Givers Gain! No this is not about networking!!
If you think giving is easy, let me tell you it is not. Asking is even more difficult.
Giving without expecting anything in return is even more difficult. Most of us give expecting a thank you or gratitude – even that is wrong. If you believe in the phrase ‘Givers Gain’ you should be able to make giving a natural part of your life, without expecting anything in return. This is not very difficult – I know a few people who can give selflessly and their lives have been filled with happiness, exceptional returns in equity markets (difficult to believe, right?) and tremendously good personal relationships. These people had no clue that they will get all this when they were giving. They just gave because they had it and the consequences happened.
Not every body can give selflessly..read this story from Lord Krishna’s life.
Once Krishna and Arjuna were walking towards a village. Arjuna was pestering Krishna, asking him why Karna should be considered an unparallelled Donor & not him ? (Dhanveer Karna kyon, dhanveer Arjun kyon nahin?).
Lord Krishna realized that a small lesson in humility was in place for Arjun!!
Krishna, turned two mountains into gold.
Then said, “Arjuna, distribute these two gold mountains among villagers, but you must donate every bit of it “.
Arjuna went into the village, and proclaimed he was going to donate gold to every villager, and asked them to gather near the mountain. The villagers sang his praises and Arjuna walked towards the mountains with a huffed up chest.
For two days and two nights Arjuna shovelled gold from the mountain and donated to each villager. The mountains did not diminish in the slightest.
Most villagers came back and stood in queue within minutes. Now Arjuna was exhausted, but not ready to let go of his Ego, told Krishna he couldn’t go on any longer without rest.
Then Krishna called Karna and told him to donate every bit of the two gold mountains.
Karna called the villagers, and said “Those two Gold mountains are yours. ” and walked away.
Arjuna sat dumbfounded. Why hadn’t this thought occurred to him?
Krishna smiled mischievously and told him “Arjuna, subconsciously, you were attracted to the gold, you regretfully gave it away to each villager, giving them what you thought was a generous amount. Thus the size of your donation to each villager depended only on your imagination.
Karna holds no such reservations. Look at him walking away after giving away a fortune, he doesn’t expect people to sing his praises, he doesn’t even care if people talk good or bad about him behind his back. That is the sign of a man already on the path of enlightenment”.
Giving with an Expectation of a Return in the form of a Compliment or Thanks is not a Gift, then it becomes a Trade.
” Give without expecting anything in Return.”
http://www.subramoney.com/2008/05/charity-how-to-do-ask-kabir/
Givers Gain
moronbuffett
excellent!
it is time morons stop touting buffetts and gates of the world about giving and charity
ashok
Fantastic article. I also do charity. But this article opened my eyes..Thanks.
anish
awesome story subra sir … pls bring more of such mythology stories … a real entertaining plus eye opener story … god bless u sir !! so happy to read your blog 🙂
VK
While the the thought presented is very noble, there is a very relevant quote by victor weisskopf –
knowledge w/o compassion is inhuman, compassion w/o knowledge is ineffective
Imagine giving charity to the likes of al-qaeda, taliban, isis, boko haram, or any of our political parties! [they all do belong in the same sentence!].
Mira D
Recently I volunteered for a water conservation project on Indiegogo. The experience was an eye opener.
We Indians are very bad givers– even if one mines one’s mailing list. US, Germany– at least they are willing to risk a few hundred dollars on someone’s credibility.
Sambaran Mitra
Ayn Rand has influenced (call it brainwash) me a lot through her novel ‘fountainhead’. I have now started questioning the effectiveness of charity. I think charity is one of the most inefficient ways of creating common good for the society.
I am tied with some charity commitments which I am finding difficult to cut-free because of my incapability to say NO to some people. However I am actively desisting (at least trying) from making any fresh commitments in charity.