The humbling act of charity

[1]

Poonam Srivastava [1]

The current peak in winter season makes us sensitive to the travails of those less privileged than us. One tends to sympathise with the homeless and hungry who are suffering from the severe cold, which has taken the lives of many. It makes one want to engage with some acts of charity like donating woolens to the poor. Dana or charity or giving alms is a key part of most religious traditions, be it Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Sikh or Buddhist.

Not only is the act of giving important but the guiding spirit and philosophy behind such acts is an equally critical element. While the person receiving our generosity definitely benefits directly from the material gifts given by us, it is also a great opportunity for our personal spiritual growth, which needs deeper examination.
In Buddhism practitioners are encouraged to foster six personality traits of perfection known as paramitas. Among them dana paramita refers to the perfection of giving, which is closely linked to the prajna paramita or perfection of wisdom. It is representative of spiritual evolution when we get the feeling of oneness while engaging in an act of charity.
It is like the right hand scratching the left hand as a spontaneous response in the same body and not one hand obliging the other hand under duress. This implies a viewpoint where you don’t have ego and feeling of superiority as the person making the donation. Instead, it is accompanied by humility and gratefulness towards the receiver who agrees to accept our charity.
Giving helps deal with many nascent negative traits besides the ego. It reduces our greed and tendency of hoarding more than our needs.
Look at birds how they live light without any stocks of rations or a feeling of insecurity about future provisions. Giving up on personal favourites is learning to become detached from things that we tend to cling on to through a sense of gripping possession. These attitudes closely mirror some of the important teachings of the Buddha who recommended giving without expectations of returns as a facet of the right attitude. It is interesting to cite the example of monks in Japan who wear long straw hats that cover their faces in part when begging for alms so that the giver or taker cannot see each other’s faces. This symbolises absence of doer-ship for both persons exchanging charity.
I would like to quote a couplet of dialogue between the two Indian saints Rahim and Tulsidas. The latter asked the former in verse why Rahim lowered his eyes while giving charity when the giver should be considered superior to the taker: Devanhaar sada bada, devat hai din rain; Tulsi samajh na paya phir kyon niche nain.
In response, Rahim reminded that the giver is Almighty and Rahim had his eyes lowered to remember this humbling truth:
Devanhaar koi aur hai,
devat hai din rain;
mat koi bhule bhram mein,
yate niche nain

Poonam Srivastava’s new book has been published recently titled T-Junction Crossing Over for Change. She can be contacted at m4moment@gmail.com