Pran Rangan: Give Joyfully

"Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (Luke 6:38). We live in a highly materialistic society with myriads of temptations to hoard wealth and things, which have become a status symbol. We compete with each other to maintain as high a materialistic status as possible. We are consumed by selfish consumerism. If we fail to do so, we feel miserable and if we can do it, it is at the cost of our health and happiness. We are so busy in accumulating things that giving away something to someone doesn’t come to our mind. We recoil at the thought of giving away as our desire to hoard is very powerful. But giving is joyful if we give something without expectation of any return. Not only is it joyful but it brings abundance to the giver. The law of giving- The Law of Giving states that which you give, you receive, and that the more you give, the more you receive. Whatever you want, you have to give it first. The corollary to the principle of giving and receiving is that we give only to ourselves. As we are all One, when we give to another, we are really giving to ourselves. By giving something away first, you are opening up the channels between you and the universe for you to receive more. The more you give away, the wider the channel you have created, therefore the more you will be able to receive in return. Giving and receiving always occur in balance. It is as important to receive gratefully as it is to give voluntarily, generously, and with no expectations. Giving gives pleasure- It has been documented that volunteering keeps the mood of the volunteer elevated for some hours. This phenomenon is dubbed "the helper's high". It is based on the theory that giving produces endorphins in the brain that provide a mild version of morphine high. It has been found that the same area of the brain that is activated in response to pleasure lights up when the participants in the study thought about giving money to a charity. Giving is mutually beneficial- Altruism toward our fellow human beings simultaneously serves us. It is a mutually healing. Dalai Lama has rightly commented that true happiness comes from a sense of peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved through the cultivation of altruism, of love and compassion... Many believe that by helping and serving others, we help ourselves in the process. This is illustrated by a story of Mahatma Gandhi who when settled in a village immediately began to serve the needs of its people. When a friend inquired if his reasons for serving the poor were purely humanitarian, Gandhi answered, "Not at al. Rather," he said, "I am here to serve myself only, to find my own self-realization through the service of others." Many ways of giving- Apart from giving money and things, there are many ways we can help. We can help by holding the elevator, dropping a coin into a homeless person’s hand, or pitching in to help with a loved one’s chore. We can give heartfelt “thank you,” or even a letter letting someone know how much he or she helped. We can smile and say- God bless you- if someone cares for us. We can be more courteous in our daily life. Two areas where many of us can be stingiest are blessings and forgiveness. If we want to have blessings and forgiveness of others and the God, we should give generously blessings and forgiveness to others. Such spiritual generosity must be extended to all things, not just other human beings.