Is donating to Krishna and His service necessary since Krishna is Self Sufficient?
A male devotee who requested anonymity asked like this:
“Hare krishna prabhuji please don’t open up my name Iam a professional and a devotee as well. Every month i spare a fixed amount of my salary for donation in temple and I have been doing so since last few months. But recently I came across a statement that said lord is self sufficient we don’t have to spare pennies for him as he is the provider of all the wealth and he is the one who controls the flow of wealth. Its just like we are enriched with limited wealth but god has unlimited wealth infact the one we have also belongs to him but I make false vows that I have spared this much amount for rendering service for lord. Kindly get me out of this query. Thank you Hare Krishna.”
REPLY:
You have understood the statement wrongly.
Yes… Lord is the owner of everything we see everywhere. All spiritual as well as material creations have been created and owned by Him. And, He has all the wealth 100%, ie, totally. So, we need not give anything THINKING THAT LORD NEEDS IT.
I have seen boys and girls praying to Ganapathi: “Ganesh ji… If you finish my love into marriage, I will break 108 coconuts in front of you and offer special pujas”
They pray to Krishna in the form of Tirumala Tirupathi Balaji : “Govinda. If you clear my loan and give profit , I will donate 10 % of my profit for you.”
Thus, there are many who make business deals with gods.
How to see that?
(1) One should donate to the service to Krishna or His temple with this mindset: “Lord Krishna is mercifully blessing us in this temple or through this service. The devoteees are maintaining very nice temples or forums and thousands of devotees get benefited every day. So, the management may need money to manage boarding, lodging, prasadam, staff, pujas, etc. Lord has given us human birth and has given GOOD KNOWLEDGE for us to work and earn. Let me work hard, earn well and donate a small part of it for the service of Krishna. I do not have any expectation from Krishna because He has already given this human birth and good brain and health for me. It is my DUTY to support the temple or service to manage flooding devotees and the expenses. “Devotee seva” is the best seva. Though I am unable to serve directly, let me donate a small amount that will help the management to help the coming devotees that means that I am indirectly taking part in their services.”
If you donate with this mindset, it is the right donation.
(2) Managing a temple or a devotional service is not easy now a days. They need money to manage. They have to pay for the workers, cost of building, transport, food/ prasadam, electricity, Puja items like flower, ghee, oil, etc, etc. Thus, they have more expenses. So, it is good to donate to the temples and devotional services. There are liquor shops, clubs, Dance parties, Cinema halls, etc that are getting plenty of revenue unlimitedly. But, when we talk about temples and services to the Lord, we hesitate to help because we do not get anything IN RETURN immediately. This is not a right approach.
(3) Though I support the temples without any crooked thoughts, I am following this procedure: I usually donate small amount to the temples that has sufficient or more revenues already. I donate more for the temples that are struggling for running because of poor patronage or nature of locality. This will help the poor temples improve like other temples. I also support genuine preaching services out of my earning.
(4) And, it is also a good practice to donate as goods like rice, wheat, oil, Ghee, vegetables, Building materials like cement, sand, stones, etc because the chances for mismanagement will come down. Just go and check which materials are DEFICIENT in the temple and is most wanted one, and then go to the shop, purchase that material and donate it. By checking for the non availability in temple, we can avoid dumping of same material beyond needs. For example, if all devotees donate only Ghee to the temple, what will they do for getting other materials and how can they use the plenty of excess ghee? So, check the needs of temples and then donate it as CASH or KIND.
(5) It is good to donate through Bank, Cards, Wallets, Apps, etc to the temples or genuine services to Krishna because they will be included in the accounts of the receiver if we donate through the above sources. In case you donate directly as cash to any temple or service, get OFFICIAL RECEIPT from them.
(6) In case you find any charity trust or temple misusing the funds or using the funds in a lavish manner for unwanted reasons, stop or reduce donating them. Donate more if they lead a simple life style or use their funds properly for the service of the Lord.
There is a Ganapathi temple near my area. It is owned by Kanchi Kamakodi trust of Kancheepuram, near Chennai. There is an old brahmana who is directly managing the affairs of that small temple that has just 50-60 visitors a day. I have told them to meet me whenever he has no money to offer pujas for Ganapathi. So, he will come atleast four times in a year telling like this:
“Ji…Temple has no money to perform Tommorrow’s pujas. So, if you can, please help us.”
I would ask: “How much you need Ji?”
He is a GENUINE BRAHMANA. He can ask even Rs.1000. Because I only had told him to contact me for any difficulty in offering pujas for Ganapathi. Do you know what he would ask me?
“Ji…I can purchase 200 gms of nuts for making prasadam that costs Rs.20. Then, oil for lamp Rs.10. Flower Rs.20. And, the Dakshina for Pujari Rs.30. Totalling Rs.80. This is enough for tommorrow. You just pay Rs.50. I will manage Rs.30 from somewhere.”
See how genuine he is. He has realized the value of every rupee donated by the people. I asked him:
“Are you managing a day’s temple pujas just with Rs.80 daily?”
He told: “If I get more money, I will keep something for next day’s puja. Unless we follow simplicity, we will have to ask for plenty of donations from people. So, they may hesitate to donate more. So, I get donation for only what the temple needs. So, all the people HAPPILY donate whenever I ask for seva as they know that even a single rupee is not wasted by the temple”
Hearing such words form that brahmana, I would feel that it is the genuine request. So, I usually give double the amount he asks from me and I would tell him:
“Please give double the contribution for the temple Pujari today and double the prasadam for devotees today. Let Ganapathi be happy on seeing his devotees enjoy more prasadam.”
Thus, we must donate to the possible level for GENUINE seekers of donation.
If you take our preaching service here through internet, it involves heavy spending for domain names, hosting accounts, website management, updating the site with new contents every day to enlighten the devotees and above all, spending enormous time that affects the preacher’s sources of income for a basic living. If someone is sparing his time, energy and money for Krishna’s service, we should support him.
Krishna has said that those who preaches His messages to the interested people are His dear devotees. However, everyone can’t run the temples or such well planned media. Only those who is capable of preparing and propagating the contents can do that. So, though you can’t run a temple directly or unable to preach directly, you can get the blessings of Krishna by supporting the sincere devotees or temples who preach about Krishna to others. Thus, you are also becoming the partners in these services and Krishna’s mercy extended to these services is shared to you too.
Thus, if you feel a temple or preacher is doing its/ his service sincerely and is in need of resources for its development, support them TO THE POSSIBLE AND BEARABLE LEVEL. This will bring the mercy of Krishna and the reactions to your past karma will also come down by supporting the service to the Lord. Because, though He does not require anything from us, Krishna gets pleased if you support in any manner to His temple or service and He just considers your sincere desire to preach His messages.
This support can be even a small amount that is bearable to you. You need not support from the money you have kept for buying your home needs. If you have some extra money after spending for your essential needs and essential savings, you can support the service to Krishna.
If you are genuinely short of money and hence can’t support a temple through money, you can support through physical or mental service. You can take part in any services in the temple and help the management. In our preaching service, you can promote our site to others that will help them to get the knowledge about Krishna.
My Point is: Do not stop donating the temples and other services to Krishna atleast to the small level. It is also the way of expressing our Love and Gratitude towards Lord who has given us everything though He does not expect it. Every piece of money we earn is because of the mercy of Krishna. So, sparing something for His service will purify our earnings (Of course, if we are able to do it).
Let us not be misers though we have excess money to spare. We spend for our own comforts unlimitedly. Do we hesitate to spend for ourselves? Why should we hesitate to support the temples and the services to Krishna? Just imagine how the society will be if there is no temple or preachers who enlighten the people. If the temples or devotees do more service, it will do good to the society and the crimes will come down.
We are aware that Srila Prabhupada rehabilitated many addicts of liquor and many frustrated people through his service by giving Krishna and His names to them. Thus, giving Krishna to others is a kind of social service also.
As another example, our e-preaching services have prevented many suicides, saved many from disappointment, brought many people to the devotional way of life to Krishna and helped to be in touch with Krishna regularly to fight with the cruel kaliyuga. Krishna must be happy about this service. So, His mercy will be available for its supporters too.
So, support to the temples and services to the Lord to your bearable level without straining yourself. Quantum is secondary, but, the service attitude is important.
You can read THIS PAGE and act accordingly if you like to take part in this service by me.
Hope you are clear now.
TAIL PIECE:
In our culture, giving gifts in marriages and other functions is compulsory.
Do you know why?
Because, that person gives a grand feast out of his earning. If you eat and com back without giving a gift that is almost equal to the cost of food, YOU HAVE USED HIS EARNINGS FOR HAVING FOOD THERE AND HENCE YOU BECOME INDEBTED TO HIM THAT ADDS KARMA OF INDEBTEDNESS TO A PERSON.
Whevever, we visit anyone’s house, we buy and take some gifts o them. Because, we will eat something there. So, we will become indebted to him. To compensate this, we offer some gifts.
If you go to the temples, have prasadam and come back without offering something back, you become indebted to the temple and God Himself. So, you should do something back to the temple, atleast some physical or mental service though not money.
I have always recommended to BUY the books of acharyas like Srila Prabhupada and never read it free in internet. Why? We should not read something without paying anything for that work. Srila Prabhupada’s hard work is used for our own benefits. So, buy and read them. The acharya will be pleased and the forum BBT and ISKCON will grow with that sale of books. You can use the free resources as reference after buying the books. Not primarily.
Many may think why I too accept support from the readers by giving opportunities to them to do something back to this website to their possible level. Why? Because, the devotees who truly like to take part in this service should be given opportunity to compensate for the hard work of a person behind this media that they are using to gain knowledge and to be in touch with Krishna and His creations. This will relieve these kind hearted devotees from the guilt of reading the contents freely. So, if anyone is capable, he/ she may use this opportunity of helping this service or do something back to the site. Or, if you are not capable of paying, you can atleast spread the contents. If all the readers just read and go without caring the source of their knowledge, the services may face strain in the long run with the increasing costs.
Therefore, we have to review the temple or service with a balanced mind and so even a small support to them either through money or through some services. This will not go waste in the eyes of God and our own karma account.
By giving to the needy and genuine temples and services, we will not come down in life. This is sure.
Hope this has cleared your doubts.