Self-renunciation and service to others, are the twin pillars of Sanatana Dharma. When daana is performed under the influence of sattvik guna, its impact reverberates for the longest duration. Most philanthropy through endowments/trusts are tax-dodges, and their impact will be like pouring water on sand. The Catholics have the concept of subsidiarity, where they emphasize that the distance between the donor and the beneficiary has to be minimized, for greatest impact. So, tan-man-dhan is the progression. Most of the old-school Marwari houses (Birlas, Ruias, Podars, etc.) used to serve others by building dharmashalas, colleges, libraries, temples, need-based scholarships, etc. That's what we have lost. The nobility of thought-word-deed, which endows the doer with shreyas, because of nishkama karma. Nowadays, most of the people donate money to endow "chairs" at Western universities, for their children to get in as legacy candidates.
In Tamil there is a famous saying - "Dharmam thalai kaakum, thakka samayathil uyir kaakum" which means Dharma (used interchangeably to mean Dhaana) will save your head and at the right time save your life also.
When I was young growing up in a joint family with my grandmother as a family matriarch I have watched some practices of "giving" and developed a high regard for them even though I did not follow them later when I came out separately after marriage. I remember one incident that my grandmother told me. (not specifically about dhaana but a similar principle). Sometime in the 1940s during WW II, there was a news that Japanese were going to bomb Madras. So all the "rich" house owners in the city started selling their houses and going back to their native villages. It was called evacuation and the houses were being sold at dirt cheap prices. My grandparents were living at the far outskirts of Madras at that time. My grandmother asked my grandfather why don't we also buy a house when they are selling it so cheap, we can move into Madras after the war is over. My grandfather told her – “I will never ever do it. I will never buy something at a dirt-cheap price from a "distress seller". If I get something from a person who gives it with a "burning stomach" (literally the Tamil phrase) my future generations will be ruined”. This narration from my grandmother went deep into my heart. Right from my young days I was not a hard negotiator during purchases from small shops and street vendors. In fact, I never negotiate. In 2005, I was in a project in China in a town about 1 hour away from Shenzhen. All my other Indian friends used to buy so many things with hard bargaining from the shops/vendors. One day I bought a 3 d construction model of the Eiffel Tower made of cardboard cut into the required pieces to assemble 3 dimensionally. I negotiated hard with the guy (using calculator- no Chinese!) and finally with a defeated face, he gave the piece to me for the price that I quoted and he was gesticulating with his hands and muttering something in Chinese. Even though I didn’t know Chinese, I could understand that he was dejected that every customer was squeezing him very badly. I immediately felt very sorry, and I paid him the full amount that he had asked me originally. (It was a very small amount actually) Just looking at the happiness in his face made me feel so great, so proud and happy - I could see my grandmother waving at me from the skies..
I was giving donations to people and Temple in a very small scale till 2020. I was really down to my last rupee in 2020 during the COVID lock down. During the early phase of lock down when I had some reserve money, I gave a decent amount in 2 - 3 tranches as donations to my friend in another city who was feeding people. I then got a fantastic break and joined a high paying project in Jan 21 which lasted till the last quarter of 2022. Starting from Feb 21 (Ayodhya Ram Mandhir) I have started giving donations in a bigger scale and more consistently. We built a temple in our layout and I contributed nearly 60-70% of the cost. Then for 1 year I have contributed every month for temple maintenance. Now in the second year, I am continuing my monthly contributions for our Temple. I keep donating some amount whenever I see an opportunity. My wife feeds almost 10-15 street dogs every day. We feed about 6 – 7 varieties of birds every day. I have not run into a financial problem since COVID. My children got some fantastically lucky breaks and got well placed after graduation even though COVID lock downs were just being eased. So, the lesson I learnt is this – give what you can, you will always be left with something in your pocket and your future generations will get "help" when they need by the law of karma. Dharma / dhaana will not only save you it will also save your next generation. I am now a firm believer in "what goes around comes around".
Thanks a lot Sandeep / Dharma dispatch for a wonderful article.
In his last public appearance before he passed away, Sadguru Shivananda Murthy garu talked about "small things" in a felicitation ceremony in Visakhapatnam. He said, if memory serves me right, "when we give some food or money to a beggar, we know that this one thing will not solve anything. We know that we cannot even solve the beggar's problems for a day. But we still do it. Why? Because it is the best we can do. It leaves me with a satisfaction that I have done something. When all such small deed join together, it becomes big. Daana is one such thing".
A joinder from Tamil perspective to this excellent article :
1. Ancient Tamil Literature gives a list of seven great kings who where known for charity. Pehan, Paari, Kaari, Adikan, Oori, Aai, Nalli. As usual - our leftist front clapper (breaking Bharat) Distorian Su-Ve Venkatesan - subverts this. He wrote a novel in Tamil weekly Ananda Vikadan - showing these seven kings as "native dravidians"and the Cholas, Cheras and Pandyas as "invading aryans"!
2. Kamba Naatu Alzwan (Kambar) the famous poet who wrote Ramayana in Tamil, extols Sadayappa Valal as his benefactor when he did Arangetram in SriRangam temple before Emperor Kolothunga Cholan. Clearly power and wealth were not important indicators of charity.
3. This one needs to be verified. Parthasarathy temple in Tiruvallikeni which was expanded/renovated during Pallava times was funded entirely by the people around Tiruvallikeni. Dhaana was indeed wide spread.
Self-renunciation and service to others, are the twin pillars of Sanatana Dharma. When daana is performed under the influence of sattvik guna, its impact reverberates for the longest duration. Most philanthropy through endowments/trusts are tax-dodges, and their impact will be like pouring water on sand. The Catholics have the concept of subsidiarity, where they emphasize that the distance between the donor and the beneficiary has to be minimized, for greatest impact. So, tan-man-dhan is the progression. Most of the old-school Marwari houses (Birlas, Ruias, Podars, etc.) used to serve others by building dharmashalas, colleges, libraries, temples, need-based scholarships, etc. That's what we have lost. The nobility of thought-word-deed, which endows the doer with shreyas, because of nishkama karma. Nowadays, most of the people donate money to endow "chairs" at Western universities, for their children to get in as legacy candidates.
In Tamil there is a famous saying - "Dharmam thalai kaakum, thakka samayathil uyir kaakum" which means Dharma (used interchangeably to mean Dhaana) will save your head and at the right time save your life also.
When I was young growing up in a joint family with my grandmother as a family matriarch I have watched some practices of "giving" and developed a high regard for them even though I did not follow them later when I came out separately after marriage. I remember one incident that my grandmother told me. (not specifically about dhaana but a similar principle). Sometime in the 1940s during WW II, there was a news that Japanese were going to bomb Madras. So all the "rich" house owners in the city started selling their houses and going back to their native villages. It was called evacuation and the houses were being sold at dirt cheap prices. My grandparents were living at the far outskirts of Madras at that time. My grandmother asked my grandfather why don't we also buy a house when they are selling it so cheap, we can move into Madras after the war is over. My grandfather told her – “I will never ever do it. I will never buy something at a dirt-cheap price from a "distress seller". If I get something from a person who gives it with a "burning stomach" (literally the Tamil phrase) my future generations will be ruined”. This narration from my grandmother went deep into my heart. Right from my young days I was not a hard negotiator during purchases from small shops and street vendors. In fact, I never negotiate. In 2005, I was in a project in China in a town about 1 hour away from Shenzhen. All my other Indian friends used to buy so many things with hard bargaining from the shops/vendors. One day I bought a 3 d construction model of the Eiffel Tower made of cardboard cut into the required pieces to assemble 3 dimensionally. I negotiated hard with the guy (using calculator- no Chinese!) and finally with a defeated face, he gave the piece to me for the price that I quoted and he was gesticulating with his hands and muttering something in Chinese. Even though I didn’t know Chinese, I could understand that he was dejected that every customer was squeezing him very badly. I immediately felt very sorry, and I paid him the full amount that he had asked me originally. (It was a very small amount actually) Just looking at the happiness in his face made me feel so great, so proud and happy - I could see my grandmother waving at me from the skies..
I was giving donations to people and Temple in a very small scale till 2020. I was really down to my last rupee in 2020 during the COVID lock down. During the early phase of lock down when I had some reserve money, I gave a decent amount in 2 - 3 tranches as donations to my friend in another city who was feeding people. I then got a fantastic break and joined a high paying project in Jan 21 which lasted till the last quarter of 2022. Starting from Feb 21 (Ayodhya Ram Mandhir) I have started giving donations in a bigger scale and more consistently. We built a temple in our layout and I contributed nearly 60-70% of the cost. Then for 1 year I have contributed every month for temple maintenance. Now in the second year, I am continuing my monthly contributions for our Temple. I keep donating some amount whenever I see an opportunity. My wife feeds almost 10-15 street dogs every day. We feed about 6 – 7 varieties of birds every day. I have not run into a financial problem since COVID. My children got some fantastically lucky breaks and got well placed after graduation even though COVID lock downs were just being eased. So, the lesson I learnt is this – give what you can, you will always be left with something in your pocket and your future generations will get "help" when they need by the law of karma. Dharma / dhaana will not only save you it will also save your next generation. I am now a firm believer in "what goes around comes around".
Thanks a lot Sandeep / Dharma dispatch for a wonderful article.
Regards
"It’s a very small thing, really".
In his last public appearance before he passed away, Sadguru Shivananda Murthy garu talked about "small things" in a felicitation ceremony in Visakhapatnam. He said, if memory serves me right, "when we give some food or money to a beggar, we know that this one thing will not solve anything. We know that we cannot even solve the beggar's problems for a day. But we still do it. Why? Because it is the best we can do. It leaves me with a satisfaction that I have done something. When all such small deed join together, it becomes big. Daana is one such thing".
A joinder from Tamil perspective to this excellent article :
1. Ancient Tamil Literature gives a list of seven great kings who where known for charity. Pehan, Paari, Kaari, Adikan, Oori, Aai, Nalli. As usual - our leftist front clapper (breaking Bharat) Distorian Su-Ve Venkatesan - subverts this. He wrote a novel in Tamil weekly Ananda Vikadan - showing these seven kings as "native dravidians"and the Cholas, Cheras and Pandyas as "invading aryans"!
2. Kamba Naatu Alzwan (Kambar) the famous poet who wrote Ramayana in Tamil, extols Sadayappa Valal as his benefactor when he did Arangetram in SriRangam temple before Emperor Kolothunga Cholan. Clearly power and wealth were not important indicators of charity.
3. This one needs to be verified. Parthasarathy temple in Tiruvallikeni which was expanded/renovated during Pallava times was funded entirely by the people around Tiruvallikeni. Dhaana was indeed wide spread.
Vandhe Matharam
Jai Shri Ram
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzdr0hnO6dE