Generosity is also a purifying quality. It encourages you to share the bounty of life, which you have been blessed to receive. Generosity is not limited to giving money or things money can buy. It also includes giving encouraging words, support in difficult times, doing whatever is needed to alleviate the suffering of others; making the world a better place of everyone; helping the rejuvenation of nature and all living beings.
However, in day-to-day life, the way you can express your generosity is by avoiding hurtful language, by being courteous and kind in your communications and giving appreciation whenever it is deserved.
Indian tradition requires us to give food to the hungry, support to the needfy and opportunities to the deserving. Follow these principles as far as you can and you will find that you are doing charity truly to yourself. Each time you give part of what you have earned by way of money, comfort, sustenance, knowledge and courage, you multiply your own wealth – both terrestrial and spiritual. Giving is a holy act, which originates in the divine. Divinity gives your all blessings free, without you making any effort or contribution to earn them. When you have received so much from divinity, nature, people and the environment around you, it is your duty to return whatever you can back to life. The famous Dhauli rock edict of Emperor Ashoka, whom historians describes as ‘one of the greatest men to ever have walked on this earth’, spells out a simple four way path to moksha.
This pat lists the following four rules for achieving salvation:
1. Respect all life. Be kind to birds and animals. Nurthure them because they have an equal right to inhabit the earth as you.
2. Respect seekers of knowledge because they are collecting rich heritage for you. Nurture them because they are the fonts of wisdom.
3. Care for and nurture your elders because they have worked hard to make your life fulfilling and rich.
4. Give back to nature what you have taken from it so that it can continue to give to future generations.
This famous edict was created after Emperor Ashok regretted the abominable bloodshed which he caused in the Kalinga war in 236 BC and accepted Buddhism as his creed. The edict stands in Dhauli near Bhubaneshwar, Orissa. It is truly secular in spirit and gives us a simple way of living a successful and happy life. The Dhauli edict is one of over thirty surviving rock inscriptions left behind by Ashoka and all of them decree that peace and non-violence are the everlasting strategies for a king who wishes to bring the best to his subjects. As history has proved, Emperor Ashoka changed the very face of Buddhism by making it a worldwide religion from a local cult in Eastern India. Ashoka’s rock edicts are spread all over India and are a great archeological heritage of the nation today.
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