Posted on: 22 Feb 2024
[A question by Ms. Thrylokya]
Swami replied:- Ms. Thrylokya! What happened to you? Recently, you are raising this topic often.
Liberal spending is different from unnecessary spending. The soul commonly errs to distinguish between these two due to the predominance of Rajas and Tamas, provoking pomp and show. It is better to give Guru Dakshina in the form of money to Sadguru, allowing Him to spend. He will spend in the most proper way since He distinguishes these two properly. You should never present Guru Dakshina to Sadguru in the form of material because you don’t know which material is needed in the house of Sadguru. You need not worry that Sadguru may waste money in vices because He has sufficient knowledge in proper utilization of funds. If you give money to a poor beggar, he may misuse the funds since most of them are addicted to vices. You must always donate material to a poor beggar so that the beggar will use it properly.
While giving Guru Dakshina to Sadguru, you must give it with full theoretical devotion (respect, shyness etc.) because Sadguru, the contemporary human incarnation is not in need of your offering. In fact, He has given everything to you. Guru Dakshina is only the proof of your theoretical devotion to prove that you are not greedy and to prove that you have true love towards God. If you throw one rupee coin on the face of Sadguru without theorical devotion, He will take another one-rupee coin from His pocket and add it with your coin and throw the two coins on your face! If you throw one rupee coin on the face of a beggar, he will accept it with all respect because he is in need. Sadguru knows deserving devotees and helps them without the knowledge of anybody unlike yourself, who is fond of a photo-advertisement on donating a half rupee coin! You must have full faith in Sadguru, the contemporary human incarnation of God. The sacrifice of the fruit of work (Karma Phala Tyaaga) is not related to the side of God in anyway. You blame God that He is earning through Guru Dakshina so that you can cover your greediness. It is a proof for your true love (theoretical devotion) and the burden of proof lies on your side and not on the side of God. If you blame God and cover your greediness, who loses finally? It is you, who loses finally and not God at all. You are aspiring for salvation and not God, who is already in salvation and who is the ultimate authority to give salvation to the deserving souls. Deservingness comes by practical proof.
All this may look like a scene in which people may think that rich people alone have the opportunity of success in practical devotion, which is utterly wrong. The reason is that the magnitude of the donated amount is not considered by God, since only the percentage of the donated item in the total possessed wealth of the donor is considered by God. This means that if a poor beggar having only one coin donates that one coin to God, his sacrifice is 100%. If a rich man having hundred coins donates ten coins, his scarifies is 10% only. Hence, only poor people have always succeeded in practical devotion. A devotee comes to Sadguru and hears a mountain of spiritual knowledge with lot of attention and does not takeout even an atom from the mountain of money present in his pocket! A devotee named Buute came to Shri Shirdi Sai Baba to hear spiritual knowledge from Him. Baba was asking everybody just for five rupees. Buute was having one hundred currency notes of five-rupee denomination in his pocket and couldn’t take out just one note of five-rupee denomination to sacrifice to Baba. The love of Buute to Sadguru Sai Baba was only theoretical and even a trace of practical devotion was absent. Here, you have to blame Buute and not Sai Baba, criticizing Him as a collector of money from devotees.