What is this strange feeling of giving, donating, or sacrificing? A boy got a ten-rupee note from his father as pocket money. He gives it to a beggar. Full of pride, he goes back to his father and explains that he donated ten rupees to a beggar. Father asks what you gave to the beggar belonged to whom? Son says that it belonged to him. When? Asks father. Son replies, "In the morning, when you gave that to me". Father told, "You just passed on what you got from someone else". He further asks his son, "Is there something that is yours and which you can donate?"
Do we have something that is our own, and which does not belong to anybody else? We have acquired this body in the womb of our mother from her. We have acquired whatever knowledge we have from our parents, schools, and society. We have acquired money from the organisation we work for. We have learnt different skills by observing the people we interact with. What belongs to us? Nothing. Then how can we give something to others? Giving is probably the biggest of myths. Karna is said to be the biggest of donors who will donate even his Kavach and Kundalas to Indra. But even these Kavacha and Kundala were given to him by his father, Sun.
Ego creates divisions. A divisive mind is full of "Asakti". It gets attached to whatever it gets in the course of life. A divisionless mind neither gives anything nor takes. When there is no division, there is no question of "me" and the "other", and there is no question of "giving" or "taking". Two departments of the same company do not give and take. The sales department can't say that it is giving money to the production department because the sales department can't sell unless it production department produces the goods that it can sell. Similarly, lungs can't claim that they give oxygen to the heart because it is the heart that supplies blood to the lungs so that the lungs can function. The whole of the body functions as a whole, and there is no giving or taking.
When we lose awareness of the larger reality, we get confined to a part of the reality. That makes us feel like a giver or a taker. Either we get pride or guilt. Pride of giving and guilt of taking. However, when we realise that we are just a cell working in the body, there is no question of pride or guilt. We neither give nor take. There is no question of accumulation. Accumulation for whom? Accumulation is cancerous. We do the task that we are meant to work on. Heart cells will pump the blood, and lung cells will absorb oxygen. There is nothing like "good" or "bad". There is no gradation of the tasks. Every task is equally important to make the body run. The cells of our immune system have to fight like Arjuna, and at times, they have to fight against the cells of our own body. That's a part and parcel of their role.
No cell of the body can "give" anything to another cell of the body. No cell of the body can "take" anything from another cell of the body. Every cell is working constantly to keep the body working. Similarly, life on this Earth works in harmony. Trees are working constantly to supply oxygen to us, but they do not wear the label of "donor" on their trunks. Otherwise, we will have to thank every tree we pass by. Each parent takes care of the children, but they do not feel like givers. The concept of giving and taking exists when we have a strong identification with the sense of separation or ego. Otherwise, we are just different cells of a body playing our respective roles. Our identity continues till the body is alive. Some cells forget reality and become "selfish". They lose awareness of the larger purpose and turn cancerous. They start growing bigger and bigger, harming healthy body cells. Our immunity has to eat them away to keep the body alive. Healthy cells work with an awareness of being one, and that awareness naturally brings love and compassion.
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