{"id":351,"date":"2026-05-19T13:09:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T23:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kauaishindumonastery.com\/mc-daily-lessons\/?p=351"},"modified":"2025-05-25T17:00:03","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T03:00:03","slug":"lesson-38-living-with-siva","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kauaishindumonastery.com\/mc-daily-lessons\/lesson-38-living-with-siva\/","title":{"rendered":"Lesson 38 \u2013 Living with \u015aiva"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/kauaishindumonastery.com\/mc-daily-lessons\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/LwS-Lesson-38.mp3\"><\/audio><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Recording: Gurudeva&#8217;s cloned voice<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">D\u0101na: Giving<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Giving, d\u0101na, is the third great religious practice, or niyama. It is important to remember that giving freely of one\u2019s goods in fulfilling needs, making someone happy or putting a smile on his face, mitigates selfishness, greed, avarice and hoarding. But the most important factor is \u201cwithout thought of reward.\u201d The reward of joy and the fullness you feel is immediate as the gift passes from your two hands into the outstretched hands of the receiver. D\u0101na is often translated as \u201ccharity.\u201d But charity in modern context is a special kind of giving by those who have to those who have not. This is not the true spirit of d\u0101na. The word fulfillment might describe d\u0101na better. The fulfillment of giving that wells up within the giver as the gift is being prepared and as the gift is being presented and released, the fulfillment of the expectancy of the receiver or the surprise of the receiver, and the fullness that exists afterwards are all a part of d\u0101na. <br><br>Da\u015bam\u0101\u1e41\u015ba, tithing, too, is a worthy form of d\u0101na\u2014giving God\u2019s money to a religious institution to fulfill with it God\u2019s work. One who is really fulfilling d\u0101na gives da\u015bam\u0101\u1e41\u015ba, never goes to visit a friend or relative with empty hands, gives freely to relatives, children, friends, neighbors and business associates, all without thought of reward. The devotee who practices d\u0101na knows fully that \u201cyou cannot give anything away.\u201d The law of karma will return it to you full measure at an appropriate and most needed time. The freer the gift is given, the faster it will return. <br><br>What is the proportionate giving after da\u015bam\u0101\u1e41\u015ba, ten percent, has been deducted? It would be another two to five percent of one\u2019s gross income, which would be equally divided between cash and kind if someone wanted to discipline his d\u0101na to that extent. That would be fifteen percent, approximately one sixth, which is the makimai established in South India by the Chettiar community around the Palani Temple and now practiced by the Malaka Chettiars of Malaysia. <br><br>If one were to take a hard look at the true spirit of d\u0101na in today\u2019s society, the rich giving to religious institutions for a tax deduction are certainly giving with a thought of reward. Therefore, giving after the tax deductions are received and with no material benefits or rewards of any kind other than the fulfillment of giving is considered by the wise to be a true expression of d\u0101na. Making something with one\u2019s own hands, giving in kind, is also a true expression of d\u0101na. Giving a gift begrudgingly in return for another gift is, of course, mere barter. Many families barter their way through life in this way, thinking they are giving. But such gifts are cold, the fulfillment is empty, and the law of karma pays discounted returns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p>NANDINATHA S\u016aTRA 38: GOD CREATES SOULS WHO ARE ONE WITH HIM<br>\u015aiva\u2019s followers all believe that each soul is created by Lord \u015aiva and is identical to Him, and that this identity will be fully realized by all souls when the bondage of \u0101\u1e47ava, karma and m\u0101y\u0101 is removed by His grace. Aum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>D\u0101na: Giving Giving, d\u0101na, is the third great religious practice, or niyama. It is important to remember that giving freely of one\u2019s goods in fulfilling needs, making someone happy or putting a smile on his face, mitigates selfishness, greed, avarice and hoarding. But the most important factor is \u201cwithout thought of reward.\u201d The reward of <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/kauaishindumonastery.com\/mc-daily-lessons\/lesson-38-living-with-siva\/\">READ MORE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-living-with-siva"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kauaishindumonastery.com\/mc-daily-lessons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kauaishindumonastery.com\/mc-daily-lessons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kauaishindumonastery.com\/mc-daily-lessons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kauaishindumonastery.com\/mc-daily-lessons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kauaishindumonastery.com\/mc-daily-lessons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kauaishindumonastery.com\/mc-daily-lessons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4695,"href":"https:\/\/kauaishindumonastery.com\/mc-daily-lessons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351\/revisions\/4695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kauaishindumonastery.com\/mc-daily-lessons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kauaishindumonastery.com\/mc-daily-lessons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kauaishindumonastery.com\/mc-daily-lessons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}