True generosity

I remember having read somewhere a funny statement about the term generosity – “Generosity is giving away those things that you really don’t want!”

Well, it sounds ludicrous, yet how many of us give away even ‘those things that we really don’t want’?

For instance, during festive occasions, we prepare surplus food and buy boxes of sweets. We loathe giving away the food and sweets when they are still in good condition to some needy soul. We would rather junk it, once the food turns putrid and the sweets start smelling rancid.

In this self-obsessed world, bracketing exceptions, many people think twice to spend money on one’s own close friends, even on parents and siblings. Apparently, the act of selflessly spending money on the less-privileged is becoming a rare phenomenon.

For instance, we celebrate professional or financial success by frittering away mega bucks on ostentatious bashes, thrown amidst opulence and grandeur. But we are downright reluctant to part with even a small amount of money when it comes to contributing to a deserving orphanage or an old-age home.

As children, we often listened to the clichéd advice dished out by elders at home: “Give away the best things that you have to people around, and the world’s best things will come back to you”. Well, one shouldn’t develop this kind of generosity just because we would be amply rewarded for our good deeds in future. True generosity is dispensing good things to others unconditionally, without any expectations or selfish/ulterior motives.

Incidentally, this generous attitude in a person is reflective of many other of his/her qualities too. One’s genuine generous nature is kind of synonymous with one’s selflessness, besides being indicative of one’s loving, caring, compassionate and sacrificing attitude. Self-centeredness and generosity can seldom co-exist. And a person is called truly munificent, when s/he deprives himself/herself of a jot of comfort/luxury, just to see someone else’s heart and home light up, owing to his openhandedness.

Interestingly, generosity needn’t have to be only the financial offers to needy people around. It could also be the physical help, mental comfort or emotional support that you offer someone in need.

A few lines in a philosophical story go like this. “Give away generously, in all possible ways, part with good things that you possess, to deserving people around you. The more you give, the more you get back. The more you scrimp and save, squirreling every penny for yourself, the more you see your wealth depleting away, in some way or other”!

In fact, being endowed with a generous heart is indeed a gift in itself. Since every time you indulge in an altruistic, generous gesture, it engenders enormous happiness in you, which even all treasures in the world can’t bestow!