SHARED THOUGHTS. 06.12.2014.
The Art of Giving.
“The right hand must not know what the left hand gives” .. so the saying
goes. Islam has laid down a code of conduct for Zakat.. a mandatory form
of giving away a portion of your income.. Charity or selfless philanthropy,
is inscribed as an effective tool in all religions and beliefs, to bring
about a sense of peace and meaning to one‘s life; that brings contentment,
being the ‘chosen’ one to bring a smile on another.
There are many illustrations on the ‘art’ of giving.. but nothing
illustrates better than the story below ; read and capture the essence /
message, if you need to overlook the characters..
“You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give
of yourself that you truly give.” Khalil Gibran, The Prophet.
<http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6466154.Khalil_Gibran>
On Giving.
Once Krishna and Arjuna were walking towards a village. Arjuna was
pestering Krishna, asking him why Karna should be considered a role model
for all Donors (donations) and not himself.
Krishna, wanting to teach him a lesson snapped his fingers. The mountains
beside the path they were walking on turned into gold.
Krishna said "Arjuna, distribute these two mountains of gold among the
villagers, but you must donate every last bit of gold".
Arjuna went into the village, and proclaimed he was going to donate gold to
every villager, and asked them to gather near the mountain. The villagers
sang his praises and Arjuna walked towards the mountain with a huffed up
chest.
For two days and two continuous nights Arjuna shoveled gold from the
mountain and donated to each villager. The mountains did not diminish in
their slightest.
Most villagers came back and stood in queue within minutes. After a while,
Arjuna, started feeling exhausted, but not ready to let go of his ego just
yet, told Krishna he couldn't go on any longer without rest.
Krishna called Karna. "You must donate every last bit of this mountain,
Karna" he told him.
Karna called two villagers. "You see those two mountains?" Karna asked,
"those two mountains of gold are yours to do with as you please" he said,
and walked away.
Arjuna sat dumbfounded. Why hadn't this thought occurred to him?
Krishna smiled mischievously and told him "Arjuna, subconsciously, you
yourself were attracted to the gold, you regretfully gave it away to each
villager, giving them what you thought was a generous amount. Thus the size
of your donation to each villager depended only on your imagination.
Karna holds no such reservations. Look at him walking away after giving away
a fortune, he doesn't expect people to sing his praises, he doesn't even
care if people talk good or bad about him behind his back. That is the sign
of a man already on the path of enlightenment".
Giving with an Expectation of a Return in the form of a Compliment or Thanks
is not a Gift, then it becomes a Trade.
"Give Without Expecting Anything in Return !! Givers Gain...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
There is nothing called darkness. It's just absence of light. Similarly,
there's nothing called as problem, it's absence of an idea to find a
solution.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------
Coming nearer home and to an age we can relate to, there have been several
selfless shining stars who have made it to the world headlines for the
yeomen service rendered to the poor and hapless.. There are others too, who
are not household names but whose service & dedication to the
underprivileged cause is no less illustrious. Read on and feel inspired.
"ART OF GIVING”
One day, in 1969, very early in the morning, about 5.00 A.M. a small boy,
about 4 years old, could not understand why all of a sudden members in the
family burst into a loud wail and looked crestfallen. Not knowing what to do
and what not to do, the child looked inquiringly at the grief stricken
faces. Soon he came to realize that his father had died, though the word
death was beyond his understanding.
His father had died in a tragic train accident leaving seven siblings and
the widowed wife behind. The youngest sibling was about a month old and the
eldest 17 years. The deceased father was a petty worker in an industry and
had left no savings for the 8-member family to survive on.
All the siblings, including the small boy, had to grow up in the midst of
severe poverty in a very remote village of Odisha in India. The boy did odd
menial jobs here and there voluntarily and helped his widowed mother. The
early childhood and fate forced the boy to fend for himself and was thus
self-made right from the age of about 5 years.
He gave his mother the solace by wiping her tears and he gave his little
sister the comfort of his lap to sleep on. By about 7 years of age the boy
was already sharing his hard earned money from his work with classmates. He
kept one rupee out of his wage earned for the day just to give tea and
snacks to his four friends at a tea shop near the school where they studied.
He also helped the village folks and friends by giving his time and energy
to fetch groceries and provisions from the nearby market every now and then.
The boy grew up to be a youth in due course. One day, while he was doing his
Master’s Programme in Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, he gave away the 300
rupees given to him by his eldest brother for joining the college picnic to
one of his friends who had no money and helped the friend to join the picnic
while he himself stayed away from it.
After completion of his Master’s Degree in Chemistry, this young man landed
himself in a teaching job in a local college. Besides the job he did private
tutoring and with the income he supported his needy friends and his poor
family members ignoring his own comforts.
This young man soon thought of and ventured to set up two institutions with
only Rs. 5000/- (100 USD) in a rented building in 1992-93. Today, while one
of these institutions has become the most promising university of the
country with 25,000 students from across the globe, the other institution
has become the beauty of the world which nurtures and gives a decent life to
20,000 poor children of the country providing free education from
Kindergarten to Post graduation and professional education with fully free
residential and boarding facility.
The small institute that started with only 100 USD in 1992 has been
instrumental in giving smiles directly and indirectly to 1 million people by
2013 and looks forward to giving smiles to 10 million people by 2020.
He has also given back to his remote village turning it into a model village
having all amenities of a city. He has also greatly contributed towards
enriching art, culture, films, literature, spiritualism and many other
fields. He has been giving financial assistance every month to around 40
poverty stricken school friends and has given employment to another 40 of
his friends in his two institutions.
The same person, after creating so much for the society and people and after
achieving so much, lives the simplest-of-the-simple life in a two-room
rented house without any personal property and has chosen to remain a
bachelor. His only hobby is to bring smiles to faces of thousands of poor
children irrespective of caste, creed and religion.
This boy of yester years who has now grown big in stature, gives credit for
all of his accomplishments in life to the "Art of Giving", which he had
silently learned since his childhood. It has been the ethos of his life.
He passionately believes in the potent of the term “Art of Giving” which
ultimately brings peace in the minds of people in the society. He has
institutionalized the concept of Art of Giving.
He is none other than <http://www.achyutasamanta.com/> Achyuta Samanta
(www.achyutasamanta.com), the visionary social entrepreneur, social worker,
educationist and the Founder of <http://kiit.ac.in/> KIIT (www.kiit.ac.in)
& <http://kiss.ac.in/> KISS (www.kiss.ac.in), the KISS Foundation India and
the KISS Foundation U.K.
=============================================================\
Have a peaceful week ahead all of you,
MOHANDAS. KP.
<http://mohandas-sharedthoughts.blogspot.com/>
The Art of Giving.
“The right hand must not know what the left hand gives” .. so the saying
goes. Islam has laid down a code of conduct for Zakat.. a mandatory form
of giving away a portion of your income.. Charity or selfless philanthropy,
is inscribed as an effective tool in all religions and beliefs, to bring
about a sense of peace and meaning to one‘s life; that brings contentment,
being the ‘chosen’ one to bring a smile on another.
There are many illustrations on the ‘art’ of giving.. but nothing
illustrates better than the story below ; read and capture the essence /
message, if you need to overlook the characters..
“You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give
of yourself that you truly give.” Khalil Gibran, The Prophet.
<http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6466154.Khalil_Gibran>
On Giving.
Once Krishna and Arjuna were walking towards a village. Arjuna was
pestering Krishna, asking him why Karna should be considered a role model
for all Donors (donations) and not himself.
Krishna, wanting to teach him a lesson snapped his fingers. The mountains
beside the path they were walking on turned into gold.
Krishna said "Arjuna, distribute these two mountains of gold among the
villagers, but you must donate every last bit of gold".
Arjuna went into the village, and proclaimed he was going to donate gold to
every villager, and asked them to gather near the mountain. The villagers
sang his praises and Arjuna walked towards the mountain with a huffed up
chest.
For two days and two continuous nights Arjuna shoveled gold from the
mountain and donated to each villager. The mountains did not diminish in
their slightest.
Most villagers came back and stood in queue within minutes. After a while,
Arjuna, started feeling exhausted, but not ready to let go of his ego just
yet, told Krishna he couldn't go on any longer without rest.
Krishna called Karna. "You must donate every last bit of this mountain,
Karna" he told him.
Karna called two villagers. "You see those two mountains?" Karna asked,
"those two mountains of gold are yours to do with as you please" he said,
and walked away.
Arjuna sat dumbfounded. Why hadn't this thought occurred to him?
Krishna smiled mischievously and told him "Arjuna, subconsciously, you
yourself were attracted to the gold, you regretfully gave it away to each
villager, giving them what you thought was a generous amount. Thus the size
of your donation to each villager depended only on your imagination.
Karna holds no such reservations. Look at him walking away after giving away
a fortune, he doesn't expect people to sing his praises, he doesn't even
care if people talk good or bad about him behind his back. That is the sign
of a man already on the path of enlightenment".
Giving with an Expectation of a Return in the form of a Compliment or Thanks
is not a Gift, then it becomes a Trade.
"Give Without Expecting Anything in Return !! Givers Gain...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
There is nothing called darkness. It's just absence of light. Similarly,
there's nothing called as problem, it's absence of an idea to find a
solution.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------
Coming nearer home and to an age we can relate to, there have been several
selfless shining stars who have made it to the world headlines for the
yeomen service rendered to the poor and hapless.. There are others too, who
are not household names but whose service & dedication to the
underprivileged cause is no less illustrious. Read on and feel inspired.
"ART OF GIVING”
One day, in 1969, very early in the morning, about 5.00 A.M. a small boy,
about 4 years old, could not understand why all of a sudden members in the
family burst into a loud wail and looked crestfallen. Not knowing what to do
and what not to do, the child looked inquiringly at the grief stricken
faces. Soon he came to realize that his father had died, though the word
death was beyond his understanding.
His father had died in a tragic train accident leaving seven siblings and
the widowed wife behind. The youngest sibling was about a month old and the
eldest 17 years. The deceased father was a petty worker in an industry and
had left no savings for the 8-member family to survive on.
All the siblings, including the small boy, had to grow up in the midst of
severe poverty in a very remote village of Odisha in India. The boy did odd
menial jobs here and there voluntarily and helped his widowed mother. The
early childhood and fate forced the boy to fend for himself and was thus
self-made right from the age of about 5 years.
He gave his mother the solace by wiping her tears and he gave his little
sister the comfort of his lap to sleep on. By about 7 years of age the boy
was already sharing his hard earned money from his work with classmates. He
kept one rupee out of his wage earned for the day just to give tea and
snacks to his four friends at a tea shop near the school where they studied.
He also helped the village folks and friends by giving his time and energy
to fetch groceries and provisions from the nearby market every now and then.
The boy grew up to be a youth in due course. One day, while he was doing his
Master’s Programme in Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, he gave away the 300
rupees given to him by his eldest brother for joining the college picnic to
one of his friends who had no money and helped the friend to join the picnic
while he himself stayed away from it.
After completion of his Master’s Degree in Chemistry, this young man landed
himself in a teaching job in a local college. Besides the job he did private
tutoring and with the income he supported his needy friends and his poor
family members ignoring his own comforts.
This young man soon thought of and ventured to set up two institutions with
only Rs. 5000/- (100 USD) in a rented building in 1992-93. Today, while one
of these institutions has become the most promising university of the
country with 25,000 students from across the globe, the other institution
has become the beauty of the world which nurtures and gives a decent life to
20,000 poor children of the country providing free education from
Kindergarten to Post graduation and professional education with fully free
residential and boarding facility.
The small institute that started with only 100 USD in 1992 has been
instrumental in giving smiles directly and indirectly to 1 million people by
2013 and looks forward to giving smiles to 10 million people by 2020.
He has also given back to his remote village turning it into a model village
having all amenities of a city. He has also greatly contributed towards
enriching art, culture, films, literature, spiritualism and many other
fields. He has been giving financial assistance every month to around 40
poverty stricken school friends and has given employment to another 40 of
his friends in his two institutions.
The same person, after creating so much for the society and people and after
achieving so much, lives the simplest-of-the-simple life in a two-room
rented house without any personal property and has chosen to remain a
bachelor. His only hobby is to bring smiles to faces of thousands of poor
children irrespective of caste, creed and religion.
This boy of yester years who has now grown big in stature, gives credit for
all of his accomplishments in life to the "Art of Giving", which he had
silently learned since his childhood. It has been the ethos of his life.
He passionately believes in the potent of the term “Art of Giving” which
ultimately brings peace in the minds of people in the society. He has
institutionalized the concept of Art of Giving.
He is none other than <http://www.achyutasamanta.com/> Achyuta Samanta
(www.achyutasamanta.com), the visionary social entrepreneur, social worker,
educationist and the Founder of <http://kiit.ac.in/> KIIT (www.kiit.ac.in)
& <http://kiss.ac.in/> KISS (www.kiss.ac.in), the KISS Foundation India and
the KISS Foundation U.K.
=============================================================\
Have a peaceful week ahead all of you,
MOHANDAS. KP.
<http://mohandas-sharedthoughts.blogspot.com/>
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