Chapter XXVI - 148 Home | Index | Previous | Next

"Charity should be given with reverence and faith. It should not be just thrown at the face of the recipient. Nor should it be given to an undeserving person or at an inopportune moment. Food for the overfed is a burden, not a boon. Hospitals in places that are inaccessible are as good as charity thrown away. Such benefitless and wasteful charity is called Thamasic."

"While engaged in Daana or charity, one has to be very vigilant. You should not scatter it to whomsoever pleads for it; nor can you shower it on all kinds of places. Be careful that you remember the three types mentioned by Me and then, do as seems most proper. The gift you make must not be for name or fame; it should have no motive of pomp or publicity; it should be purposeful and useful. In all acts, the Sathwic attitude is best. This attitude must permeate all actions seeing, hearing or speaking."

Arjuna, who was listening with head bent and with great concentration to all this, drinking in the sweetness of the Lord's countenance, asked Him thus, "What exactly is true listening and true seeing - please tell me this in some detail. I can then follow the instructions." He prayed to Krishna in such a pleading tone that the Lord smiled kindly at him.

Krishna patted Arjuna on the back. He said, "Sathwic listening is listening to the stories, experiences and messages of sages and saints who aspired after God and realised Him. Sathwic seeing is seeing the worshippers of the Lord, seeing portraits of saints and sages, attending festivals in temples etc. Rajasic seeing is seeing scenes of luxury, pictures of sensuous joy, of pompous pageantry, of the exhibition of power and status and display of egoistic authority. Taking delight in the description of sensuous scenes and incidents, in the demonstration of power and authority, in the assertion of might and prowess - these are to be classified as Rajasic listening. Others take delight in listening to gruesome adventures, stories of wicked ogres and vicious deeds. Such are Thamasic individuals. They admire cruelty and horrifying scenes and they take pleasure in keeping such pictures before them. They worship demonic bloodthirsty Gods and they revel in the lore of ghosts and evil forces."

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