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Durgatiprapatajjantudharaṇād dharma ucyate I Danaśīlatapobhāvamedāt sa tu caturvidhaḥ ||
- Trisaṣṭiśalākāpuruṣacaritam, 2.1. Dharma is what supports and saves a person from falling into bad destinies and it is four fold by way of charity, righteousness, penance and right volitional disposition.
Thus charity also saves a person from falling into bad destinies and supports his lofty ideals. Therefore, charity is dharma.
Charity has two main ingredients - 1. Giving away and 2. Benefit. Giving away is the soul of charity and benefit is its body. Giving up denotes the destruction of the feeling of possessiveness over our things. The destruction of possessiveness denotes the destruction of the feeling of enjoying those things, which in turn denotes the destruction of selfishness. The destruction of selfishness results in generosity and the practical form of generosity is beneficence or the tendency towards general weal. This is the second fundamental element of charity.
It is well known that an indulgent person is selfish. He considers his own pleasure as everything no matter how much he pains or torments or harms the others in trying to get his pleasures. On the other hand a giver up is generous. He feels pleasure in giving away the objects of his pleasure to others and to see them happy. An indulgent person is a slave to his senses. The slavery to the senses indicates animal behaviour. One who is a slave to the senses is always selfish. Therefore, selfishness is also indicative of animalistic behaviour. A selfish person is heartless. He is inert and insensitive. He is not endowed with the feelings of sensitivity, cooperation and benevolence. The only difference between insentient and sentient is that of sensitivity. One who is insensitive is inert or insentient and one who is sensitive is sentient. The development of sensitivity itself is the development of consciousness or sentience. It is in the sensitive person that the feeling of charity can arise. Therefore, the arising of the feeling of charity is indicative of developed
consciousness.
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