The Importance Of Dakshina

[SS91]

The life of the Saints is naturally sweet.

 So is the life of Saint Sai.

His life was not only sweet but Nectar was always oozing out from

the stories, parables and teachings of Baba.

Though Baba’s words were always short, pithy, deep and full of

meaning, they were instructions to work out our path to salvation.

Let us remember Him with love and devotion, who has taken this human

form to lead us to our goal.

The only remembrance of Sai brings many rewards to our lives and

also solves the riddle of life and death.

We should not waste a minute and make chanting of His name a part of

life.

O’Blissful Sai, we are indebted to you and can never redeem your

obligations in this life.

We will sing your leelas, bhajans, and stories so that your form is

always fixed in our mind and eyes and that should be the sole object

of our life.

Let us come to the subject of the topic.

It is said in our Shastras that Puja of God is not complete, unless

a golden coin is offered to the Divine or Supreme with a pure

heart.

The Vedas further exhorts us that we should never go empty handed to

see God, King, Saint or Guru.

Taittiriya Upanishad also lays down to practice charity and other

virtues.

It goes on to say that “Give with faith, or even without it; give

with magnanimity”.

Baba asked for Dakshina to remove people’s attachment to money and

purify their minds.

It was not Dakshina, which he collected, but their sins to make them

happy and free from this mundane existence.

 Baba said, “He had to give back hundred times more of what he

received”.

 Donation or charity induces Vairagya – non-attachment to money and

 other worldly affairs to speed up man’s liberation from this world.

Baba always encouraged good thoughts.

Though he collected lot of money by Dakshina, he never kept any

amount with him.

He would distribute the whole amount the same day and the next

morning, he would become a poor Fakir as usual.

Dakshina does not necessarily mean pecuniary amount.  

One day Baba asked Rs.15/- as Dakshina from Prof. G.G. Narke, who

replied that he, did not have even a pie.

Then, Baba said, “I know you have no money; but you are reading

Yoga-Vashistha.  

Give me Dakshina from that”.

In other words it means that deriving lessons from the book and

lodging them in the heart where Baba resides.

In another case, Baba asked a certain lady Mrs. Tarkhad to give Rs.6

as Dakshina.

The lady felt pained and got desponded, as she had nothing to give.  

On explaining by her husband that Baba wanted six inner enemies

(Lust, Anger, Avarice, Jealousy, Ego and so on) to be surrendered at

his feet.  Baba agreed with this explanation.

Continuing with the importance of donation or Dakshina, Baba once

asked Kaka for Rs.15/-, which he gladly gave it.

Then Baba said, “if I take one rupee as Dakshina from anybody,

I have to return it tenfold to him.  I never take anything gratis.  

I never ask any one, indiscriminately, I only ask and take from him,

whom the Fakir (My Guru) points out.  If any one is indebted

formerly to the Fakir, money is received from him.  

The donor gives i.e. sows his seeds, only to reap a rich harvest in

future.  Wealth should be the means to work out Dharma.

If it is used for personal enjoyment, it is wasted.

Unless you have given it before, you do not get it now.

 So, the best way to receive is to give.  

The giving, of Dakshina, advances Vairagya (non-attachment), and

thereby Bhakti and Jnana.

 Give one and receive ten fold”.

 Mr. B.V. Deo of Thane, retired Mamlatdar, and a great devotee of

Baba in his article on Dakshina summed up that charity given in a

holy place and to a holy personage conduces to the donors’ welfare

to a great degree.  What is more holy than Shirdi and its Presiding

Deity -SaiBaba.
 
courtesy Rajesh Anand

OM SAI SRI SAI JAYA JAYA SAI!!!
Let us pray at the feet of Sai Baba who is the incarnation of all gods and protector of all, to show mercy on us, and increase our devotion towards him.