08 Aug 2022
Shri Balaji came from Bangalore exclusively to have Satsanga with Shri Datta Swami and other Devotees. Shri Balaji asked this question.]
[In a recent incident, one acquaintance (know him only through a business transaction) called me about his daughter in ICU and needing some money for expenses. He promised to give it back in a day or two. But even after several weeks after his daughter has recovered, he has not kept his word to return the money and doesn’t respond to my calls or messages at all. I gave it since he was sincere in his work and it was an emergency situation. The thought that he may not give it back never crossed my mind. This incident of being cheated after asking for help in a medical situation shook me very badly. Please advise if I could have handled this incident in a better way.]
Swami Replied: Veda says that one shall do a deep and sharp logical analysis before doing donation or doing help by giving a loan. When analysis is done, emotion shall not enter the mind. Mind stands for emotion and intelligence stands for analysis. Hence, one shall always stand on intelligence and not on mind. God Krishna started the Gita with the Samkhya Yoga or Jnana Yoga or Buddhi Yoga (Dadāmi buddhi yogam tam… Gita), which is the ground on which one has to stand before hearing the rest of Gita. Especially, in this Kaliyuga, cheating has reached its climax and hence one has to be very careful in the analysis to be done before doing any sacrifice. One must control the mind, which is the basis of emotion and one shall be always with the actively ignited intelligence whether it is the subject of worldly life or spiritual life. If you are alert in the future of your entire life, the cost of the past teaching lesson is not much. People donate in hurry while going to holy places for a very brief stay. People think that everybody living in a holy place is holy! Being hasty due to the immediate return journey, they donate to people in the holy place without any analysis due to the lack of time. They think that the donation in the holy place is holy and brings good fruit. The place and time are not important in the process of donation (like Varanasi and day of Shivaratri). The deservingness of the receiver alone brings good fruit. Hence, one can do donation in the place where he/she is continuously living so that he/she will have sufficient time to analyse the receiver. Lord Krishna donated all His wealth to Sudaama and the place was not Vaaranaasi and the day was not Shivaraatri. He tested Sudaama from all angles and found that Sudaama was the best devotee and hence, He immediately donated everything to him and the place of donation was not any holy place and the day was not any holy date. Since you have given the amount for the sake of the cure of a patient, God will compensate you.
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