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| | | Book Name: Sufis - The People of the Path, Vol 1 | Previous Next | |
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it is not charity. Charity is when you give and you feel obliged that the other has taken it; when you give with no idea that you are obliging anybody in any way; when you give because you have too much -- what else can you do? It is not that the other needs. Charity is when you give out of your affluence, when you give out of your abundance. It is not that the other is needy and you are helping the other; the other is not the question at all. You give because you have -- what else can you do? The flower has bloomed and the fragrance spreads to the winds -- what else can the flower do? The lamp has been lighted and it shares its light, it spreads its light. The cloud is full of water and it showers -- what else can it do?
When you do out of your abundance only then is there charity. And then you don't bother who is worthy of receiving it -- that is not the point at all.
You must have read the beautiful parable of Jesus. Jesus is incomparable as far as parables go. A man, a rich man, called a few labourers to work in his garden. By the afternoon it was felt that they were not enough, that the work would not be completed by the evening. So a few more labourers were called. But by the evening it was felt that even those were not enough so a few more labourers were called.
At sunset the rich man gave them money for all that they had done. But he gave them all alike: those who had come in the morning received the same and those who had come in the afternoon they also received the same and those who had come just when the sun was setting they also received the same. Naturally, the labourers who had come in the morning were angry. They protested. And they said, 'This is unjust. We came in the morning, we did the whole day's work and we received the same award. And these people have just come and they have not done a thing and they are also receiving the same. This is unjust.'
The master laughed and he said, 'Whatsoever you have received is not enough for the work you have done?' They said, 'That is enough. But what about these people who have not done anything and who have also received?' And the master said, 'I give to them out of my abundance.
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