Are only the Human Incarnation and His devotees deserving to receive our donation?

Shri Anil asked: The Veda says that the deserving recipient must satisfy two conditions: (i) He must possess true spiritual knowledge for preaching to and guiding the world in the right direction (ii) He must not have the aspiration for any fruit in return from anybody. In that case, no one is eligible in this world is eligible for our donation other than the Human Incarnation and His devotees. Is this true?

Swami replied: Whether somebody is a Human Incarnation or not; or whether the person is a devotee or not, is not the criterion for proper donation. The criteria for donation are the above two requisites recommended by the Veda. Here, the Veda is describing the recommended normal approach for donation. However, in the case of the poor and beggars, there is no need to examine these requisites. To such helpless and needy people, donation must be done without the above analysis since it is an emergency situation (Apat Dharma). Only if a starving person’s life is first protected, can he or she follow the path of justice and then gradually enter into the spiritual path. Emergency-needs are to be addressed first; only then can you seek and analyze a deserving receiver. Swami Vivekananda said that we must first give bread to the starving and only then preach philosophy to them. This is the most important step because the death of even a single human being due to hunger is a shame on the part of humanity. All the rich people in the world should think about this point. Only after saving the lives of starving people do we come to the point of analyzing the deservingness of recipients for our donation. If you donate to a deserving person, it is merit and it leads you to heaven. If you donate to an undeserving person, who will commit sins using your donation, you will also receive the punishment of the sins. Donation is a very dangerous double-edged knife because both donation to the undeserving and not donating to the deserving are sins. If you donate to the undeserving, it is not simply a waste of money, but it gives a negative effect in the form of punishment. So, instead of donating to the undeserving, it is better to avoid donation.

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