________________
by giving a citrus jam (Bijorāpāka) to Bhagvan Mahāvīra and sugarcane juice to Bhagvan Ṛṣabhadeva respectively; Candanabālā also earned great merit and fame by giving food in charity to Bhagvān Mahāvīra.
Jaina tradition describes nine kinds of pieties such as giving food, water, residence, bedding, clothes, and pious employment of body, mind and speech and bowing. Out of these nine kinds of pieties some very important forms of charities have come to the fore in the present times. For example earlier one could only render service through one's body, but now a days one could even donate one's organs such as blood, eyes, kidney, and even the whole body, as cadaver, during one's life time and after. By donating blood precious life/lives can be saved. Therefore, it is like donating life as such.
By donating blood one does not become weak and one does not suffer any other harm as well. Thus, through blood donation one can give life to others without any harm coming one's way. Any healthy young person can donate blood.
Eye donation is also no less important. As the saying goes, 'without the eyes the world is dark'. That is, life is incomplete without the eyes. At night if the power supply breaks down and we have to work even for some time how difficult it feels? Then how difficult it must be for anyone who has to spend the whole life without any light in his life? After death the eyes do not serve any purpose for the dead except yielding a few grams of ash whereas those very eyes may bring light to some blind man's life and yield immense happiness in an otherwise miserable life. Looked at from this standpoint even eye donation is like giving a lease of life.
Like this, in both - blood donation and eye donation one does not have to give anything from one's possession that may harm him but both these donations are of immense benefit to the recipients. Other charities like giving food, medicine, etc benefit only for some time but the charities of blood and eyes benefit for life. It should be our sacred duty to earn such great merit by giving such great benefit at no considerable cost to us.
70
Jain Education International
Positive Non-Violence
For Personal & Private Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
