Commentaries by Vee Jay Attri during the Book Study – Secrets of Karma
Let us proceed with the study from the Secrets of Karma. We are reading the chapter on Service and Sharing. Sharing your wealth is a wise way to deal with karmic debts. From ancient times, the practice has been to monthly or annually share 10% of one’s income with those less fortunate. In the Holy Bible, this is referred to as Tithe.
Share 10% of your earnings, or more with people in need of help as well as spiritual or humanitarian organizations. You may even divide your monthly tithe and share it with many people and organizations.
If you are connected with an institution that provides spiritual sustenance to you, then you may share a larger percentage to it. Your priority is to support those who had given physical sustenance to you including your parents, and spiritual sustenance including spiritual teachers.
However, you should share wisely. The Buddha said, “Balance karuna (compassion) with panna (wisdom)”.
Panna is also called Prajna in Sanskrit. Panna is the language in Pali, the language with which Buddha was teaching.
Hence, you need to share with discernment so that people do not misuse your charity, thereby wasting your precious resources and also incurring bad karma for themselves.
So this is very important to understand; how you share is very important, to whom you share is equally important and when you share is even more important. When there is a need, an utter need and you are sharing whatever little that you can, that has got a much greater value than sharing when it is not needed.
Of course there are exemptions, for example with your parents who may not need your support but still it becomes your karmic obligation to share whatever you should to them. It is up to them what they want to do with whatever that you are sharing. This is very important. The author is narrating a little experience:
Once I was in the city center and a young man approached me for help. He said he was hungry and I offered to buy him the food of his choice but he declined my offer and insisted that I give him money. Finally he received nothing!
In another instance, a seminar participant said that he would invite all his friends once a month and offer them a generous party!
His sharing would have greater value, had he spent this money on impoverished children or on poor people in utter need of help and support. He also would have generated karmic income out of this positive action.
So, to whom you share, how you share and how much you share is important. All makes a very big difference and when you share the time, that is also equally important.
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”
-Chinese proverb
Moreover, while it is good to feed the poor and give them support, it would be better empowering them as well, in some way so that one day they can take care of themselves and others too.
Helping people without discrimination makes them remain poor forever and encourages them being irresponsible, as they tend to take everything for granted over a period.
This frequently happens when you keep giving people who do not want to do their part fully. Then over a period of time, what you give they take it for granted and then when you stop giving, then they are going to abuse you for not sharing.
This happens many at times. I had witnessed this happening; that means you have to be so careful not to make people depend on you in an unhealthy manner. If they are depending upon you because of absolute utter necessity, that they cannot do anything on their own, this is ok.
But if they can do something from their side, you have to support them to the level that is sufficient for them to sustain themselves. So, this is a very important thing. That means we are not going to do activities that will make people irresponsible or make them utterly dependent on you. Unless it is your parents which is absolutely an important activity, you have to take care of this important aspect of charity.
If you are facing many problems and obstacles in your life, it is a signal for insufficient balance in your Bank of Karma.
I had all the time witnessed this happening. People who do not want to share anything with anybody and who all the time are self-centered with their own problems, activities, are not going to progress much in life for that matter, or for that matter even spiritually. They might be progressing materially but then, spiritually impossible.
Because this is a prerequisite for spiritual advancement. Even the level to which you would be receiving wisdom depends upon the balance in your bank of karma. So if you do not have sufficient balance, the nature does not provide you with higher level of wisdom.
Even if you happen to receive it, you will notice that it is not of much help to you. Either you will have a tendency to ignore it, neglect it or you simply do not have the effect of practicing it. If you are facing many problems and obstacles in your life, it is a signal for insufficient balance in your Bank of Karma.
So, even if your financial position is tight, look for a way to tithe regularly.
That means you have to live a life of absolute planning. You have to have a clear budget for all the activities. You have to make a note of the expenses.
This has been taught to me when I was a part of a large spiritual institution, to make a note of every penny that I was spending, every cent and every rupee I was spending. This habit actually sustained me spiritually also.
So, what I was taught is that if a person is able to maintain a perfect account of their expenditure, they will also be careful in the expenditure of their mental resources.
This was taught by a very senior spiritual practitioner. So, this is a very important practice that you need to bring about. Also, many at times, you may not even know to what level expenditures are happening uncontrollably.
I was really personally surprised some time back. We received the bill for the purchase of provisions. Then, the bill was about Rs4,000 Indian Rupees. When I was checking at the items, not one item was costing more than Rs50. All the items were Rs20, Rs30, Rs40 and, however the total was exceeding Rs4,000.
I was really very surprised. Little things actually add up to a very huge sum and we do not even notice it. You will not notice it unless and until you maintain the account. You should know exactly the amount you spend over a period of six months or one year. Only then, you will notice what is happening with your expenditures.
For example, there are people who move out very frequently to have food outside. It is good but then they do not realize how much are they spending in things that could have otherwise been avoided. If you are going to do it two or three times a week, eating outside, of course it is a very terrible thing. You actually carry all kinds of energy in your energy system. That is not going to help you.
But apart from that, if you look into the expenditure, only when you analyze your expenditure over a period of six months or one year, then you will understand to what extent you could have saved that money.
As I was explaining to you the other day, if a person is actually smoking one packet of a cigarette a day, in a year it is coming to over 150,000 Indian Rupees. Just one packet of cigarette the person is smoking is equivalent to 150000 Indian rupees with which you can easily feed 3000 people, if not more.
So, unless and until you have an understanding of your expenditure by maintaining a proper account, you would not know where the money is going. And if you do not have a proper budget, there will be no saving. And obviously, you cannot do tithing. You cannot do any charity because nothing will be left and if you do not do charity, there will be no progress. This is for sure.
Also, remember doing spiritual practices without doing sufficient tithing or charity is like a, right word is catastrophe. It is not going to help you.
Because definitely, there is certain amount of acceleration of karma that happens especially for advanced spiritual practitioners and what will act like a shock absorber is the good karma that you are generating mainly through tithing.
Tithing is very important for spiritual practitioners. Please think about it. For that, you need to save and for that you need to budget every one of your expenditures. Sometimes people have got no idea what they are actually doing.
I had come across many at times, people coming and asking suggestion how they go about taking a loan from the bank. So, without even any planning, they already had decided to take a loan of Rs2 million, Rs3 million or Rs4 million.
So, last time, I still remember the people were asking me that they are planning to take a loan of Rs4 million because they are having sufficient money to repay the instalment. I asked them only one question, ‘How much money are you able to save on a monthly basis?’ They said, “None!”
Now, you are planning to take a Rs4 million loan, assuming that whatever interest that is required to be paid, you will be able to pay it because your income is high but then the fact of the matter is that you don’t have any savings.
Now, where are you going to find that additional money that you need to pay to the bank? And more often people actually are extravaganza. What is required can be easily built with the small budget but then we have to go all the way to build the best of the best.
Unfortunately most of the time, you are not even filling 10% of the size of your house. I am talking about a scenario in Mauritius. Other parts of the country, even if you want, you don’t have space but that exactly is the reality.
So, a proper planning and budgeting can really save you. To live without any loan is the best policy that you have to adopt. As far as possible avoid any kind of expenditures, unnecessary expenditure. Save that money and increase your tithing amount.
That will make your life happier, more prosperous, and more joyous and you will have lasting peace and happiness. If you are facing many problems and obstacles in your life, it is a signal for insufficient balance in your Bank of Karma.
You can find lasting solutions to the challenges of your life by committing yourself to service and by sharing your resources regularly.
Further reading, Secrets of Karma, Page 92 – 94
