I often think about charitable giving. Giving, not as an act of generosity alone, but that which rises above the need to fulfill a moral incentive to an act of promoting fairness. Most of us would like the world to be fair, and know that it is not, and this makes thoughtful giving important.
The appropriateness of the act of giving can be viewed from the standpoint of the giver as well as the recipient. From the perspective of the giver, the essence of thoughtful giving is summarized well in a verse from the Upanishads:
"Shraddheya deyam (Give with faith)
Ashraddheya adeyam (Otherwise do not give)
Shriya deyam (Give generously)
Bhiya deyam (Give with fear)
Hriya deyam (Give with humility)
Samvida deyam (Give with the knowledge of the purpose of your gift)."
On the other hand, from the receiver's perspective, the purpose of a gift is that it should improve the receiver's condition. It is too easy to make a gift that helps someone in the short term while hurting the receiver's prospects in the long run. As the old saying goes:
"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."
Unfortunately, if we give a person a fish a few times, that person will develop an expectation of receiving fish, even making it harder to teach that person to fish.
In other words, the existence of need, while necessary, sometimes isn't sufficient to warrant generosity. Only in certain conditions is a need a deserving need. One of the clearest examples of deserving need arises out of birth inequality - children born in circumstances where they cannot be raised are beyond doubt both needy and deserving.
Birth inequality reminds me of Parivaar - an organization whose progress I have been following for several years. The founder of Parivaar made an unusual choice in life - he graduated from a top engineering school, then did an MBA from a top management school, and then deviated from the paths of most of his peers by founding Parivaar on a shoestring budget. I quote from Parivaar's website: "... children admitted into Parivaar are orphans, street kids, children with critically-ill parents and no other family support, and children from other vulnerable backgrounds, including single-parent households, kids from areas where exploitation and victimization, especially of girls, is common, and kids from highly impoverished rural and tribal areas where starvation and malnutrition are rampant, and where daily income per family is less than 1$."
The above is a clear example of 'deserving need', but I think this particular organization goes father than that. Unlike a lot of initiatives that provide food, education or healthcare, which are no-doubt valuable, Parivaar takes total responsibility for a child's upbringing - an excellent example of Samvida deyam - giving with cognizance of the gift's ultimate purpose.
The appropriateness of the act of giving can be viewed from the standpoint of the giver as well as the recipient. From the perspective of the giver, the essence of thoughtful giving is summarized well in a verse from the Upanishads:
"Shraddheya deyam (Give with faith)
Ashraddheya adeyam (Otherwise do not give)
Shriya deyam (Give generously)
Bhiya deyam (Give with fear)
Hriya deyam (Give with humility)
Samvida deyam (Give with the knowledge of the purpose of your gift)."
On the other hand, from the receiver's perspective, the purpose of a gift is that it should improve the receiver's condition. It is too easy to make a gift that helps someone in the short term while hurting the receiver's prospects in the long run. As the old saying goes:
"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."
Unfortunately, if we give a person a fish a few times, that person will develop an expectation of receiving fish, even making it harder to teach that person to fish.
In other words, the existence of need, while necessary, sometimes isn't sufficient to warrant generosity. Only in certain conditions is a need a deserving need. One of the clearest examples of deserving need arises out of birth inequality - children born in circumstances where they cannot be raised are beyond doubt both needy and deserving.
Birth inequality reminds me of Parivaar - an organization whose progress I have been following for several years. The founder of Parivaar made an unusual choice in life - he graduated from a top engineering school, then did an MBA from a top management school, and then deviated from the paths of most of his peers by founding Parivaar on a shoestring budget. I quote from Parivaar's website: "... children admitted into Parivaar are orphans, street kids, children with critically-ill parents and no other family support, and children from other vulnerable backgrounds, including single-parent households, kids from areas where exploitation and victimization, especially of girls, is common, and kids from highly impoverished rural and tribal areas where starvation and malnutrition are rampant, and where daily income per family is less than 1$."
The above is a clear example of 'deserving need', but I think this particular organization goes father than that. Unlike a lot of initiatives that provide food, education or healthcare, which are no-doubt valuable, Parivaar takes total responsibility for a child's upbringing - an excellent example of Samvida deyam - giving with cognizance of the gift's ultimate purpose.
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