When I told a friend that some people were commenting
that 'charity was unsustainable', he told me that charity was not unsustainable
in india.
The people of Palaguttapalle (Dalitwada), landless, poor and under nourished, give to every 'bhavati bhiksam dehi' call out of their meagre stock. They say that is dharmam. They tell me that anyone who comes asking for food, or for contributions for annadaanam, is to be given food respectfully. And one can eat a meal less if food runs low at home.
A guru told a friend that when God wishes to give, what He gives is the thought to give. The courage to share and to sacrifice. A friend told me, "Where we are born is a lottery and after that it is our duty to share".
A friend wrote, “I also wonder why sustainability suddenly becomes relevant only in this respect? Almost nothing we do -- the houses we build and live in, the roads we lay, the gadgets we buy, the internet, the cars.... none of these comes from a sustainable model! Yes, understanding and engaging with the larger systemic issues is needed but our life is premised on charity too -- I know the room I sleep in was built by the back-breaking work of migrant workers unsustainably carrying loads of bricks on their heads, earning a pittance and eating pazhedu for lunch. I am the beneficiary of this charity on their part."
We are the ones living on charity - the blood and sweat of others. We pay the labourer a fraction of our normal earnings, which barely keeps body and soul together. The little bit more we give we name 'charity'.
Another friend wrote, “ Yes for long I keep saying the farmers are subsidising the govt and us not the other way.."
The people of Palaguttapalle (Dalitwada), landless, poor and under nourished, give to every 'bhavati bhiksam dehi' call out of their meagre stock. They say that is dharmam. They tell me that anyone who comes asking for food, or for contributions for annadaanam, is to be given food respectfully. And one can eat a meal less if food runs low at home.
A guru told a friend that when God wishes to give, what He gives is the thought to give. The courage to share and to sacrifice. A friend told me, "Where we are born is a lottery and after that it is our duty to share".
A friend wrote, “I also wonder why sustainability suddenly becomes relevant only in this respect? Almost nothing we do -- the houses we build and live in, the roads we lay, the gadgets we buy, the internet, the cars.... none of these comes from a sustainable model! Yes, understanding and engaging with the larger systemic issues is needed but our life is premised on charity too -- I know the room I sleep in was built by the back-breaking work of migrant workers unsustainably carrying loads of bricks on their heads, earning a pittance and eating pazhedu for lunch. I am the beneficiary of this charity on their part."
We are the ones living on charity - the blood and sweat of others. We pay the labourer a fraction of our normal earnings, which barely keeps body and soul together. The little bit more we give we name 'charity'.
Another friend wrote, “ Yes for long I keep saying the farmers are subsidising the govt and us not the other way.."
The English educated, upper
class uses all its intelligence to explain why subsidies are wrong,
and charity should not be given to the needy.
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