Raising money at satsangs, pravachans, kaths, organised events, temples, making appeals for donors, ALL these activities are designed to gather money to pay for some charitable institution or another. In my humble opinion, this goes against the spirit and principles of Pushti Marg.
If your faith in God is absolute, you should have faith that “God’s will” be will be done without you having to beg for funds from others.
At no point did Shri Vallla ask anyone for any amount of money. He paid off his ancestral debt from money offered by the Emperor of VijayNagar during the Kanakabhishek, but never did he go back to him for more money. Shri Vallabh did not raise funds for creating a temple either. His initial construction was a simple hut. When Puranmal Khatri wanted to create a temple, Shri Vallabh gave him a plan for the new temple but at no point did Shri Vallabh ask anyone else to contribute to the project. Even when the project was forced to halt due to lack of funds, Shri Vallabh did not ask others to fulfil the shortage. When Puranmal had sufficient funds, he completed the construction. If Shri Vallabh wanted, he could have asked the emperor of VijayaNagar to send funds and but he did not. To “ask”, even for “charity”, was unacceptable to him.
Charity should be given or created from your own funds.
Do not ask for charity from others.
Not even for the good of others !
Don’t ask !!
If people contribute willingly to your cause, without your asking, its a
different matter.
But, DON'T ASK.
Asking others to join you in charity work can bind you with unwanted karmas and can malign you. This is more so when you ask for money rather than time or effort. Karms of the donors and where ever they have acquired their wealth from, will impact you. If you actively ask others for funds – even for charity – it will destroy your fame and devalue your financial / social standing in the eyes of others.
The incidence of Swayamantak jewel inShri Krushna’s life is an example of how dangerous it is to ask for charity from others.
Shri Krushna, acknowledged as Dwarikadhish, feted as the rescuer of Yadavas from the tyranny of Kansa, erstwhile founder of Yadav fortunes at Dwarika, architect of alliances that brought them peace – even worshiped as GOD by some – even such a grand personage was laughed at when he asked for charity for the good of others in the form of the Svayamantak jewel. Swayamantak jewel brought Shri Krushna no end of trouble. Even after Shri Krushna had given up asking after the jewel, his own wife and brother doubted his innocence on account of the jewel. At the bitter end, the matter of the jewel sparked the fight that killed off the Yadav clan.
Asking for territory from
Mohini avatar’s charitable act on behalf of the Gods’ is even more maligned. Though Shri Vishnu never took a drop of nectar for himself – he did not need it – his presumed partiality in the incidence maligned him. Despite the fact that there are many Vaishnav sects, none is based around Mohini Svaroop of Shri Vishnu.
So moral of the story is - charity should always be done with your funds.
Don’t ask others to contribute to YOUR causes.
© Bhagwat Shah