04 Feb 2005
[When Guru Dakshina is given to the Sadguru, my mother says that we should watch how the Sadguru spends it. Is this correct?]
This statement is not correct. Once you decide Him as Sadguru, you must have 100% belief that He is God. If you have any trace of doubt, then He is only Guru and not Sadguru [teacher who is a human incarnation of God]. Guru is a teacher who is a devotee and scholar. The word ‘Sat’ means God according to the Veda. Therefore, you must take a long time to analyse and distinguish the Guru and Sadguru. Guru is the guide and shows the path to reach God. Sadguru is the human incarnation, who is both the guide and goal. Narada was a Guru but Krishna was the Sadguru. The composition of the Guru is the gross body, subtle body and causal body. The composition of the Sadguru is also these three bodies, but these three bodies are charged and pervaded all over by God.
If the Guru misuses the Guru Dakshina money, he will be punished by God. If Sadguru misuses it, that is not misuse at all. It is in fact most properly used, but it only appears as if misused. We do not know the background of it. You must have 100% faith and should not doubt Him in any angle. In fact the entire world is His immovable property alone. All the living beings are His movable property. You are part and parcel of His property. Where is the concept of donation? The Veda says that when you give Guru Dakshina to the Sadguru, you must give it with shyness and fear. Generally, people give excess of money [the extra money leftover after satisfying their needs, comforts and luxuries] as Guru Dakshina. Actually, you are permitted to take from His property for your basic needs only. If you have earned excess, you have stolen His wealth. The Veda says the same (Ma grudhaha…). You are supposed to return the stolen wealth to the Owner as Guru Dakshina. Therefore you must give it with fear and shyness. You must also give secretly (Gupta daanam) because returning back the stolen wealth to its owner should not be done openly [people announce their donations publicly so as to get fame]. The Veda says the same (Hriya deyam, bhiya deyam).
The Veda also says that before giving Guru Dakshina, a very deep logical analysis must be done to decide weather he is a Guru or Sadguru. When you donate money to a temple, it is taken by the trust, which consists of good devotees. But they are not God. They are most likely to err. Certainly they will not steal the money, but they do not know how to spend it properly. Generally they spend it on constructions and creating more facilities for visitors. A pilgrim should not be encouraged with facilities. In the old times the temples were in forests and on hills. Pilgrims will develop devotion only through difficulties. Thus the money is not properly spent. It should be spent to propagate true knowledge and devotion to God. Pilgrims are coming to temples to fulfill their desires. They donate money only for that purpose. The temple trust creates facilities for them. All this is business.
Devotion and sacrifice without aspiring for anything in return, should be developed through the propagation of true knowledge. When they come to temples, the prostitute-type or merchant-type devotees should be transformed to real devotees. Money should be spent for this purpose. [If you donate in places where the money is used only for creating more facilities for visitors,] Your donation is either wasted or misused. For this you will be punished because it is a sin. Even if poor people or beggars are helped by your money, without preaching to them about devotion and spiritual knowledge, that also is a sin because it is interference in the administration of God. This I have explained in several places.
The Mahabharata says that donation to the undeserving and denial of donation to deserving, are both sins. Donation should be done only after a lot of logical analysis because, donation brings both good and bad results. The candidate to receive the donation is most important. Time and place are not important. If the receiver is Sadguru, any place and any day are sacred. If the receiver is undeserving, even if it is a temple or even if it is a day of pious festival, sin is purchased. Instead of donating to ten undeserving people in haste for ten days without discrimination, it is better to donate all the accumulated donation to one deserving person on one day. You feed hundred pilgrims in Varanasi on Shivaratri day. God is not pleased with that because your money is misused. With the same money select one deserving devotee and feed him for 100 days at any place. Lot of time should be taken in selecting the deserving person. Meanwhile go on accumulating the donation. The Veda says “Samvida deyam”, which means donation must be done after lot of analysis. When you give it to Sadguru, He will spend in the best way. Sometimes He may give your Guru Dakshina to another individual. You may be unhappy about it because that individual is undeserving. But Sadguru gave that money to him because you had stolen money from him in your previous birth. God is clearing your debt. You cannot understand His ways because He alone knows all the background. People used to give Guru Dakshina to Shirdi Sai Baba. Sometimes Baba would demand Guru Dakshina. He would take the money and pocket it with a lot of care. People misunderstood him. By next morning all the money would have disappeared. Actually in the middle of the night, He would give the money secretly to some deserving devotees. How nice it would have been if He had given the same money to the same deserving during the day in the presence of all! Was He foolish in not doing so? No. He was testing the failth of the donor. The Sadguru takes Guru Dakshina only to cut your bond with the money (dhaneshana). In Vishnu Puranam, the Lord said that He would take the money from a devotee if He wanted to uplift him (tasya vittam haramyaham). When you donate to Datta, He will not look at the donated money but He will look at the remaining money. When the Lord came as a guest to Shaktuprastha, the Lord asked for the entire food even though the family of Shaktuprastha was starving for the last ten days, since there was a severe drought.