Monday, July 12, 2021

Charity - Rama's Will

MASTER: “… Sitting on the bank of the Ganges below the Panchavati, I used to say, 'Rupee is clay and clay is rupee;' Then I threw both into the Ganges." 

BANKIM: "Indeed! Money is clay! Sir, if you have a few pennies you can help the poor. If money is clay, then a man cannot give in charity or do good to others."

MASTER (to Bankim): "Charity! Doing good! How dare you say you can do good to others? Man struts about so much; but if one pours foul water into his mouth when he is asleep, he doesn't even know it; his mouth overflows with it. Where are his boasting, his vanity, his pride, then? 

"A sannyāsi must give up 'woman and gold'; he cannot accept it any more. One must not swallow one's own spittle. When a sannyāsi gives something to another, he knows that it is not himself who gives. Kindness belongs to God alone. How can a man lay claim to it? Charity depends on the will of Rāma. A true sannyāsi renounces 'woman and gold' both mentally and outwardly. 

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 670 (6 December 1884)





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