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Thread: Why not tell the truth right away?

  1. #1
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    Why not tell the truth right away?

    Namaste members,

    I did not know which section to start this thread but I thought may be Hot Topic should be fine.

    A few year ago I had gone to a temple in India which is run by a well known organization.

    Temple was simply superb no doubt.

    Then I felt a slight let down.

    I was approached to make a donation for a school meal project which I gladly agreed.

    Then the person who asked me to sign up for the project donation who was a monk actually told me this "Madam can you see the electric sign board there? If you donate a good amount your name will be displayed there for everyone to see..right now the donors of the day names are on display"

    For a moment I was shocked..because here I have a monk who belongs to a sect that hold Lord Krishna as their supreme and he was actually tempting me to donate with a motive. They had a minimum amount for donation which is actually quite high for an average person in India.

    I was fine with paying even more than minimum but the thought that he was asking me to donate and telling me that my name would be displayed made me feel bad because whatever happened to "Karamanyevadhkaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadacana"(you are entitled to actions but hanker not for the fruits of it).

    I feel by tempting someone to donate so that his/her name would be displayed was actually teaching someone to donate with desires and not dedicating his/her actions to God.

    Why tempt someone and hide the truth from him/her?

    I know may be they felt by this method people will feel proud to see their names on display and donate more..but it at the same time isnt it the duty of a monk to explain what a true donation should be?

    I did donate a good amount and asked the monk "Whatever happened to Karamanyevadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadacana? Instead of putting names of donors..display that verse from the Geeta"

    He did not reply me.

    This is where I sometimes disagree with some Hindu practices..why hide the truth and the masses never get educated in the right direction.

    I hope the answer would not be "Not all are ready for the Truth!"LOL

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    Re: Why not tell the truth right away?

    Namaste Renuka ji,

    It is very difficult, even for a bhakta, to renounce the desire for personal gratification. Once 2 great devotees of Sri Krishna, one a poet and another a king both wrote great works glorifying Sri Krishna. When their works were placed in the altar before Sri Krishna, the next morning, the poet's work was on top. Sri Krishna later spoke and said that he chose the poet's work because although the king was a very great devotee without a doubt, the feeling of 'I am a KING' still could be found in his work whereas the devotee's work was full of humility. So we see desires and ego present themselves in various forms throughout every common man, even if he is a great devotee. One famous Vaishnava scholar advices everyone to renounce sensory enjoyment even of normal kind such as watching dance or drama. Everything influences us and dance/drama, the characters protrayed in them, their acceptance, etc, surely will influence us. Even Soupari, the great rishi, couldn't resist being caught in samsara and married 50 women taking 50 forms and lost great part of his yogic power. So each one of us gets stimulated by desires and they manifest even if one is a good bhakta!
    jai hanuman gyan gun sagar jai kapis tihu lok ujagar

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    Re: Why not tell the truth right away?

    Vannakkam Renuka:

    It varies from temple to temple and I'm fine with either. Some temples have donor plaques sitting predominantly in foyers, with amounts listed. Others have nothing at all like that. I know one temple that is named after the major donor. Another one I know reads out the donations aloud each Sunday. Frankly, if the person gives a million dollars to help his community, the fact that his name is attached is irrelevant (to me). With most temples, they will allow for 'anonymous', so you could have just requested that. It's unfortunate in the description you provided that he just jumped to that conclusion. That's one great value about hundis.

    Aum Namasivaya

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    Re: Why not tell the truth right away?

    hari o
    ~~~~~~
    namaste

    Quote Originally Posted by renuka View Post
    ... whatever happened to "Karamanyevadhkaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadacana"(you are entitled to actions but hanker not for the fruits of it).

    This is where I sometimes disagree with some Hindu practices...
    If I may , I'd like to offer two ideas for the reader...

    One is this offer from chapter 2 of the bhāgavad gītā
    "Karamanyevadhkaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadacana"(you are entitled to actions but hanker not for the fruits of it).
    The knowledge that is offered by kṛṣṇa-jī is quite profound; we have talked about this on many occasions here on HDF. I think the reader may be well served by taking a look at this śloka in a different light. These HDF posts may be of interest:

    http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/sho...2&postcount=15
    http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/sho...hlight=phalesu
    http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/sho...hlight=phalesu

    Regarding this notion
    This is where I sometimes disagree with some Hindu practices

    I look at this slightly differently.... I see ~ human~ practices offered by a hindu and not the other way around. You may argue ( rightly so) that you expect more from the purohita (priest) ; a higher offer verses an enticement to the ego. I respect your higher standard.
    Yet at the end of the day priests are not beyond the field of ignorance. They too can be caught ( just as we are) within this field of duality. Should they know better ? This is only answered by 'we expect more then this general ego-driven behavior'.


    iti śiva
    Last edited by yajvan; 25 July 2014 at 06:51 AM.
    यतस्त्वं शिवसमोऽसि
    yatastvaṁ śivasamo'si
    because you are identical with śiva

    _

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    Re: Why not tell the truth right away?

    Dear Members,

    I agree with each and everyone of your response but since it was a monk(sanyasin) who was dealing with the donation part I really expected him to impart selfless knowledge to donors.

    I have no problems helping out and can totally understand their need for money because they are carrying out a major task of feeding school kids..so that is indeed a noble task.

    But by tempting people to make a donation in Rajasic mode..its just seemed to me that their main aim was to get as much as donors as possible without the need to guide donors to the path of a Sattva mode of donating.

    Lord Krishna was pretty clear about the 3 modes of donating/giving gifts/sacrifice etc.

    So if it was a monk dealing with this..he should have imparted knowledge about Sattva Mode of donating.

    No doubt I understand that the general mindset of people who think every act of donation should come with Punya but for how long can anyone remain in this mindset? Shouldnt people move on?

    They can only move on if they make an effort to know and sanyasins too can guide them.

    But it just seems that money seems to be the motive of everyone these days.

    I feel its not right to get money even for a good cause if we are not imparting the right knowledge.

    Rajasic and Tamasic mode of donation is done due to desire and ignorance respectively..but if a Sanyasin too encourages Rajasic mode..what can be the fate of the common man?

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    Re: Why not tell the truth right away?

    Namaste Renuka Ji,

    In these situations , my sympathies are with the priest/pundit/monk.

    Unfortunately these are the people who are not in power. Usually they struggle to meet their ends , but they are put in this position either by temple management or out of their zeal.

    More often than not, it is difficult for them to ask.

    People who donate money have different motives - some do it for ego (name display in your example) , some to bribe (good graces of god - happens in Tirupathi a lot) , some do it without any expectation (like you in this case) , some cant donate due to their situation and some do not donate no matter what. But the pundit has no way to know which category a person falls into.

    When a monk/priest approaches people, he simply appeals to his target hoping that he hit the mark. Remember - he is trained as a purohit and not as a fund raiser. He may be in that situation without his willingness.

    I won't judge his motives or methods.

    If I am unable to donate or I don’t want to be gamed , I simply smile and tell the priest 'not today' ,'some other time' or 'I have already donated' with a nice demeanor - hoping that my rejection doesn’t make him feel that bad.

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