Charity (ભાવનાનું મૂલ્ય)

Click here to read Preamble in Gujarati
Charity is emphasized in every religion of the world. Somebody said, “Every charitable act is a stepping stone towards heaven.” This may be true for a religious person, but what about those people who do not believe in Heaven or Hell and not even believe in existence of God. It makes no difference to God if anybody created by Him believes Him or not. He is always kind and merciful for all His creations, either the Believers or Non-believers. The slogan of those Non-believers is “God is nowhere.” But, ask them to talk to a victim of any disaster who might have got help through charity by any individual or organization at the right moment. That fellow will invert their slogan in this way, “God is now here.” But, here our topic is about charity and we leave them here to experience the critical situation in their lives and; perhaps a day may come, when they may be compelled to change their attitude of a Non-believer.

My article in Gujarati will follow this preface, but before that, I want to add something here in brief for my Non-Gujarati readers. I shall quote one of my favorite personalities – Sir Winston Churchill in this regard. He said, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” Further, he said: “Even the poor should give something to charity.” The last words will reflect in my Article that follows. Mother Terasa also said, “It’s not how much we give, but how much love we can put into giving.” This will also be qualifying to my scanned blog. Giving something is better than nothing while doing charity. Frank Tyger quotes, “If you cannot lift the load off another’s back, do not walk away; but try to lighten it.”

In my opinion and also in yours, when we give something for charity to any needy person; it is not any obligation or favor to him, but is merely the payment of royalty on behalf of God for what we use as the raw material of what we produce and earn if we are a manufacturer. If we are a businessman or professional, we pay the levy of our intellectual property borrowed from Him. If we are a farmer, we use land, water, seeds etc. provided by Him. If we are a laborer, we pay Him for the physical strength He favored us. Nothing is ours, everything is His. Even we-ourselves are in existence at His will and our every breathe is dependent of Him. Hajarat Imam Ali, in a sermon, said, “When a man dies, his relatives ask how much wealth he has left. While the angels look to see how much he had given in charity, in the path of the God.”

Summing up, the God loves those who love Him, but loves those more who love their fellow-men. Now, proceed further to read my blog in Gujarati and try to co-relate it to the content of this preface:

charity.pdf