Generosity's Subtle Aspects

Om Namo Narayanaya sweet practitioner,

In this practice, we further establish and grow our character in the virtue of generosity and its subtle aspects. We continue to grow our positive thinking and purify the mind through the virtues of generosity, beneficence, munificence, and treating others kindly and with respect and equanimity.

We share some inspiring stories on true generosity from Swami Sivananda's life before he became a monk as he was the true embodiment of generosity. We choose a centering thought and at 17:00 we start contemplating and meditating on the teachings. We close with a firm determination to embody munificence and smile kindly to everyone we meet.

Remember to take the practice to your day and reflect on the opportunities you took and the ones you missed so you can improve tomorrow.
May we be the embodiment of generosity as Swami Sivananda was.

Om Namo Narayanaya

Transcript

Om,

Om,

Om,

Sahana Vavatu,

Sahana Bhunaktu,

Sahaveeryam Karavavahai,

Tejas Vinavadhi Tamastu,

Mavadvishavahai,

Om Shanti,

Shanti,

Shanti Hi,

Om,

Peace,

Peace,

Peace,

Om Balo Sadguru Shivananda Maharajki,

Jai,

Om Balo Sri Swami Vishnu Devananda Maharajki,

Jai.

Om Namo Narayanaya.

Welcome sweet practitioner.

This is Mahalakshmi with one ounce practice.

And today's practice is dedicated on the virtue of generosity.

Growing and further establishing ourselves in the act of giving freely,

Of giving cheerfully,

Kindly.

It is the month of September that is wonderful for practicing generosity.

September was also the month that Swami Shivananda was born.

September 8,

1887.

And his nickname was Swami Giveananda,

Because he would always give,

Give,

Give,

Give.

Whether it was an offering from a visitor or it would be a birthday present,

He would always give it away and distribute to everyone around him.

He used to have three bags with him.

One was filled with sweets.

One had medical supplies like band-aids and medications.

He used to be a medical doctor,

So he was able to help and treat people right there and then if they needed help.

And the third bag was full of spiritual scriptures,

Articles,

Pamphlets,

Booklets,

And all sorts of food for the soul.

And anyone who would meet him would get something,

That is for sure.

And like everyone knew his giving nature.

And even the Swamis around the ashram,

They would send visitors to him,

To Swami Shivananda,

Because they knew that whatever he would get as offering,

He will distribute to them.

So they were sending visitors to him and were reaping the benefits of,

Still reaping the benefits of the offerings.

And so Swami Shivananda in his book,

How to Cultivate Virtues and Eradicate Vices,

Shares a few aspects of generosity that go further,

Deeper than just giving generously to others.

Some insights that I want to share with you.

He writes,

Generosity is nobleness or liberality of nature.

The essence of generosity is self-sacrifice.

A generous man is bountiful.

A generous man is endowed with a noble disposition.

He is most pliant and courteous in his behavior to his inferiors.

Generous refers to the self-sacrificing,

Generous refers to the self-sacrificing heartiness of the giver,

Liberal to the amount of the gift.

Swami Shivananda here makes a point of the self-sacrifice that generosity encompasses.

And one of the stories that is actually from his time before he became a Swami,

In his years as a medical doctor,

He went to serve the poor and the sick in Malaysia.

In the plantations of Malaysia,

The workers were very poor.

They were working in poor conditions.

And he specifically went there because he knew how hard it was to get a good medical treatment there.

And he had only one servant.

His name was Narahimsa Iyer.

And he was a cook.

And he was paid very generously,

According to his own words,

To Narahimsa Iyer's words.

And he was treated equally,

With respect all the time.

They ate together.

Whatever he cooked,

They ate the same thing.

And he was incredibly inspired by Swami Shivananda.

Later he became actually his disciple as well.

But as he shares one particular story that is specifically illustrating the virtue of self-sacrifice,

The story goes,

O noble sir,

While a beggar in the street,

I am hungry and have had no food for the last two days.

I am near death.

I have cried at every door.

Alas,

Who can understand my suffering?

Even God seems to be cruel because he is bent on prolonging this miserable existence.

He was about to beat his head and fall down.

Though all this was not addressed to him,

Dr.

Kuppuswami,

That was Swami Shivananda's name before he became a monk,

Dr.

Kuppuswami patted the beggar on the back and led him to his own compound.

Rest here for a few minutes.

O Narahimsa Iyer,

Bring half the rice and other preparations.

Take a good leaf,

Put it over the plate.

Then arrange all the items nicely on it and bring them here at once.

Quickly,

Quickly.

Narahimsa Iyer went in and brought the food.

Here you are,

Old man.

Take this food and refresh yourself.

The beggar was unable to believe his own eyes.

He rubbed them to make sure he was not dreaming.

Come on,

Why do you hesitate?

Moved with gratitude,

The beggar began to eat.

Occasional tears escaped his eyes,

Though he tried to check them.

Dinner finished,

The beggar washed his hands as the tall doctor stood by his side and poured out the water.

Before the doctor realized what the other man was doing,

He fell flat before him and hugged his feet.

In these areas,

It is a practice of prostration.

When you see a saint,

When you're in the presence of a sage or a guru,

To fall down flat on the floor before them,

Prostrate completely before them in the expression of realizing their holy nature.

And hugging their feet or taking the dust off their feet is an expression that even the dust,

Even the feet of the guru,

Of the saint are more holy than yourself or than the one who is prostrating.

So this beggar,

Who was not just fed,

But he was allowed to be treated,

But he was treated equally.

As the doctor poured the water for him to wash his hands,

He realized that this is no regular person,

That he is in the presence of a saint,

So he prostrated before him.

The doctor sent him away with pocket money enough to feed him for a couple of days,

In case of need.

Narhim Sa'aya,

Who was watching all this,

Was unable to make anything of it.

The doctor turned to him and said,

Come on,

Let us take our food now.

What could poor Narhim Sa'aya do?

He had prepared food only for two.

Half of that had been given to the beggar.

You may take your food.

I shall prepare some again and eat later,

Replied Narhim Sa'aya.

Quickly came the retort,

No,

No,

It does not matter.

We shall share what there is between us.

What does it matter if we have to take half the usual quantity one day?

Hunger is the same in every person.

By giving it to the beggar,

We have appeased hunger.

Whether it is his or ours,

It is all the same.

So inspiring,

Isn't it?

So not only he fed the beggar,

Not only he poured water over him,

But he taught Narhim Sa'aya a lesson in self-sacrifice.

How we should give,

And every one of us,

How we should give what we have,

Regardless of whether we have a lot and we can spare or we have just a little and we can just give a bite.

Whatever we have,

We should share as a self-sacrifice because it is the act of giving generously that is freely giving,

Freely giving without expectations that is the true generosity.

And saying that hunger is the same in everyone shows the recognition that it doesn't matter that he as a doctor is rich or anyone else who is rich.

It doesn't matter if someone on the street who has no money at all.

It doesn't matter if you are making just enough to pay the bills and feed your family.

Hunger appears to everyone.

Hunger is in everyone.

And whether you're rich or a beggar,

Everyone is hungry.

Everyone needs food.

And this is another manifestation of his deep understanding of the quality of generosity,

Of deep understanding and manifestation of treating others equally,

Understanding that we're all the same.

Whether you have had the blessing of not worrying about your food or whether you have had the karma of not being able to provide your own food,

It is all the same people who are manifestations of the divine.

Swami Sivananda continues to share further insights in the quality of the generosity.

He writes,

Generosity is a disposition to give liberally or to bestow favors heartily.

It is the act or practice of giving freely and kindly.

It is beneficence.

Or munificence.

It is beneficence or munificence.

A generous man has a large or magnanimous heart.

His charity is overflowing.

Here Swami Sivananda shares that the act of generosity,

The practice of generosity is not only giving material things like food or money or blankets or clothing.

It is also the act of treating others kindly.

It is the act of smiling to others.

It is the act of doing favors to those who are in need.

It is another story that and not just giving giving and another story illustrates the essence of that nature of generosity that you're giving freely with your heartily.

Like you're giving heartily.

And when you give,

You make sure that the other person is taken care of by what you're giving them.

Narahimsa Iyer recollects another incident similar to the above.

A beggar came to the doctor's bungalow and prayed for a few coppers to buy food for a few pennies.

After ascertaining from Narahimsa Iyer that food would not be ready soon the doctor went to the door and asked How much have you to pay for a meal?

The beggar casually replied 30 cents,

Sir.

This was over a hundred years ago probably.

Or this was about a hundred years ago in Malaysia.

So this was about a hundred years ago and 30 cents was a lot of money.

The beggar casually replied 30 cents,

Sir.

The big hand at once dived into the coat pocket and brought out a 50 cent piece.

Here you are.

Take this and have a good meal.

Is that enough?

The beggar was wonderstruck.

He rarely got such treatment.

His lot had always been kicks and abuse.

Here was one who would give a lot of money and would further ask him Is that enough?

Seeing him stand dumbfound the doctor repeated his question jingling his pocket all the time as if impatient at the man not asking for more.

Out came another 50 cent piece.

Here,

Take this.

Don't hesitate to come to me again if the money is insufficient for the meal.

Incredible,

Right?

Not just giving to the beggar but also making sure that whatever he gives will be enough to take care of him or it will be enough to buy a meal.

It is so incredible that when you give here is another quality when you give another advice that Swami Sivananda embodies when you give you make sure that you treat the other person as if they are your family member they are your friend they are your brother,

Your sister you treat them when you give you really care you give them because you really care not just because you want to be generous because you want to be a giver no,

You give because you truly care for their well-being.

Swami Sivananda shares another teaching which could be a little challenging to understand and practice.

He says,

One is generous by kindness of heart that will rejoice in the welfare rather than the punishment of the offender.

So here is a bit of a challenging teaching to understand and to practice.

Swami Sivananda is telling us to be generous and kind to those who have hurt us to those who have offended us to those who have insulted us and God forbid that this is physical or emotional abuse and offense but it does happen so he is guiding us to be kind and generous in our thoughts to them to be kind and giving in our well-wishing to be truly generous to them in our prayers because we are all humans and we sometimes ourselves may have done acts to hurt others we may not realize it we may not be aware of the fact that we have hurt them that we have offended them because we don't know the background that that person has experienced that all the situations and experiences that that other person may have gone through so our words may be perfectly innocent to us who have not experienced it but to them who have gone through some suffering that our words or our acts may cause some pain and some suffering so whatever we do we must be very careful and very courteous in our words and actions because the law of Dharma the law of order in this world is that we will reap whatever we sow whatever we plant we will reap and whether you believe in incarnations or not it is true that even within this life we may reap the benefits of our actions and whether we have realized it or not so we got to be very careful and don't go into the negative downward spiral of like thinking of like oh what have I done in the past just think from now on I will be planting thoughts of positive thinking of wishing others well-being of thoughts of kindness and generosity and from now on take the resolution that will do the best that you can to be kind and loving and generous to others that way you cannot change the past but that way you will be able to plant seeds of good thoughts and intentions and actions and words that will further grow and come back to you and you will be reaping your positive benefit so with these inspiring teachings let us contemplate and meditate on one specific thought or idea that resonated with you let's sit comfortably with our spine up straight let our hands be open up towards the sky right on the top of the left one close your eyes if you feel comfortable and contemplate on an idea a guidance,

A thought a practice that specifically resonates with you today noticing your breath how it expands your abdomen and chest as you inhale and noticing how the abdomen and the chest relax as you exhale fix your gaze in your third eye or in your heart area and think of the idea that resonated with you the most perhaps it was giving with care and making sure that the other person is well taken care of perhaps it is the sacrifice nature,

The self-sacrifice perhaps it is the self-sacrifice aspect of generosity or perhaps it is in the fact that generosity is expressed in our behaviors and in our kind words and kind thoughts not just in giving material things or perhaps the true generosity is not only forgiving those that hurt us but being kind and loving to them and wishing them well being generous with our prayers understanding that it's not an easy practice yet the more that we practice the more skillful we'll become at it imagine that this generosity is a rose in your hands and you take this rose and you plant it in the garden of your heart you nurture it with your thoughts and you water it with your actions you see it growing and becoming this beautiful rose bush mentally say to yourself I am perfectly generous as this rose is perfectly beautiful I am perfectly generous as this rose is perfectly beautiful I am embodiment of generosity I will share liberal with others I am liberal in my gifts to others whether they are material gifts whether they are kind words or smiles or whether they are prayers and thoughts of well-wishing I am liberal in my gifts to others believe it to be true see yourself manifesting it throughout the day notice how your heart gets filled with happiness and joy notice how your heart expands and it's filled also with sympathy and empathy towards others and yourself you become more open,

More kind practicing generosity makes you more noble and bountiful it gladdens your heart relish in this experience bring it to your day bring it to your interactions with others we'll close our meditation with the firm resolve repeat mentally to yourself a few times my munificence has no bounds repeat it with determination my munificence has no bounds I will smile kindly to everyone today I will smile kindly to everyone today I will be generous with my well-wishing as you feel comfortable,

Open your eyes if they were closed remember the subtle aspects of generosity and practice them throughout your day remember to reflect on the situations and the opportunities that you took to be generous and the situations and opportunities that you missed and how you can improve tomorrow at the end of the day in your diary write it down or just mentally recall recognize your growth may we all be a true embodiment of generosity as Swami Sivananda was have a blessed rest of your day om namo narayanaya