ALMS GIVING

Baba’s sayings about Giving Alms

Para Number in the Book “BCS”, About alms giving

(a) ALMS GIVING WITH SUAVITY AND STRAIGHT FORWARDNESS.

306. Baba: “Nana, I will give you one more lesson.”

N.G. Chandorkar: Very good.

Baba: Nana, if any one begs of you anything, if that be in your hand or power, and if you can grant the request or get it granted, do so. Do not say “No”. If you have nothing to give, then, give a suave negative. Do not mock or ridicule the applicant nor get angry with him. If you do not like to part with what you have, do not say falsely that you have nothing . Decline to give it in polite terms and say circumstances or your desire stand in the way. Will you remember this lesson or forget it?

NGC: What is difficulty in this? I shall remember.

Baba: This lesson is not quite so easy as it may seem.

NGC: I will keep it in mind.

Sometime later, NGC(Nana), who had promised to pay Rs.300/- for charity to be done at the Kopergaon Datta temple did not bring the money and therefore avoided a visit to the temple, which was on his way to Shirdi. He, with the approval of his friend, took a detour through a very thorny path, as a result of which he and his friend ran thorns in their bodies. When they reached Shirdi, baba would not talk to them.

NGC: Why don’t you talk with me?

Baba: Nana, when a man says he will remember the lessons I taught him but really does not, how can I talk to him?

NGC: Baba, I remember all your lessons.

Baba: You gentleman, you evade seeing ‘sircar’ (God Datta) and take a detour. Why? Because the saint will ask for Rs.300/- is this the way to remember my lesson? If you have not the money, if it was not easy to arrange to get it, you have only to tell him that fact. Will the saint eat you? But what device is this, to avoid the temple of God for fear of the saint demanding money? Well then, have not thorns pierced your feet and body and the posterior part of your sapient friend? How can I talk to such a person?

(b) ALMS GIVING WITHOUT ARROGANCE AND ANGER.

307. Baba: “Nana, to-day I will give you one more lesson.”

NGC: Good.

Baba: Nana, If anyone comes and begs for anything give him as much as you can, and if that person be not satisfied and asks for more, answer him suavely in the negative. Do not pour your wrath or display all your official authority against that person.

NGC: Good.

(But one day at Kalyan Mrs. NGC was greatly provoked by the importunity of a beggar woman who refused to budge, unless she was given as charity the whole stock of ‘Bhajani’ (fried and spiced grains); and Mrs. NGC appealed to her husband, NGC came down and called out to the peon to neck out the beggar, unless she quietly accepted the quantity given and left the house. Sometime late NGC visited Shirdi, but baba was glum and would not talk to him.

NGC: Baba, why do you not talk to me?

Baba: How can I talk to one who does not care for my advice or lesson?

NGC: What lesson have I forgotten? I remembered all your lessons.

Baba: That day, when the beggar woman was importuning you for ‘Bhajani’, how did you happen to call your peon to expel her and to show  all your official authority. What mattered, if she remained sitting your door, asking for more, while refused it? What could she do? After a while she would have gone away. Instead of gently replying her, why get angry with her and call the peon to expel her?

308. Baba: “if anyone is angry with another, he wounds me to the quick. If any one abuses another, I feel the pain. If one bravely endures the abuse, I feel highly pleased.”

(c) Alms giving without discrimination INTERPRETATION OF ATHITI.

309. (N G Chandorkar found that though he waited for athities, i.e., guests, for a few minutes, after the daily vaiswadeva, none ever turned up and he intended to ask baba, if the direction in the Vedas to wait for guests was a worthless direction. But when he went to Baba, the latter anticipated the query and thus spoke)

Baba: Yes. Yes. Guests will come! The devil, they will.

NGC: True, Baba. I daily offer the Kakabali and go out and wait for guests. they never come.

Baba: “Nana, the sastras are not in fault. Nor are the Mantras wrong. But their true importance you have not caught. You get into your head a worthless interpretation and then stand and wait for guests. They will not turn up. hallow! Does the term ‘Athiti” denote a man 3 ½ cubits high and of the Brahmin caste?

Athithi is what ever creature is hungry and comes on to you, at that time, whether it is human or a bird, beast or insect. All these seek food. The real Athiti that you get, you do not regard as such. These have come to you in lakhs. nana, give up your rotten interpretation.

At kakabali, take plenty of boiled rice outside the house and leave it there. Do not shout or call for any nor drive away. Whatever the creature that comes to eat, let not that disturb your mind. You get thus the merit of feeding lakhs of guests.