How Monks Fulfill Dāna
It is very important for sādhus, sannyāsins, swāmīs, sādhakas, any mendicant under vows, to perform dāna. True, they are giving all of their time, but that is fulfillment of their vrata. True, they are not giving daśamāṁśa, because they are not employed and have no income. For them, dāna is giving the unexpected in unexpected ways—serving tea for seven days to the tyrannical sādhu that assisted them by causing an attack of āṇava, of personal ego, within them, in thanks to him for being the channel of their prārabdha karmas and helping them in the next step of their spiritual unfoldment. Dāna is making an unexpected wreath of sacred leaves and flowers for one’s guru and giving it at an unexpected time. Dāna is cooking for the entire group and not just for a few or for oneself alone.
When one has reached an advanced stage on the spiritual path, in order to go further, the law requires giving back what one has been given. Hearing oneself speak the divine teachings and being uplifted and fulfilled by filling up and uplifting others allows the budding adept to go through the next portal. Those who have no desire to counsel others, teach or pass on what they have learned are still in the learning stages themselves, traumatically dealing with one or more of the restraints and practices. The passing on of jñāna, wisdom, through counseling, consoling, teaching Sanātana Dharma and the only one final conclusion, monistic Śaiva Siddhānta, Advaita Īśvaravāda, is a fulfillment and completion of the cycle of learning for every monastic. This does not mean that he mouths indiscriminately what he has been told and memorized, but rather that he uses his philosophical knowledge in a timely way according to the immediate needs of the listener, for wisdom is the timely application of knowledge.
The dāna sādhana, of course, for sādhakas, sādhus, yogīs and swāmīs, as they have no cash, is to practice dāna in kind, physical doing, until they are finally able to release the Sanātana Dharma from their own lips, as a natural outgrowth of their spirituality, spirit, śakti, bolt-of-lightning outpouring, because they are so filled up. Those who are filled up with the divine truths, in whom when that fullness is pressed down, compacted, locked in, it still oozes out and runs over, are those who pass on the Sanātana Dharma. They are the catalysts not only of this adult generation, but the one before it still living, and of children and the generations yet to come.
NANDINATHA SŪTRA 42: THE ILLUSION OF EVIL
Śiva’s followers all believe there is no intrinsic evil. Evil has no source, unless the source of evil’s seeming be ignorance itself. They are truly compassionate, knowing that ultimately there is no good or bad. All is Śiva’s will. Aum.