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 »  Home  »  The Gita: Chapter 17
Bhagavad Gita 17.21

By Bhagavan Sri Krishna | Published 08/18/2005
Category: The Gita: Chapter 17
Article Viewed 1999 Times

Text 21

yat tu pratyupakarartham
phalam uddisya va punah
diyate ca pariklistam
tad danam rajasam smrtam

Translation

But charity performed with the expectation of some return, or with a desire for fruitive results, or in a grudging mood, is said to be charity in the mode of passion. 

Commentary by Srila Prabhupada

Charity is sometimes performed for elevation to the heavenly kingdom and sometimes with great trouble and with repentance afterwards: “Why have I spent so much in this way?” Charity is also sometimes given under some obligation, at the request of a superior. These kinds of charity are said to be given in the mode of passion.

There are many charitable foundations which offer their gifts to institutions where sense gratification goes on. Such charities are not recommended in the Vedic scripture. Only charity in the mode of goodness is recommended.

Commentary by Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur

Pariklistam (reluctance) means that one repents after giving the charity, thinking "Why is it necessary to give so much money?" Or it can mean that though not desiring to give, one gives charity only because the guru or someone else ordered him to do so. Or it can mean to use inauspicious items, since one did not do the charity willingly.


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