| Discourses On Gita By Acharya Vinoba Bhave |
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| Discourses On Gita |
| ANOTHER SUPPLEMENT : PROGRAMME FOR THE SEEKER |
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is not altruism. We are, from the beginning, debtors. We are born
into the world with a load of debt on our heads. Whatever we do to
discharge this debt is yajna or service, not altruism. By
this service we must discharge our debt. At every step we use the
order of creation. Therefore, we have to do yajna to
replenish loss, to purify things and to create new things.
5. The second order is our human society. Father, mother, teacher, friend, all these toil for our sake. "Dana," the rite of giving, was instituted in order to discharge this debt to society. This, and not doing good to others, is its meaning. I have received for society boundless service. When I came into this world, I was weak and helpless. This society brought me up so that I, then so little, have grown so big. Therefore, in my turn should serve society. "Doing good" is serving someone from whom we have received no service. But in this case we have already received everything from society. The service that we render to free ourselves from this debt to society, is dana. To help human society to progress is dana. The effort made to replenish Nature's loss is yajna; the help given through body, mind, substance and other means to discharge the debt to society is dana.
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