01 Aug 2007
[Question by Dr. Sheshadri Thiruvenkadam (Balaji).] One should not be lazy and one should put his maximum effort in doing any work. But if one earns only a little in spite of his best effort, one need not be discouraged because God looks at the percentage of sacrifice and not the magnitude of the sacrifice. Suppose a person lives in India and earns Rs. 100 and donates Rs. 20 to God. Another person lives in USA and earned $100 and donates $10, which are equal to Rs. 400. Which is the greater sacrifice? The sacrifice of Rs. 20 is greater than the sacrifice of the Rs. 400 because the former is 20 % of the first person’s salary and the latter is only 10 % of the second person’s salary. Dharmaraja sacrificed 3 crores[1] of rupees (just an assumption) to priests during the Ashwamedha sacrifice and as a result, he went up to heaven, which is the 3rd upper world[2]. Saktuprastha sacrificed flour worth just 3 rupees to the hungry guest during a drought but he sacrificed entirely; that was everything that he possessed. He went to Brahma Loka, which is the 7th upper world. This concept of God is quite different from say a railway ticket, where the charges are proportional to the distance traveled[3].
[1] 1 crore = 10 million
[2] According to Hinduism, there are 6 worlds above this world (totally seven upper worlds), which are different levels of heavens and seven worlds below it, which are different levels of hell.
[3] Travelling to Brahma Loka, which is farthest away from our world, cost Shaktuprastha only Rs. 3, while traveling to the 3rd heaven, which is much closer to here, cost Dharmaraja over Rs. 3 crores.