Before You Give Charity Be Careful
– by Shrila Bhakti Swarup Tirtha Maharaj
You feel pity, you feel guilty and you feel generous when you give charity. But giving charity to undeserving persons does not solve anything. So who should be given charity? And what is the aim of giving charity? Shrila B S Tirtha Maharaj answers these issues from a unique perspective.
They are everywhere. At bus stops, on street corners, near traffic signals, in moving trains, and at many public places, you can’t escape them – the beggars. Young and old, men and women, sick and handicapped, they plead for your charity. You try to avoid or ignore them, but they entreat you, make you feel guilty or pray to you until you fork out some money for them.
During natural disasters like earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes and floods, social welfare organisations launch fund raising campaigns to help the victims.
You are exhorted to donate generously. Some commercial organizations and business communities are regularly engaged in charitable activities by earmarking a certain percentage of profits.
A large number of non-profit charity organisations are active in every country. Basically, man has a spirit of sympathy and a helping attitude. We instinctively feel pain when we observe someone suffering.
As social animals, we have an inborn moral sentiment that enables us to bond with those who suffer and contribute our money, time and effort to alleviate suffering. Right from our childhood, we have been trained to extend courtesy and sympathy in our personal relationships.
We always uphold a sense of duty and cherish a desire to participate in welfare activities whenever possible. We praise those who make sacrifices for noble causes.
But most people do not know that charity should not be given indiscriminately. Why? Because when a human is fed with milk, it increases his strength; while giving milk to a snake results in increasing its poison. No doubt, at the time of giving charity to a group, one cannot tell a virtuous, deserving person from a wicked person.
Yet, care has to be exercised. Otherwise, by helping an undeserving person financially or in kind, we end up sharing the reaction of sin that this person might commit with the help he/she gained from us. In other words, indiscretion in such cases can adversely affect the donor.
We should not be driven by sentimentality or be captivated by the external exhibition of the benevolent act itself. Therefore, it is important to understand the underlying principle that supports the eternal feature of a charitable act.
Moreover, all our actions and thoughts are influenced by three qualities of material nature: sattva or goodness, rajah or passion and tamah or ignorance.
Hence, charity given by us is also of three types. The Supreme Lord Krishna explains the true concept of charity beautifully to Arjuna in the Gita (17/20-21-22):
datavyam iti yad danam
diyate ‘nupakarine
deshe kale cha patre cha
tad danam sattvikam smritam
Charity given out of duty, without expectation of
return, at the proper time and place, and to a worthy
person is considered to be in the mode of goodness.
yat tu pratyupakarartham
phalam uddishya va punah
diyate cha pariklishtam
tad danam rajasam smritam
But charity performed with the expectation of some
return, or with a desire for fruitive results, or in a
grudging mood, is said to be charity in the mode of
passion.
adesha-kale yad danam
apatrebhyas cha diyate
asat-kritam avajanatam
tat tamasam udahritam
And charity performed at an impure place, at an
improper time, to unworthy persons or without proper
attention and respect is said to be in the mode of
ignorance.
Therefore, charity is recommended to be given at places of pilgrimage (deshe) like Vrindavan, Mathura, Dwaraka, Mayapur, Ayodhya and in various cities of India with temples of Shri Krishna and Shri Vishnu.
The proper time (kala) for this pious activity is major Vedic festivals and other auspicious occasions like Krishna Janmashtami, Gaur Jayanti, Ram Navami, Narasimha Chaturdashi, Vaman Dwadashi, solar and lunar eclipses, and Ekadashi.
The right recipients (patra) for receiving charities are basically Vaishnavas or the devotees of God, sincerely engaged in spreading God Consciousness. Qualified Brahmanas actively involved in the higher pursuit of spiritual knowledge and spreading the Vedic culture also deserve to be encouraged.
These should be done without aiming at gaining material benefits in return. A charitable act in the mode of goodness results in the purification of the mind of the donor, ultimately enabling him to progress in spiritual life as well.
However, charity given unwillingly for the sake of merely complying with the instruction of a senior relative, or for receiving a material reward on this earth or a place in heaven is not praiseworthy. This is because such an act is influenced by the quality of passion which perpetuates a person’s entanglement within the mundane existence.
Financial contributions for building cinema theatres (a-deshe), video game parlours, lottery organizations, gambling dens or casinos, liquour bars, non-vegetarian restaurants could be considered as charity in the mode of ignorance.
This kind of giving is verily condemned because these places encourage sins. The donors, undoubtedly, are confined to hellish regions after death and take rebirth as lower species of life. A person catering to the physical and mental needs of the human society cannot help anyone.
Temporary relief provided to the body and the mind cannot give anyone genuine satisfaction. Ultimately, any act of philanthropy, driven by compassion and mercy, aimed at improving mundane situation in the human society, is ultimately useless.
This is because of the inexorable flow of time, in the form of death, that will remove both the beneficiaries and benefactors from the scene. The very object and end of all human effort is to realise one’s true self. For this purpose, the revealed scriptures recommend giving charity in the mode of goodness.
Such benevolent acts, and other virtuous deeds covering social activism, serve the purpose of cultivating a conducive mindset that enables one to embark upon the spiritual path.
The Supreme Lord Krishna categorically asserts in the Gita (18/40):
“There is no being existing, either here or among the demigods, in higher planetary systems, which is free from the three modes born of material nature.”
We understand from the Vedic literature that there is a constant competition among the three modes, for domination by one over the other two, due to their interactive conflict.
This results in a steady flux. Thus, one situated in the quality of sattva or the mode of goodness, endowed with virtuous attributes like generosity and honesty may degrade in this or next life influenced by any one of the two inferior modes rajah or tamah.
Therefore, if one has a pious nature and is fortunately situated on the platform of goodness, then she/he should take full advantage of such a favourable position to try and achieve the higher transcendental plane of Krishna Consciousness.
In ancient India, we come across great personalities renowned for their exceptional charitable disposition, magnanimity, hospitality and benevolence. Among many such exalted souls, King Rantideva was famous for generous food distribution. Even the Supreme Lord Krishna praised his act of charity.
Emperor Shibi was one of the greatest donors human history has ever known. To test his generosity, Indra the king of heaven, took the form of an eagle and went hunting a pigeon who was Agni, the fire-god, in disguise. When the pigeon took shelter of the king, the eagle staked its claim.
When all offers to compensate the eagle went unheeded, the king began offering his own flesh equal to the weight of the pigeon. Completely flabbergasted by his astounding sense of generosity, both the demigods revealed their true identities and profusely rewarded him with their blessings.
As for Karna of Mahabharata, even his enemies admired his philanthropy and glorified him as danavir, the most exalted among men of charity. A South-Indian king called Pari gave up his own golden chariot while riding on it when he saw a helpless, crippled person lying across the road for want of support as there was no tree nearby to lean on.
He walked back on foot to his palace. A sage called Dadhichi gave up his life in charity when requested by Lord Indra for using the sage’s bones to prepare a thunderbolt. Later, this weapon was to be empowered by Lord Vishnu to kill a demon Vritrasura who could not be eliminated by any other weapon.
All these great souls ultimately attained nirvana – liberation. The study of preliminary knowledge contained in the Shrimad Bhagavat Gita is considered up to the graduation level. Elaborate philosophical and theological exposition systematically revealed in the Shrimad Bhagavatam constitutes post-graduation level in Krishna Consciousness. In verse 27-29-3, this scripture concludes:
atha mam sarva-bhuteshu
bhutatmanam kritalayam
arhayed dana-manabhyam
maitriyabhinnena chakshusha
Therefore, through charitable gifts and attention, as well as through friendly behavior and by viewing all to be alike, one should propitiate Me, who abides in all creatures as their very Self. Instead of self-glorification, pleasing the Supreme Lord Krishna must be the aim of charity.
This is supported by Shrila Shuka Deva, the eminent speaker of the Shrimad Bhagavatam (2-4-17):
tapasvino dana-para yashasvino
manasvino mantra-vidah sumangalah
kshemam na vindanti vina yad-arpanam
tasmai subhadra-shravase namo namah
Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the allauspicious Lord Sri Krishna again and again because the great learned sages, the great performers of charity, the great workers of distinction, the great philosophers and mystics, the great chanters of the Vedic hymns and the great followers of the Vedic principles cannot achieve any fruitful result without dedication of such great qualities to the service of the Lord.
Any crime committed for personal benefit or for the sake of the good of the society cannot go unpunished by the established law of any country.
Crime is crime. Similarly, one may act in personal or family interest or in the interest of society, community or country. It will not bear the desired fruit unless it is aimed at pleasing the Supreme Lord Krishna, Who explicitly instructs Arjuna in the Gita (9/27):
yat karoshi yad ashnasi
yaj juhoshi dadasi yat
yat tapasyasi kaunteya
tat kurushva mad-arpanam
Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, and whatever austerities you perform – do that, O Son of Kunti, as an offering to Me.
The aim of our life is that we should remember the Supreme Lord Krishna at the time of our death. This is so that after leaving our body, we join the Lord in His Spiritual abode for transcendental, loving service. The best thing is to surrender to Him completely and serve Him while we are living here on this earth.
If this is not possible, then the results of our activities should be offered to Him.
Most of us have a tendency to give something to someone for doing good. Lord Krishna says, “Give that to Me.” This means giving all charity to ensure that it serves preaching, promoting and propagating the message of the Supreme Lord Krishna.
Otherwise, simply giving huge sums of money to poverty-stricken people will benefit neither the donor nor the recipient since poverty-stricken people require a permanent solution for elimination of their poverty and the donors attaining heavens by such acts also do not derive real benefits, the reason being that even in the heavens, there is birth, death, old age and disease.
Therefore, all charitable acts must primarily be aimed at the satisfaction of the Supreme Lord Krishna.