and authentic approach to the truth is what Kṛṣṇa calls sātvika dāna. Here, in whatever way I experience the truth, I simply express it and share it—authentically, without reservation. That is sātvika dāna according to Kṛṣṇa.

And He goes on to explain rajas dāna and tamas dāna. Many times, the dāna is not given voluntarily. Or they may give something away as a part of a ritual. For example, in a Hindu wedding the giving away of abride is called kanyā dāna.

People who give their property for charitable purposes in their will. What choice do they have? They cannot carry it with them. In many cases they may have fought with their children and decided not to leave them anything. So instead of giving away the wealth to their children, these people give it away as charity. Such acts are not acts of charity. They are done with ulterior motives.

There are others whose charity it is better not to accept. Kṛṣṇa refers to this as giving in ignorance, tamas. People will come with money not declared for tax as earned income and gift that to the ashram. They will use it as a tax saving strategy. What for?

In Swamiji's Own Words:

Often, disciples ask why I am not accepting donations from very wealthy people who come to the ashram seeking help. Unless the person stays with me for a year or more and shows his integrity, authenticity and responsibility towards enriching the mission, it is difficult to accept anything from that person. Why become bonded to people whose motives are not merely selfish but self- defeating?

Parāśakti (Existence) guides the mission and She takes care. What She cannot give, no one else can give. What She decides not to give, who else can give?

Helping the students understand the right context for charity. Helping the students see how they can enrich others' lives.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

❖ Paper ❖ Scissors ❖ Sponges (an adult can cut them in different leaf shapes ❖ Paper plates ❖ Acrylic paint ❖ Newspaper or old towel to protect the floor ❖ Markers

GRATITUDE TREE!

PROCEDURE:

GRATITUDE TREE!

INFERENCE:

Dāna, charity is sharing out of the space of enriching. It is not done with the attitude of giving. It is done with the attitude of sharing and not expecting good results because of it or some easy route into heaven because of it. Charity is done out of love and gratitude.

CONTINUOUS ENRICHING

MATERIALS NEEDED

PROCEDURE:

CONTINUOUS ENRICHING

PROCEDURE:

INFERENCE:

• One more point is that the person who gives loses nothing with jñānadāna. With all other dāna, the person who gives has a little less. In annadāna, he who gives will lose and he who receives will gain. In vidyādāna, the giver does not lose. He retains the same level. In jñānadāna, I tell you a secret, the more you share, the more it grows in you! The more you enrich others with the science of completion, the more you grow in completion. It is a win-win situation. Here, you receive automatically. It grows in the person who shares and enriches.

VAAKYARTHA SADHAS

TOPIC OF DISCUSSION:

Enriching others enriches you back!"

YOU CAN ASK STUDENTS QUESTIONS SUCH AS:

VAAKYARTHA SADHAS

CONCLUSION:

Don't think you are the only one being enriched by listening to me now. By expressing these truths, even I am being enriched. Enriching others enriches you back! Listen! Enriching others enriches you back!

BOOK XVII, VOLUME IX

How To Continuously Enrich?

Authored by

THE SPH NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM

OM Tat Sat’ is said to be the threefold name of the eternal Being (Brahma). Persons with good (brahminic) qualities, the Vedas, and the selfless service (seva, yajña) were created by and from Brahma in the ancient time.

Only the act done from the space of satva or goodness gives the final result

When they are done from the space of completion with the attitude of gratitude to the Divine and Existence, only then you encounter spiritual progress or spiritual elevation.

Various types of sacrifice, charity, and austerity are performed by the seekers of liberation by uttering ‘Tat’ (or He is all) without seeking a reward.

The real scale and measure of your completion is whether you are able to move the others’ space and enrich others and life continuously.

Please understand that all kinds of food, penance, sacrifice or charity fall into the basic three categories explained by Kṛṣṇa — sātvic, rājasic and tāmasic. These translate as the modes of goodness, passion and ignorance. But the important thing is that as long as they are done in the materialistic world, they are conditioned. When they are done from the space of completion with the attitude of gratitude to the Divine and Existence, only then you encounter spiritual progress or spiritual elevation. Our scriptures explain that anything done in the nature of rajas or tamas cannot give the ultimate result. Only the act done from the space of satva or goodness gives the final result. One who does such acts without this awareness has temporary results but not the final result.

In the days of Mahābhārat, sacrificial rituals were a part and parcel of daily life. This is not the case today. The brāhmaṇas (highly learned sect of people) were the keepers of the sacred knowledge that connected the physical ritual with the metaphysical truth expressed by the great sages in the Vedas. They were the keepers of the flame, in a real sense, since most vedic rituals invoked and addressed the fire energy.

Sacrifices or yajña were directed towards enriching the elemental energies and celestial beings. Austerity or tapas was directed towards enriching your own self. Charity or dāna was directed towards enriching those around you.

COMPLETION

The brāhmaṇas were expected to lead an austere and charitable life in keeping with the spirit of their profession. In this chapter Kṛṣṇa elaborates on these concepts so that everyone can move forward on the path to completion or liberation. It is not only for the brāhmaṇas, it is also for kṣatriyas, vaiśyas and śūdras— the other castes. Any member of any caste is qualified for completion if he follows these principles. Completion has nothing to do with birth.

The prime requirement is authenticity, śraddhā. Śraddhā refers as well to the understanding that the enriching act of sacrifice, austerity or charity, yajña, tapas or dāna is not directed towards oneself or a material goal. They are directed to the enrichment of Supreme consciousness. Commit to complete with yourself and others.

When completion happened in me, I just realized the authentic selflessness, śraddha. All our selflessness is also packed in our selfishness. All our selflessness is packed in our selfishness. When I completed, I discovered the authentic selflessness and enriching which never tires me. If you are getting tired, please be very clear, still you have incompletions in you. You have to complete! You have to complete!

Listen! This is the scale—having a tireless mind. The being happened in me is just because my enriching is out of pure selflessness. I tell you, once you complete, you will suddenly realize, ‘Why should I live now?’— ‘For enriching! Nothing else...Nothing else!’ Complete! Complete! Complete!

-Helping students complete with themselves, others and the whole Cosmos so they can go on continuously enriching. - Helping students align their 4 images for more authenticity in their lives.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

COMPLETION WITH OTHERS

PROCEDURE:

• Tell the children to create all the "others" in their life using playdough (themselves, mother, father, siblings, kula devatā, best friend, kula guru, pet, cosmos).

• Tell the children to pick each of them up one by one, to close their eyes, and to feel what thought current, emotion comes up (joy, feeling safe, sadness, anger, resentment, misunderstanding, etc.).

• For each "other", tell the children to write what comes up on their paper.

• Once everyone is done, ask the children to share what has come up in their inner space and discuss how to do completion with each "other".

• Help the children make their own declaration of completion with all the "others" in their lives.

COMPLETION WITH OTHERS

INFERENCE:

Commit to complete with yourself and others. When I say ‘others’, I don’t mean only the friends and family and relatives who are present in your life. Complete with your kula devatā (family deity), complete with your kula guru (family guru), complete with your house, complete with the plants with which you are living, complete with your pet, complete with the different energies of the Cosmos, complete with everything! Continuously complete and continuously enrich others!

MATERIALS NEEDED

PROCEDURE:

• Tell the children to separate their paper in 4 and write all four images names: • Inner Image - the idea you carry about you - Mamakaara • Outer Image is - the idea you project about you to others - Ahankaara • Others' Image – what others expect from us - Anyakaara • Life Image – is what idea we carry about life and others - Swa-Anyakaara

AUTHENTICITY: ALIGNING THE FOUR IMAGES

PROCEDURE:

• Tell the children to write a description for each one. Ask them to see whether they align or not and to share their observations with others. • Discuss how we can align all our four images. • Discuss what they think happens when all four images align. Discuss how authenticity and enriching sacrifice are connected.

INFERENCE:

The prime requirement is authenticity, śraddhā. Śraddhā refers as well to the understanding that the enriching act of sacrifice, austerity or charity, yajña, tapas or dāna is not directed towards oneself or a material goal. They are directed to the enrichment of Supreme consciousness.

VAAKYARTHA SADHAS

TOPIC OF DISCUSSION:

Discuss the statement made by swamiji: • I tell you, when completion happened in me, I just realized the authentic selflessness, śraddha. All our selflessness is also packed in our selfishness. All our selflessness is packed in our selfishness. When I completed, I discovered the authentic selflessness and enriching which never tires me.

VAAKYARTHA SADHAS

In Swamiji's Own Words: Listen! This is the scale — having a tireless mind. The being happened in me is just because my enriching is out of pure selflessness. I tell you, once you complete, you will suddenly realize, ‘Why should I live now?’ — ‘For enriching! Nothing else . ..Nothing else!’ Complete! Complete! Complete!

BOOK XVII, VOLUME X