Generosity and Non-stealing

“Life is a circle. It is yang and yin. You have to exhale before you inhale. You must give in order to receive"

-Grand Master Choa Kok Sui

Generosity and non-stealing is the second virtue of Master Choa Kok Sui’s five virtues of Character Building techniques, that can be practiced by everyone on a daily basis.

You can read about the first virtue here

Generosity and non-stealing

Generosity lies in the spirit of giving. Generosity as a virtue becomes further prominent when the receiving party is not on the same level as us. For example from positions of power such as parent-child, boss-employee, or have’s- have not’s; i.e. offering generosity to those from whom we do not or should not expect anything in return, where there is no motive to help.

In childhood we were taught to share our lunch with a classmate that has forgotten to bring hers. However, with the advent of a dynamic and an ever-evolving complex living, our examples of virtues must keep up with the times.

Hence, I aim to reflect upon what can we specifically do or avoid doing in the real world today as far as generosity and non-stealing is concerned.

Physical Generosity:

Generosity in physical parlance, is about helping others by giving or sharing items of need to those that cannot afford. Food items, household items, clothes, shelter, money etc. that is within one’s budget.

Physical generosity is not so much about disposing-off what we do not require. For example, a lot of us are on a cleaning spree during Diwali, Christmas etc. and to bring newness in our home we dispose-off old items and donate to the lesser fortunate. This is not necessarily being generous.

Generosity is giving when and where it is required. For example, a household maid is in need of sudden funds as her child is required to go through an operation that she cannot afford; or the building security guard is short of some amount towards full payment of his son’s fees in a big engineering college; or during the pandemic, buying ration for the poor etc. are need-based situations.

Non-stealing in physical parlance means avoiding taking something that does not belong to us. It could be any physical property, for e.g. borrowing a pen or a book that we do not return, or stealing a share of physical property from the rightful owner or owner-to-be.

Emotional or Mental Generosity:

Being generous with love, warmth, support etc. are ways to practice emotional generosity. For example, going out of our way to be there for someone from whom we have no expectations is emotional generosity. Being a source of inspiration or motivation to someone who is struggling is emotional generosity.

We can practice mental generosity by sharing knowledge and skills to those that are willing to learn, for example teaching the underprivileged some ways to earn livelihood, or giving tuitions to poor children. We could also share our knowledge or experience through mediums where it can benefit others, or we can donate our old books in a library or to underprivileged students who really wish to read.

Emotional or mental stealing entails for example, stealing of affection that is not ours, i.e., stealing another’s partner or spouse. It could be stealing intellectual property for example, stealing another person’s credit for work or ideas. It could also mean stealing someone’s customers or contacts. Underpaying is an act of stealing, so is downloading pirated free movies??

Generosity is an important consideration as one is expected to make wise choices. The wise choice amongst other things is whether a person really needs what we have to offer. For example, some people dedicatedly donate time at an old age home; whereas some donate food and some others donate money. All of these are beautiful acts, however it’s good to check the requirements first and see if we are able to meet what one needs most. If not, whatever we can do within our means to meet what is required is great.

Several years ago, I once went to an institution that catered to the needy, with a humongous amount of rice, before checking with them what was required.

Why did I take rice? Because I had recently discovered that ‘Annadaan’ is good karma. So, for the sake of increasing my own good karma (act of selfishness) I decided to donate rice without checking if that was even necessary.

I was politely refused by this institution, and was taken to a room that seemed like a rice factory. Loads of people just like me donated rice to them (and perhaps for the same reason as mine!) The institution thus made a policy to refuse anything that was not required, was offered. ?

It is important to ask before you offer anything, especially to institutions that are catering to the needy. They will always help with a list of items that they really require and those could be items like toothpastes, seasonal vegetables, or band-aids for all you care - but if that is what they need and if we can afford, we must help them with that.

Tithing

While on the subject of generosity, it is pertinent to touch upon Tithing. Tithing as a concept has been explained across many spiritual disciplines and religious orders. It is donating a certain percentage, it is said 10%, of your income to charitable causes.

Master Choa Kok Sui said “Tithing is not an expense. Tithing is a Karmic Investment! Giving is not only an act of kindness; it is also a smart thing to do!’

Tithing is a concept that requires deeper understanding. In a separate blog I will attempt to cover specifics around tithing or ‘daan’ and what is it that we can do.

To sum up generosity and non-stealing, just like any other virtue, as you sow, so shall you reap. Any physical, emotional, intellectual or financial property that is not ours is not to be taken. We must endeavour to make our homes and our workplaces a better environment, not only for ourselves but also for everyone that we interact with.

Stay tuned on the upcoming virtues and how you may be able to practice them daily

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