General Donations

Sanatkumara said

There are revered gifts that are praised. One who wants to save himself must give these great gifts every day to a worthy recipient. Gifts of gold, cows and land, and their acceptance, are sacred and let the giver cross over. Gold, cows and land are the best gifts, and through them one is freed of sins. The weighing gift, tuladana, is as praised as giving cows. The gift of land and the gift of learning are equal in strength, though the gift of learning is praised more. Among things to be given every day to seekers are bulls, cows, umbrellas, garments, footwear, food and drink. After making the resolve, one who gives to brahmanas, supplicants and the afflicted becomes spirited. There are ten great gifts: gold, sesame, elephants, maidens, female servants, houses, chariots, jewels, a kapila cow and an ordinary cow. When a learned brahmana accepts all these, the recipient and the giver cross over at once. If men give gold with pure minds the gods give it back to him, as I have heard. All the gods are in Agni and gold is Agni, so giving gold is like giving all the gods. The gift of land is best and yields every fruit. Gold is special, and Prithu earlier gave it. If land is given along with gold it is praised, and one is freed of all sins and goes to the supreme destination. Sage, I will tell of another excellent gift: one then will not see Yama's desolate forest, which brings many miseries. Pure in mind and following the rules, one should give a forest. The things and wealth given must be lawfully earned, without fraud. From a prastha of sesame seeds the image of a cow should be made with all its qualities, and a calf of gold, divine and with all the marks. With kumkuma and unbroken rice an auspicious eight-petalled lotus design should be drawn. Then, full of devotion, the person must worship Rudra and all the other gods. After worship, according to one's means, one must give the cow and calf, decorated with all ornaments, to a brahmana along with jewels and gold. He should eat only at night and give many lamps. One should try to do this on the full moon of the month of Kartika. A person who does this properly, according to his means, does not see the fearful path to Yama or terrible hell. Vyasa, one who has committed innumerable sins and does this sports in heaven with his relatives and well-wishers for as long as there are fourteen Indras. The gift of a cow made in the proper way is said to be best, and no other supreme gift is said to equal it. A person should give a kapila cow and calf with horns encrusted in gold and hooves in silver, with all auspicious marks, along with a brass vessel. A man who does this, Vyasa, finds the cow return to him in this world and the next, over births, by these qualities, as Kamadhenu. One who wants undecaying benefit should give whatever he loves most in the world, and whatever he loves in his house, to a person of qualities. For any man the weighing gift is said to be supreme: if he wants his own benefit he should climb on one side of the pair of scales, and he is freed of the sins of slaughter and imprisonment he committed in this world. Tuladana is extremely sacred and destroys all sins. One who has committed innumerable sins and does tuladana is freed of all sins and goes to heaven, without doubt. The prayer is: presiding deity of the balance, enemy of Smara, I have committed sins by day, at night, at the two sandhyas, at midday, at the end of night and at the three times of day, in thought, word and deed; take them away quickly. I have sinned against the young and the old, knowingly and unknowingly; deity of the balance, take them all away quickly. I have now earmarked riches for a worthy recipient and, as proof, have put it on one side of the balance, equal to my weight; let my bad deeds be taken away and merit come to me. Having said this, a person who wants his benefit should always give this to brahmanas, not only to one person, since one cannot cross over so. Vyasa, a person who does the excellent tuladana destroys his sins and goes to heaven and stays there for the length of fourteen Indras.