Chapter 17 verse 21
“But charity given with reluctance, with the hope of a return or in expectation of a reward, is said to be in the mode of passion.”
There
is a tamil saying that the “left hand should not know what the right hand is
giving”. This means that charity needs to be done just for the sake of itself
not to be famous, praised or expecting a return favor from it. I have
experienced this myself that you wonder if the amount given was too much and
you tend to regret if the receiving organization or person was deserving of so
much or not. This kind of thought process and attitude is considered rajasic
charity or charity done in the mode of passion. I am not surprised that I felt
such thoughts considering the ship loads of rajas or passion in myself. A good
balance of rajas, sattva and tamas is good for a balanced life and we need to
ensure that those proportions don’t go out of balance.
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