Tuesday, 1 December 2020

Daanam - Premji and Eashwaramma

 


Which is bigger ?
Azim Premji donating 90% of his wealth ?
Or Eashwaramma, giving a sack of rice to the temple for annadaanam, food.
Azim Premji we all know. The kind and generous owner of Wipro.
Eashwaramma, is unknown to most. She lives in Paalaguttapalle, Dalitwada. Landless, assetless, illiterate. Lives in a one roomed house bringing up two orphaned grandchildren. She lives on coolie earnings from agricultural labour. My neighbor, my friend.
 
  • Ramanan Jagannathan
    one is driven by CSR and other by dharma. no comparisons between the two 
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  • Karthik Tmk
    Why compare?. highlighting one person need not be in comparison to another  
    • Karthik Tmk
      Aparna Krishnan
       Your original post was how we all have heard of Premji and not eshwaramma
      Let me explain in my limited understanding on this point as well as the giving aspect
      Obviously we all know Premji and not eshwaramma because of who Premji is - that's the simple answer to your question
      Is it Premjis fault that he is famous and hence whatever he does is analysed in relation ?
      For every eshwaramma there may be 100s of others who may be having less and giving all, just like eshwaramma,we don't know who they are
      Does it make eshwarammas contribution any less ?
      Let me add another view -because Premji is who he is, how many wipro folks and their families would have started giving ? How many other corporates would have started giving?
      We can go on and on
      When it comes giving , we should look at the heart and hand that gives not always the numbers and percentages
      Giving is an attitude and we should celebrate, applaud and encourage all givers
      Lastly, wouldn't your post be more positive and joyous and wouldn't eshwaramma get the same appreciation and warmth which she richly deserves, if it had been a post just about her ? 
    • Aparna Krishnan
      Karthik Tmk
       please read the story from Mahabharata below. 
  • Komakkambedu Himakiran
    Accumulating wealth and giving it away is a part of the Dharma too. 
  • Sri Devi
    Yes.. Azim premji is great too... I am able to sustain myself bcoz of the free education, job and fellowship provided by him.  
  • Aparna Krishnan
    Once, Gandhi was on an expedition to collect funds from various cities and villages for an organization to help the poor. He went to several places and finally reached Orissa. He organized a meeting in Orissa. There, he gave a speech to the public, requesting them to give him funds for the organization. At the end of his speech, a very old woman with bent back, tattered clothing, white hair, and shrunken skin got up. She requested the volunteers to allow her to reach Gandhi. However, the volunteers stopped her. She did not give up. She fought with them and reached Gandhi. She touched the feet of Gandhi. Then she took out a copper coin kept in the folds of her saree and placed it at his feet. Then the old lady left the stage. Gandhi very carefully took the coin. The treasurer of the organization for the poor asked Gandhi for the copper coin, but he refused to give it. “I keep cheques worth thousands of rupees,” said the treasurer. “Yet you won’t trust me with a copper coin!” Gandhi said, “This copper coin is worth much more than those thousands. If a man has several lakhs and he gives away a thousand or two, it doesn’t mean much.”
    Yes, the coin might have been the only thing that the poor old woman possessed. She did not even have proper clothes and could not afford good food. Still, she gave everything she had. 
  • Turiya Kathyayani
    This reminds me of the golden mangoose story in the puranas...
    When Yudhishtira had just finished performing the Ashvamedha yagnya, a mongoose whose one side was golden in color entered the arena and started rolling on the floor.
    When asked why it was doing that, the mangoose replied with a story..
    Once upon a time, in a small village lived a poor man with his wife, son and daughter in law. Though they were extremely poor and lived a hand to mouth existence they were pious in nature. Once, a great famine struck the village. Being already poor the family suffered greatly.
    The man went out and managed to get a small amount of rice with difficulty.
    His wife cooked the rice and divided it into 4 equal portions.
    As they sat down to eat they heard a knock at their door. Opening it they found a weary traveller half dead with fatigue and hunger. Immediately welcoming the traveller inside and allowing him to wash and rest the man without any hesitation offered the traveller his share of food. The traveller's hunger was not yet appeased. So then one by one his wife and son also gave their share of food.
    Finally the daughter in law too gave away her portion of food saying that she too wanted to take part in this great sacrifice that all her family members were participating in.
    While the mongoose was relating the story a great hush fell over the assembly hall of King Yudhisthira. The mongoose continued the story and said that suddenly there was a brilliant light and the Gods who had come in the guise of the traveller appeared before the poor family and blessed all of them granting them liberation saying that they had performed the greatest Yagna of all.
    The mongoose which had been passing by the house looking for food accidentally fell on some scrap of food which had remained on the floor after being offered to the traveller.
    It was amazed to find that side of the body turned to gold. Since there was no more food left the mongoose said that it has been wandering to all yagnas in the hope that there would be another such great yagna where the other side of the body too could be transformed into gold.
    It even tried the same thing in King Yudhisthira’s yagna but was disappointed with the results.
    Thus it concluded that Yudhisthira’s yagna could not have been as great as that of the poor man and his family.
    The mongoose was actually Lord Dharma who had been cursed in an earlier birth and could regain his original form only if he humbled a person who was an embodiment of Dharma. 
  • Mamatha Balasubramanian
    Why compare? Both are giving in their own way.
    1
  • Mahesh G Iyer
    Both are not Bill and Melinda Gates - who puts in a “Foundation” which spends its money to buy companies it founded to sell vaccines and tech to health ministries of Government - puts testosterone on women and estrogen on men - hope Premji does not have any similar designs. He does appear to be buying out many colleges with his foundation. - India is also getting harder for the poor. 
  • Aparna Krishnan
    When we the privileged give, we give of our excess. What we have left will sustain us well. When the poor give they give of their own sustenance. They give away their security.
    The difference is the difference between earth and heaven.
    To see and understand that is to understand everything. About this country, about what sustains this country. About ourselves, and our infinite smallness before the infinite greatness that sustains this land.
    That is why this post. All our giving, Premjis or mine or yours, is as a mustard seed before the giving of the poor. Their greatness, that Dharman, sustains this land.
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  • Zakeena Seethi
    Perspective... For the recipient, Premji's donation might seem better. It may give them houses, scholarships etc.
    As for Easwaramna's danam, only God can assess it..


Azim Premji has committed more money to charity. My respects. We all need to learn.
And yet, I have seen far greater.
Every poor village. Gives out of its small stock of rice at home. To those in greater need. Seeking at their doors.
Stakeing their own rice for the next day.
Not calling it charity. Or philanthropy. Just seeing it as a simple duty. Also called dharmam. Done in silence. Forgotten of, before the act is completed.
That is the ethos of this land. That is the bar.



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