Let us give with love and compassion

Let us give with love and compassion : 

Can you read? Then read to a blind student. Can you write? Then write a letter, or fill a form for someone who is not so lucky. If you are not hungry, share your food with someone who is. If you are happy, contented, at peace with yourself, reach out to those who are not as fortunate as you. We all have something to give. Let us give with love and compassion, and we will make the world a better place.

We regard ourselves as responsible citizens. We pay our taxes and our bills on time; we exercise our franchise and fulfill our democratic duties; we try to obey all traffic rules; we steer clear of breaking laws; we try not to interfere in other people’s affairs…

But this is not enough. Doing our duty is all right but we need to do our duty and a little more. The opposite of love is not hate but indifference, or apathy – to the needs of those around you. We need to contribute our share to the welfare of the world; to what Krishna called ‘lokasangraha’. When we all perform little acts of service, little deeds of kindness, the world will be a better place.

The Gita talks of the duty of yajna or sacrifice. M K Gandhi interprets sacrifice to mean service. He points out that the Gita also tells us: “He who cooks only for himself is a thief.” There is no higher law of yajna, the law of service. “True yajna is an act directed to the welfare of others, done without desiring any returns for it, whether of a temporal or spiritual nature,” Gandhiji says. “The body therefore has been given to us only so that we may serve all creation with it.”

A lot of us tend to believe that the little that we can do, counts for nothing, against the vast canvas of the world’s misery and suffering. But just as little drops of water together make the mighty ocean, so too, little acts of kindness and compassion can and will make a difference.

When we start living and working for others then our lives, too, become richer, more rewarding, and more meaningful. We are able to tap into our inner shakti to its highest potential; we become more energetic, more creative; we solve problems easily. Above all, we grow in consciousness that all life is One, all life is reverent, all men and women are interrelated – and that birds and animals too, are our brothers and sisters in One family of Creation. Is not this the highest form of consciousness – this awareness of the unity of all life?

Om Namah Shivay