Question 3:

What role should charity play in the life of a sannyasin?

 

 

The question is not from a sannyasin - it is from Philip Martin. The first thing, Philip Martin, become a sannyasin. You should not ask questions about others; that is not gentlemanly.

 

You should ask questions about yourself. Be a sannyasin and then ask. But the question is meaningful so I am going to answer it anyway. And I have the feeling that sooner or later Philip Martin will be a sannyasin. Even the question shows some leaning.

 

First thing: all the religions of the world have emphasized charity - DHAN - too much. And the reason is that man has always felt guilty with money. Charity has been preached so much to help man feel a little less guilty. You will be surprised: in old English there is a word'gilt' - g-i-l-t - which means money. In German there is a word'Geld' - g-e-l-d - which means money. And the gold is very close by!'Gilt','guilt','Geld','gold' somehow deep down a great guilt is involved in money.

 

Whenever you have money you feel guilty... and it is natural because so many people don't have money. How can you avoid guilt? Whenever you have money you know somebody has become poorer because of you. Whenever you have money, you know somewhere somebody will be starving - and your bank balance goes on becoming bigger and bigger. Some child will not get the medicine needed to survive. Some woman will not get the medicine; some poor man will die because he will not have food. How can you avoid these things? They will be there. The more money you have, the more these things will be there erupting in your consciousness; you will feel guilty.

 

Charity is to unburden you from your guilt, so you say, "I am doing something: I going to open a hospital, going to open a college. I give money to this charity fund, to that trust...." You feel a little happier. The world has lived in poverty, the world has lived in scarcity, ninety-nine percent of people have lived a poor life, almost starving and dying, and only one percent of people have lived with richness, with money - they have always felt guilty. To help them, the religions developed the idea of charity. It is to rid them of their guilt.

 

So the first thing I would like to say is: Charity is not a virtue; it is just a help to keep your sanity intact, otherwise you will go insane. Charity is not a virtue - it is not a PUNYA. It is not that you have done something good when you do charity. It is only that you repent for all the bad that you have done in accumulating the money. To me, charity is not a great quality - it is repentance, you are repenting. One hundred rupees you have earned, ten rupees you give in charity - it is a repentance.

 

You feel a little good; you don't feel THAT bad; your ego feels a little more protected. You can say to God, "Not only was I exploiting, I was also helping poor people." But what type of help is this? On one hand you snatch one hundred rupees, and on the other hand you give ten rupees - not even the interest!

 

This is a trick that was invented by the so-called religious people to help NOT THE POOR BUT THE RICH. Let it be absolutely clear: this is MY attitude - it has been a trick to help the rich not the poor.

 

If the poor were helped, that was just a consequence of it, a by-product, but that was not the goal of it.

 

What do I say to my sannyasins?

 

I don't talk about charity. That word seems ugly to me. I talk about sharing - and with a totally different quality in it: sharing. If you have, you share. Not because by sharing you will be helping others, no, but by sharing you will be growing. The more you share, the more you grow.

 

And the more you share, the more you have - whatsoever it is. It is not only a question of money.

 

If you have knowledge, share it. If you have meditation, share it! If you have love, share it.

 

WHATSOEVER you have, share it, spread it all over; let it spread like the fragrance of a flower going to the winds. It has nothing to do particularly with poor people. Share with anybody that is available... and there are different types of poor people.

 

A rich man may be poor because he has never known any love. Share love with him. A poor man may have known love but has not known good food - share food with him. A rich man may have everything and has no understanding - share your understanding with him; he is also poor. There are a thousand and one types of poverty. Whatsoever you have, share it.

 

But remember, I am not saying this is a virtue and God is going to give you a special place in heaven, that you will be specially treated, that you will be thought a VIP - no. By sharing herenow you will be happier. A hoarder is never a happy man. A hoarder is basically constipated. He goes on hoarding; he cannot relax; he cannot give. He goes on hoarding; whatsoever he gets, he simply hoards it. He never enjoys it, because even in enjoying it you have to share it - because all enjoyment is a sort of sharing.

 

If you want to really enjoy your food, you will have to call friends. If you REALLY want to enjoy food, you will have to invite guests; otherwise you will not be able to enjoy it. If you really want to enjoy drinking, how can you enjoy it alone in your room? You will have to find friends, other drunkards.

 

You will have to share!

 

Joy is always a sharing. Joy does not exist alone.

 

How can you be happy alone? absolutely alone - think! HOW can you be happy, absolutely alone?

 

No. Joy is a relationship. It is a togetherness. In fact, even those people who have moved.to the mountains and have lived an alone life, they also share with existence - not alone. They share with the stars and the mountains and the birds and the trees - they are not alone.

 

Just think! For twelve years Mahavir was standing in the jungles alone - but he was not alone. I say to you, on authority, he was not alone. The birds were coming and playing around, and the animals would come and sit around, and the trees would shower their flowers on him, and the stars would come, and the sun would rise. And the day and the night, and summer and winter... and the whole year around... it was joy! Yes, he was away from human beings - he had to be, because human beings had done so much damage to him that he needed to be away from them so that he could be healed. It was just to avoid human beings for a certain period so they didn't go on damaging him. That's why sannyasins have moved sometimes into aloneness - just to heal their wounds.

 

Otherwise people will go on poking their knives into your wounds and they will keep them green; they will not allow you to heal, they will not give you a chance to undo what they have done.

 

For twelve years Mahavir was silent: standing, sitting, with the rocks and the trees, but he was not alone - he was crowded by the whole existence. The whole existence was merging upon him. Then the day came when he was healed, his wounds cured, and now he knew nobody could harm him.

 

He had gone beyond. No human being could hurt him any more. He came back to relate to human beings, to SHARE the joy that he had attained there.

 

Jain scriptures talk only about the fact that he left the world, they don't talk about the fact that he came back into the world; that is only half the story, that is not the full story.

 

Buddha went into the forest, but he came back. How can you go on being there when you HAVE it? You will have to come back and share it. Yes, it is good to share with trees, but trees cannot understand that much. They are very dumb. It is good to share with animals; they are beautiful - but the beauty of a human dialogue, it is impossible to find anywhere else. The response, the human response! They HAD to come back! to the world, to human beings, to share their joy, their bliss, their ecstasy.

 

'Charity' is not a good word. It is a very loaded word. I talk about sharing. To my sannyasins I say share. In the word'charity' there is some ugliness also: it seems that you are having the upper hand and the other is lower than you, that the other is a beggar; that you are helping the other, that he is in need. That is not good. To look at the other as if he is lower than you - you have and he has not - is not good; it is inhuman.

 

Sharing gives a totally different perspective. It is not a question of whether the other has it or not.

 

The question is that you have got it too much - you have to share. When you give charity, you expect the other to thank you. When you share, you thank him that he allowed you to pour your energy - which was getting too much upon you, it was getting heavy. You feel grateful.

 

Sharing is out of your abundance. Charity is for others' poverty. Sharing is out of your richness.

 

There is a qualitative difference.

 

No, I don't talk about charity, but sharing. Share! Whatsoever you have, share... and it will grow.

 

That is a fundamental law: the more you give, the more you get. Never be a miser in giving.

 

- Osho, "The Tantra Vision, Vol 1, #8"