PART 16 –YAKSHA PRASHNAM SATSANGH
WHAT IS CHARITY?
CHARITY CONSISTS IN PROTECTING ALL CREATURES.
(Swami Chinmayananda says that 'Charity is sharing intelligently what we have with others around us who are in need of'. Any action is pure if the attitude or intention behind the act is pure and selfless.
Guruji's message on a Guru Purnima Day was that 'PURITY IN THOUGHT IS VITAL FOR THAT IS SPEECH; THAT IS ACTION. WITNESS EVERY THOUGHT AND CHECK MOTIVE. CHECKING MOTIVE IS UNDRESSING THE MIND, FILLS YOU WITH SHAME. FINALLY PURE MOTIVE ALONE CAN REALLY HELP YOU, WHEN YOU HELP OTHERS'.
When the name and the fame become the motive of our action, even good action like charity loses its very purpose and purity. The purpose is to purify the mind. Purifying the mind is getting out of 'I' and 'mine'.
Lord says in third chapter of Gita – "Those who cook food only for the self alone, without sharing it with others, such degraded men eat sin" and "Mutually cherishing, you shall attain the highest good".
By giving alone man grows. Ramana Maharishi did not give knowledge alone. He was very compassionate to all creatures. We can protect the creatures around us not only by giving food, shelter but the most valuable thing 'LOVE'.
In Patanjali Yoga Sutras, it is mentioned that 'when a man has truly and entirely renounced violence in his own thoughts and in his dealings with others, he begins to create an atmosphere around himself within which violence and enmity must cease to exist because they find no reciprocation. Animals, too, are sensitive to such an atmosphere. "The test of Ahimsa is absence of jealousy and in that heart alone the love sprouts; in that heart alone the real charity begins".
Generally people give when they feel like giving but not when then there is need. To protect other creatures is the great selfless thought and it comes to us when we are ready to give up our comforts. Cooking prasadam for 20 people becomes difficult but cooking for 50 people for a party becomes easy. All are mind's play in our life. Whatever we eat today, enjoy in our life today is the effort of so many people unknown to us. Oxygen we breathe is the gift of the Lord which protects our valuable life. Rain showered by nature is the source of water which we depend on the most. Our actions should be like this – without expecting anything, for the good of all, without harming any and actions should be done on time (today).
WHAT IS WICKEDNESS?
WICKEDNESS IS SPEAKING ILL OF OTHERS.
(Talking is how we spread our thoughts, ideas, and experiences to people around us. People find immense pleasure in talking about others that too in their absence. If we stop speaking about others, then there is very little we can share with people. We have so many faults within ourselves and we need the whole life to correct it. But it is in complete ignorance we feel we have all rights to find faults with others.
Speaking ill of others and listening to such speeches both make our mind impure. Lord takes avatar to destroy the wicked and to protect the good. The Lord needs to be invoked by us to destroy such habits. The Lord can be invoked when we choose to live with devotees.
HONEST AND WICKED:
These are the words spoken by Shakuntala to Dushmanta when she talked about the Dharma of a person: "An ugly person considereth himself handsomer than others until he sees his own face in the mirror. But when he sees his own ugly face in the mirror, it is then that he perceiveth the difference between himself and others. He that is really handsome never taunts anybody. And he that always talketh evil becometh a reviler.
And as the swine always look for dirt and filth even when in the midst of a flower-garden, so the wicked always choose the evil out of both evil and good that others speak. Those, however, that are wise, on hearing the speeches of others that are intermixed with both good and evil, accept only what is good, like geese (Hamsa bird) that always extract the milk only, though it be mixed with water. As the honest are always pained at speaking ill of others, so do the wicked always rejoice in doing the same thing. As the honest always feel pleasure in showing regard for the old, so do the wicked always take delight in aspersing the good. The honest are happy in not seeking for faults. The wicked are happy in seeking for them. The wicked ever speak ill of the honest. But the latter never injure the former, even if injured by them".
BHAGAVATHAM:
When Daksha Prajapathi out of pride insulted Lord Shiva in the yajnam, Sati (Daakshaayani) spoke to the father that 'the persons with pride see only the evil in the noble characteristics of another and speak ill of them. But the sign of the great man, a sadhu is that he sees only the good side not the bad traits in another'. The pride and arrogance of Daksha got destroyed by the Lord Shiva.
Speaking ill of others (Gossiping) is an act of Adharma. All dirtiness inside is expressed in outside action and speech. Vidura Neethi says 'that word arrows once pierced can never be taken back. It not only hurts others, it hurts the Lord inside the person and the same Lord is in everybody's heart'.
In the 9th chapter of Gita, Lord says to Arjuna, 'Arjuna! You are 'anasuyave' – you have the quality of not finding faults with others and who find good even in the wicked people. So you are qualified to know the Raja Vidhya and Raja Guhya (secret)'.
The divinity can manifest itself in the heart of a person which is pure. All our organs of actions and knowledge should be focused on the Lord alone so that other than the goodness we don't see anything in this world.
When Yudishtira and Duryodhana both went around the world, they came with different perception about the world. Yudishtira said 'the world is full of good people'. Duryodhana said 'the world is full of faults and badness'. Our talk represents our mind. Impure mind sees only impurities and the pure mind sees only the purity/the Lord.
Bhishma Pitamaha said to Yudishtira that 'A man who is ever engaged in speaking ill of others should be avoided like a furious wolf or an infuriated elephant roaring in madness or a fierce dog'.
SUMMARY:
If our attitudes are pure (not selfish), all our actions will protect everyone around us. Charity begins at home. If we can perform actions keeping others good in view, that is charity. There is no special time for charity. Every moment is an opportunity to be selfless.
Is there anything in much learning if it does not make a man feel the pain of others as keenly as the pain in his own body and avoid causing it?
When a man has experienced pain and knows what it is, how can he bring himself wantonly to cause pain to others?
The pain that a man causes to another in the forenoon returns to him that very afternoon.
- THIRUVALLUVAR
Let our speech be auspicious; thought be auspicious. Let us never speak ill of others and not listen to someone who speak ill of others. If we gossip, then we are not following Ahimsa, the foremost quality of a Bhaktha.
HARI OM!
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