First Principles of Sharing

Early April when an enemy many sizes smaller than human hair started killing and causing havoc , a group of us started our first organized charity effort.

Nine months later, when the fragility of human life, frivolity of pursuits and fear of death became lot clearer to the world, I wanted to go back to the first principles of sharing, that became known many centuries ago through ancient scriptures, epics and writings. Just a few of them here:

1. While the earlier epic Ramayana was only 24000 verses, Mahabharat took more than 1,00,000. When the writer Ganesha asked the narrator Vyasa on the essence of epics, he said

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Helping others is the good deed and hurting others is sin. That’s all the essence of 18 epics.

A variant is

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This intellect is for helping others. This life is for gaining supreme knowledge.

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Earn with hundred hands and donate with thousand hands.

3. The generous King Yudhisthir , the eldest of the Pandavas asked a recipient to come the next day to receive donation. On hearing this, his brother Bheem started laughing. When asked for the reason, Bheem said ‘ O brother! You are confident of living till tomorrow and that your mind wont change by then. I am impressed.’ Yudhisthir immediately felt ashamed and donated to the person without any delay. It is also believed that he would give with whatever hand he picks up the items as changing them to another hand might allow his mind to change.

3. Kabir says

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Wealth and youthfullness will not remain,nor the land and property

Kabir says only the reputation remains in the world which comes by helping others.

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Don’t be so proud and be in vain of your achievements and fame. Don’t look at the heights that you have achieved and be arrogant.

Ultimately tomorrow everyone has to die and you will be lying under the ground where grass will grow on top.”

4. Rigveda 10.117

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No, Devas didn’t give hunger as the only weapon to kill,

Various forms of death do approach the well-fed.

Neither the wealth of the gratifier ever exhausts off.

Neither the non-gratifier ever finds anyone to comfort him.

When to someone weak, trembling, broken,

Who has approached the man with food, who eats,

If the man makes his mind hard, “he is the one I helped before”

Indeed, neither he finds anyone to comfort him.

He is the generous one — who gives

To the weak, roaming, beggar wanting food.

He becomes the answer for the cry for help,

He makes a friend for the future.

He is not a friend, who doesn’t give food to his friend -

To the one who has followed him in his company.

Let one turn away from him, his is not a home,

Let one seek a gratifier, even if a stranger.

Let the strong really satisfy the one crying for help.

Let him take a look along the longer path.

For riches, like chariot wheels, roll over.

They stay with one after another.

The soulless man finds fruitless food.

I speak the truth — of that would be his destruction.

Neither a nobleman makes him prosperous, nor a friend.

The lone eater becomes the lone sinner.

Only through agriculture does plough feed,

Only through walking does one cover the tracks.

Thus the speaking formulator poet gains much than the silent one.

The one who gratifies would be greater than the one who doesn’t.

The single-footed has strode over the two-footed,

The two-footed approaches the three-footed later.

The four-footed comes at the call of two-footed,

While overseeing the five-fold staying by him.

Despite hands being similar, their activities aren’t.

Despite having same mother, cows don’t milk equally.

Deeds of even twins are not the same,

Even two men, sharing kinship, don’t donate the same way.

5. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa used to narrate a story where a rat from its hole starts pointing its finger angrily at the coming elephant. On seeing this, the students of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa were surprised and asked their master about it.

Paramahamsa said ‘ some time ago a person was walking on this road who had a hole in his pocket. A coin slipped out and fell into the rat’s hole. Once rat got the coin, it started wagging its finger at the coming elephant, since the rat is now ‘richer’.

6. Many religions talk about fixed percentage of income to charity to inculcate this habit ( Tithing by Mormons, Zakat by Islam, Tzedakah by Jews, Dasvandh in Sikhism etc).

7. Someone observed that typically 3rd generations destroy the wealth created by the first. Sometimes it does not take even that long. One can find examples in every country. Might as well put it to good use instead of future generations wasting it away.

8. Finally in the non-dual philosophy, there is nothing that is different from you. So there is no question of one offering /giving something to the other. Donor, Recipient,Donation are all one!

WRITTEN BY

Nand Kishore