Dear Friends,
Many thanks to Sri Raghunathan, AVS Jai, Greekrajan, etc., for your kind words.
I would like to share a small but wonderful story for your consideration.
Once Krishna and Arjuna were walking towards a village. Arjuna was pestering Krishna, asking him why Karna should be considered a role model for all donors (donations) and not himself.
Krishna, wanting to teach him a lesson, snapped his fingers. The mountains beside the path they were walking on turned into gold.
Krishna said, "Arjuna, distribute these two mountains of gold among the villagers, but you must donate every last bit of gold."
Arjuna went into the village and proclaimed he was going to donate gold to every villager, asking them to gather near the mountain. The villagers sang his praises, and Arjuna walked towards the mountain with a puffed-up chest.
For two days and two continuous nights, Arjuna shoveled gold from the mountain and donated to each villager. The mountains did not diminish in the slightest.
Most villagers came back and stood in queue within minutes. After a while, Arjuna, started feeling exhausted but not ready to let go of his ego just yet, told Krishna he couldn't go on any longer without rest.
Krishna called Karna. "You must donate every last bit of this mountain, Karna," he told him.
Karna called two villagers. "You see those two mountains?" Karna asked, "those two mountains of gold are yours to do with as you please," he said, and walked away.
Arjuna sat dumbfounded. Why hadn't this thought occurred to him?
Krishna smiled mischievously and told him, "Arjuna, subconsciously, you yourself were attracted to the gold; you regretfully gave it away to each villager, giving them what you thought was a generous amount. Thus the size of your donation to each villager depended only on your imagination.
Karna holds no such reservations. Look at him walking away after giving away a fortune; he doesn't expect people to sing his praises, he doesn't even care if people talk good or bad about him behind his back. That is the sign of a man already on the path of enlightenment."
Giving with an expectation of a return in the form of a compliment or thanks is not a gift; then it becomes a trade.
"Give without expecting anything in return!"
Sathyavratha, Sridhar Deepu, K. S. Manjunath, K. S. Manjunath, Subramani Mahadevan, Srinivasa Murthy, and 4 more
On Tue, Nov 25, 2014, at 5:51 PM, Balaji SR <srbbalaji@gmail.com> wrote:
Once Krishna and Arjuna were walking towards a village. Arjuna was pestering Krishna, asking him why Karna should be considered a role model for all donors (donations) and not himself.
Krishna, wanting to teach him a lesson, snapped his fingers. The mountains beside the path they were walking on turned into gold.
Krishna said, "Arjuna, distribute these two mountains of gold among the villagers, but you must donate every last bit of gold."
Arjuna went into the village and proclaimed he was going to donate gold to every villager, asking them to gather near the mountain. The villagers sang his praises, and Arjuna walked towards the mountain with a puffed-up chest.
For two days and two continuous nights, Arjuna shoveled gold from the mountain and donated to each villager. The mountains did not diminish in the slightest.
Most villagers came back and stood in queue within minutes. After a while, Arjuna started feeling exhausted but not ready to let go of his ego just yet, told Krishna he couldn't go on any longer without rest.
Krishna called Karna. "You must donate every last bit of this mountain, Karna," he told him.
Karna called two villagers. "You see those two mountains?" Karna asked, "those two mountains of gold are yours to do with as you please," he said, and walked away.
Arjuna sat dumbfounded. Why hadn't this thought occurred to him?
Krishna smiled mischievously and told him, "Arjuna, subconsciously, you yourself were attracted to the gold; you regretfully gave it away to each villager, giving them what you thought was a generous amount. Thus the size of your donation to each villager depended only on your imagination.
Karna holds no such reservations. Look at him walking away after giving away a fortune; he doesn't expect people to sing his praises, he doesn't even care if people talk good or bad about him behind his back. That is the sign of a man already on the path of enlightenment."
Giving with an expectation of a return in the form of a compliment or thanks is not a gift; then it becomes a trade.
"Give without expecting anything in return!"
--
From India, Bangalore
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782Many thanks to Sri Raghunathan, AVS Jai, Greekrajan, etc., for your kind words.
I would like to share a small but wonderful story for your consideration.
Once Krishna and Arjuna were walking towards a village. Arjuna was pestering Krishna, asking him why Karna should be considered a role model for all donors (donations) and not himself.
Krishna, wanting to teach him a lesson, snapped his fingers. The mountains beside the path they were walking on turned into gold.
Krishna said, "Arjuna, distribute these two mountains of gold among the villagers, but you must donate every last bit of gold."
Arjuna went into the village and proclaimed he was going to donate gold to every villager, asking them to gather near the mountain. The villagers sang his praises, and Arjuna walked towards the mountain with a puffed-up chest.
For two days and two continuous nights, Arjuna shoveled gold from the mountain and donated to each villager. The mountains did not diminish in the slightest.
Most villagers came back and stood in queue within minutes. After a while, Arjuna, started feeling exhausted but not ready to let go of his ego just yet, told Krishna he couldn't go on any longer without rest.
Krishna called Karna. "You must donate every last bit of this mountain, Karna," he told him.
Karna called two villagers. "You see those two mountains?" Karna asked, "those two mountains of gold are yours to do with as you please," he said, and walked away.
Arjuna sat dumbfounded. Why hadn't this thought occurred to him?
Krishna smiled mischievously and told him, "Arjuna, subconsciously, you yourself were attracted to the gold; you regretfully gave it away to each villager, giving them what you thought was a generous amount. Thus the size of your donation to each villager depended only on your imagination.
Karna holds no such reservations. Look at him walking away after giving away a fortune; he doesn't expect people to sing his praises, he doesn't even care if people talk good or bad about him behind his back. That is the sign of a man already on the path of enlightenment."
Giving with an expectation of a return in the form of a compliment or thanks is not a gift; then it becomes a trade.
"Give without expecting anything in return!"
Sathyavratha, Sridhar Deepu, K. S. Manjunath, K. S. Manjunath, Subramani Mahadevan, Srinivasa Murthy, and 4 more
On Tue, Nov 25, 2014, at 5:51 PM, Balaji SR <srbbalaji@gmail.com> wrote:
Once Krishna and Arjuna were walking towards a village. Arjuna was pestering Krishna, asking him why Karna should be considered a role model for all donors (donations) and not himself.
Krishna, wanting to teach him a lesson, snapped his fingers. The mountains beside the path they were walking on turned into gold.
Krishna said, "Arjuna, distribute these two mountains of gold among the villagers, but you must donate every last bit of gold."
Arjuna went into the village and proclaimed he was going to donate gold to every villager, asking them to gather near the mountain. The villagers sang his praises, and Arjuna walked towards the mountain with a puffed-up chest.
For two days and two continuous nights, Arjuna shoveled gold from the mountain and donated to each villager. The mountains did not diminish in the slightest.
Most villagers came back and stood in queue within minutes. After a while, Arjuna started feeling exhausted but not ready to let go of his ego just yet, told Krishna he couldn't go on any longer without rest.
Krishna called Karna. "You must donate every last bit of this mountain, Karna," he told him.
Karna called two villagers. "You see those two mountains?" Karna asked, "those two mountains of gold are yours to do with as you please," he said, and walked away.
Arjuna sat dumbfounded. Why hadn't this thought occurred to him?
Krishna smiled mischievously and told him, "Arjuna, subconsciously, you yourself were attracted to the gold; you regretfully gave it away to each villager, giving them what you thought was a generous amount. Thus the size of your donation to each villager depended only on your imagination.
Karna holds no such reservations. Look at him walking away after giving away a fortune; he doesn't expect people to sing his praises, he doesn't even care if people talk good or bad about him behind his back. That is the sign of a man already on the path of enlightenment."
Giving with an expectation of a return in the form of a compliment or thanks is not a gift; then it becomes a trade.
"Give without expecting anything in return!"
--
From India, Bangalore
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Hello Sri S. R. Balaji,
I am delighted to see your posting again after your decision to leave the forum due to your personal reasons. You have come back with a bang. What an anecdote!! It could be an addendum to the Bhagavad Gita or a reaffirming moral. Incidentally, on a similar topic, we had some interaction two years back in Cite HR, and I am happy to share the same with you and all our readers. Karna is a perfect example of the fourth category mentioned in the slide. Hope your contributions will continue.
V. Raghunathan
From India
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I am delighted to see your posting again after your decision to leave the forum due to your personal reasons. You have come back with a bang. What an anecdote!! It could be an addendum to the Bhagavad Gita or a reaffirming moral. Incidentally, on a similar topic, we had some interaction two years back in Cite HR, and I am happy to share the same with you and all our readers. Karna is a perfect example of the fourth category mentioned in the slide. Hope your contributions will continue.
V. Raghunathan
From India
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I am indeed delighted by SR Balaji's contributions and his decision to stay with us. For every one of us here, his untiring efforts in enlightening and educating our members ever since this forum came into existence are themselves an epitome of what is conveyed in this thread - "Give Without Expecting Anything in Return!!" I look forward to more of his valuable contributions in the coming times.
Warm regards.
From India, Delhi
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Warm regards.
From India, Delhi
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