Charity what ?

[Guest guest]

Yes Uma and devi_shakti i too agree...charity is a state of mind not

the amount donated or the publicity gained.

 

Ghasitanandji once told a story from Mahabharata. The war was

over, Pandavas had won the battle. Pandavas did a great Yagya and

donated millions of gold coins, cows and land to the poor..so at the

end of the day, all brothers sat gossiping(or perhaps drinking).

Bhima was very excited and was revealing again and again how much was

given for charity, how the poor not only from their state, but from

all over India came and got donations and charity amounts. He asked

Krishna what he thought...did he not agree with him, that this Yagya

was the greatest in the history and that before that no one ever did

such Yagya.

 

shri Krishna smiled and pointed towards a mongoose whose body was

half normal and half made of gold. Krishna asked Bhima to bring the

mongoose to him. Krishna asked him,' why your half body is golden ?

and what are you doing here ?

 

The mongoose told," i once passed by the kitchen for the greatest

Yagya held on this earth and where-ever my body touched the left over

grains became of gold. so since that day, when ever i hear of a

great yagya, i go and try to touch grains so that my other half body

also become golden, but so far no Yagya was so great in comparison to

that yagya where my half body became golden.

 

Bhima was disappointed to hear that their yagya where millions of

gold coins were donated was not great...so he asked the mongoose to

tell him how big that yagya was, and how many coins were donated.

 

The mongoose narrated," O bhima...once there was famine in a state

thousands of people died of hunger. A poor brahmin wandered here and

there for many days and finally got a handful of grains for his

family. He rushed home and his wife prepared a dish of that grain

and gave it to brahmin, her two children and herself.

 

When they were about to eat a man came to their door and asked

brahmin to give him something to eat, as he had not eaten for a

month. The brahmin gave his share to the guest saying,his hunger of

a month was more than the brahmin's who had not eaten for a week.

 

The guest ate the dish quickly, and said," O brahmin this was not

enough and rather this small quantity has increased my hunger so give

me more. Brahmins wife said," I share the responsibilities of this

household with my husband...and when my husband will remain hungry

there is no fun that I eat...so you take my share too.

 

The guest ate that share too and asked for more. Brahmin's son

said," If my father was unable to fulfil his duty towards you, it is

duty of the son to help his father ....so you take my share too.

Similarly, the younger son also gave his share to the guest. The

guest left with lot of blessings to the brahmin and his family.

 

That night all four of them died of hunger. I happened to pass

their house and as soon as the left over grains lying on floor

touched my body, it became golden....now to have my body fully golden

i go to all yagna and rub my body ...but till now i could not see any

Great yagya .

 

Hari Bol

[Guest guest]

Nice story Baba, I'm afraid I'd have millions more lifetimes before I

will let my children or any children under my responsibility die that

way.

 

Of course if the premise of our existence is that every step is

preplanned, then I guess I would have no choice in this decision making!

 

hmmm

 

_/\_ Tat twam asi

 

Uma

 

 

, "Baba ji" <beirut_ka_baba> wrote:

>

>

> That night all four of them died of hunger. I happened to pass

> their house and as soon as the left over grains lying on floor

> touched my body, it became golden....now to have my body fully golden

> i go to all yagna and rub my body ...but till now i could not see any

> Great yagya .

>

> Hari Bol

>

[Guest guest]

, "Tatwamasi" <tatwamasi> wrote:

>

>

> Nice story Baba, I'm afraid I'd have millions more lifetimes before I

> will let my children or any children under my responsibility die that

> way.

 

Yes we all want there shud be charity all around...children should

become patriot and die for the county...but neighbour's children...my

children shud become doctors/lawyers/engineers and lead luxirious

life...

 

you are not alone...we all think like this and this is MAYA

 

love

baba

[Guest guest]

Tatwamasi writes

 

I'm afraid I'd have millions more lifetimes before I

will let my children or any children under my responsibility die that

way.

 

Yes! most Mothers would not- that is the natural Maternal instinct

present in all mothers.( even in the Animal kingdom) A Mother would

give up her life rather than let her children die right in front of

her eyes.

 

I guess Baba-ji was trying to drive home the point

 

"Athithi Devo Bhava"

 

Guest is like a God.

 

The tradition of 'ATHITHI SARKAR' is uniquely a hindu concept. A

hindu woman would rather go hungry than starve a guest.. She is

verily the personification of Mata ANNAPURNI devi !

 

Baba-ji has brought up an interesting point about 'Patriots' - I am

sure , every mother ( indian or otherwise) would be prepared to send

her sons to be enlisted in the Army if the security of her motherland

is really at stake . But in these days, wars are waged for frivolous

reasons - (A NON-EXISTENT ENEMY)

 

During the freedom struggle, our country produced such great freedom

fighters - Bhagat Singh, Subhash Chandra Bose, Veera Pandiya

Kattabhomman to name a few ( on top of my head)....

 

Yes- Baba-ji is right , in these days - the Army/airforce/navy etc

are not preferred career choices for many and understandably so -this

is a competitive world and the only the fittest survive ( as Drawin

would say)

 

But then there are warriors and warriors !

 

A spiritual warrior is one who would give the shirt of his back and

once the 'Light' (Divine) STRIKESL , he would lay down his life.

(Rumi)

 

Which brings up another issue !

 

WhO is A 'JEHADI' ? ( PATRIOT OR A FREEDOM FIGHTER OR A TERRORIST )

 

But our philosopher -poet Rumi always talked about a greater Jehad .

 

"Greater Jehad, in Rumi's view, implies the continuous struggle with

the elements that contaminate the ``Self''. He indicates that the

``Lesser Jehad'' is a temporary struggle with external elements

whereas the ``Greater Jehad'' is a permanent struggle with internal

elements."

 

He further says:

 

``O Elders! We have crushed the enemies outside (poverty, disease,

illiteracy and so on) but the hurdle of deadly enemies inside (lust,

anger, greed, ego, envy, doubt) remain unscathed!

 

``These enemies cannot be crushed by our intellect and consciousness.

They are like a lion whose subjugation cannot be planned by a rabbit

(intellect). This enemy is like a deadly python whose thirst cannot be

quenched even by entire rivers of water.''

 

Human beings are like a bow, and these internal elements are like

crooked arrows. They cannot be shot from the bow. "

 

Thank you , Baba-ji, for the interesting stories. They do have an

appeal of iluustrating great Truths in a simple to understand

format..

 

LOVE AND BLESSINGS

 

Ps - on another note, Uma is absolutely right when she shared that

wonderful quote from Dante's Inferno. We are all sinners if we remain

a 'silect' spectator if there is Injustice and Unfairness all around

us. We are the worst sinners. The caste system, Discrimination

against minorities, Female genocide, Dowry system, ..... etc ARE SOME

OF THESE 'MORAL' ISSUES ..... we cannot afford to be 'neutral'

 

Injustice to some is injustice to everyone said the great Martin

Luther King .

 

In Mahabharata, when Draupadi was 'disrobed' by Dushashana in front

of all , both the pandavas and the elders in the court like

Dronacharya, bhisma etc STOOD AND WATCHED helplessly Only Bhima came

forward and took a vow to 'drink the blood of one' who humiliated

Draupadi ! and of course our beloved Krishna Bhagavan 'turath badayo

cheer' ( Krishna saved Her!)

 

Govinda gaye! Gopala gaye! Hare Murari! !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

, "Tatwamasi" <tatwamasi> wrote:

>

>

> Nice story Baba, I'm afraid I'd have millions more lifetimes before

[Guest guest]

Well, actually Baba, I wasn't even thinking in terms of war and

patriotism !! That for me has totally different energies and issues.

 

Hmmmm will need to dialogue more on this interesting thread.

 

I guess you are looking at that as "charity". Charity to me is when I

give up something that I "possess". I don't believe that I possess the

life or time of my children or husband or any person in my life.

 

_/\_ Tat twam asi

 

Uma

 

 

 

 

, "Baba ji" <beirut_ka_baba> wrote:

>

> , "Tatwamasi" <tatwamasi> wrote:

> Yes we all want there shud be charity all around...children should

> become patriot and die for the county...but neighbour's children...my

> children shud become doctors/lawyers/engineers and lead luxirious

> life...

>

[Guest guest]

Babaji writes :

 

*Yes we all want there shud be charity all around...children should

become patriot and die for the country...but neighbour's children...my

children shud become doctors/lawyers/engineers and lead luxirious

life...*

 

and Tatwamasi responds

 

*Charity to me is when I give up something that I "possess". I don't

believe that I possess the life or time of my children or husband or

any person in my life.*

 

On reading this exchange of messages between Babaji and Tatwamasi , i

am reminded of a famous quote by the famous World painter of all

times , Pablo Picasso.

 

Picasso :

 

My mother said to me, "If you become a soldier, you'll be a general;

if you become a monk you'll end up as the pope." Instead, I became a

painter and wound up as Picasso.""

 

Exactly - The point that is being made is the Mother only gives birth

to a child - She gives the child 'roots' but when a time come she has

to give the child 'wings' as well . She cannot control the Life of

the child - 'be this or do this' - At best, she can only direct - the

final choice will be the child's.

 

This is true specially in the U.S.A - here , children are very

independent and assertive from childhood - they decide on everything

from Clothes to hairstyles to Career choices. IN india, also, this

trend is becoming evident - Girls are making all kinds of career

choices - some are joining the police force; some are becoming

Fashion designers ; some are interior decorators and some others,

computer programmers. No more stereotyping of professions - all

girls should become Teachers and all guys should become doctors and

engineers.

 

Uma is absolutely right - we do not 'possess' our children - nothing

belongs to us ... Not even our souls .

 

As the philosopher-poet Khalil Gibran says

 

 

"They(children) come through you but not from you,

 

And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

 

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,

 

For they have their own thoughts.

 

You may house their bodies but not their souls,"

 

YES! YES! YES!

 

WE DO NOT POSSESS OUR CHILDREN , NOR OWN THEM ..... if they want to

join the armed forces and serve their country, we cannot stop them .

If they want to be a rock star and pursue a career in that field, can

we stop them? .

 

Ideally, every Mother would like her kids to be successful and well-

adjusted in Life - all of us , without exception !

 

When a child chooses a medical profession also, he/she is serving the

country - that is not less 'patriotic'

 

When a child chooses the 'engineering' profession , he is helping in

developing the infra-structure ... That is not a lesser

accomplishent .

 

The soldier fights on the war front - the civilians fight on the Home

front.

 

and one thing is for sure ....

 

WE mothers can only instill in our children good values (family) ,

beyond that we have no control over the children nor our spouses -

they are individuals in their own right !

 

Mahatma Gandhi was a lawyer by profession - did he practice law? NO,

instead he became a Freedom fighter.

 

Swami Sivananda was a medical doctor but did he practice medicine? -

instead, he became a world-renonwned Spiritual leader.

 

I fully endorse what UMA a says- These are not in our hands - these

are pre-destined.

 

To say that "children should become patriot and die for the

country...but neighbour's children...my

children shud become doctors/lawyers/engineers and lead

luxorious........"

 

Why would we wish that our neighbour's children should become

patriots and die for the country - that is not True !

 

If there is a real crisis and we see that our country is being

attacked by an enemy, every mother would be ready to help in the war

effort - in whatever capacity.

 

anyway ......

 

my 2 cents

 

ps - these are just my opinions, not meant to offend anyone ... if i

did, that is not intentional -please forgive me ...