Situations where donations puts people in dilemma.

[kshama]

Namaskar Blessed Members of the forum,

I am sure many of you have donated to some noble cause. I have few situations that I will enlist below, would you proceed or not proceed with your noble act?

A) Imagine you are a vegetarian. Suddenly a temple official (of a Hindu temple) came to your door to collect donations for the coming festive season. When you see the pamphlet, it is a temple where animal sacrifice held. Part of the money goes to serving food and for the purchase of meat. Would you donate? If not, isn't it a bit harsh to turn down a temple official at your door?

B) Imagine you are approached by a brother or sister of another religion. They say they are collecting funds for their place of worship or for their religious propagation programmes. Though they know you are a Hindu, they say, it is ok to donate. Would you donate?

C) The organization where you work is holding a charity event or a donation drive to help a certain NGO (non-govermental organization) that handles and cares for drug addicts/AIDS victims etc. Part of the money goes to buy some syringes so that they can distribute to the addicts to curb needle sharing. Part of the money goes to purchase protectives so that, the AIDS victims can have protected bodilly relations. Would you donate when you know, these money will pave way for the people to indulge more in sin?

D) A criminal who tried to escape from jail got knocked down by a car, he is now in dire need of blood. He is of a rare blood group. He has 24 hours to live. You happen to work in the hospital he is admitted and you know you have the same blood group. Would you donate? This criminal is very notarious and cruel.


For some these situations are trivial, but to a selected few, these situations will agitate their minds. It is a known fact one of our dharma is to help others in this world, but what to do in these situations? Thank you

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam kshama:

Thanks for these thoughtful dilemmas. I used to dream some up just for discussion sake, but recently got out of the habit. I will share what I personally would do, and my reasons. I doubt if there is a universal answer.

A) I wouldn't donate. Not believing in animal sacrifice, or in meat eating, I just couldn't. It'd be against all ahimsa principles I try to live by. I remember exploring temples one day in Mauritius, and turning away from the place once we saw any signs of animal sacrifice. I personally believe it brings in the wrong forces mystically.

B) I wouldn't donate. If I did, I'd ask for the same amount right back to my Hindu temple, just to prove a point. We have a few Hindu pamphlets on hand, and I'll ask the Mormons or the JW's if they'll take my pamphlets. Usually they won't so I just say, "If you're not willing to learn about my faith, then I guess you can't expect me to be learning about yours, can you?"

C) I would give. Heroin addiction is a disease. The clean syringe exchange program has been well researched here in Canada, and in The Netherlands. It does not increase drug use according to the American War on Drugs propoganda. We are saving (extending) lives out of compassion. Homosexuality, I don't consider a sin. So to me it would be tantamount to murder if we don't provide condoms to those who can't afford. Its our duty to take care of the weak and helpless.

D) I don't usually donate blood on another principle, but in this case I would if I was the only person available working there. Human life is sacred, and here in Canada we abolished the death penalty a long time ago, along with most civilised countries of the world.

Looking forward to other viewpoints.

Aum Namasivaya

[kshama]

Vanakkam Eastern Mind Ji,

Thank you for your views. Though donations to the above situations are good, there are many side-effects to the society and ourselves. That's why when we see people's views and thoughts, we will finally be able to come into a decision where it is ethically right as well as spiritually right. Thank you for the input.

[Ekanta]

A) Animal sacrifice is wrong (it’s the human animal nature that has to be sacrificed)

B) What’s good doesn’t need propaganda. What’s bad needs propaganda.

C) Diminishing the effect of bad things is not the same as encourage it. I would donate. [the catholic church is wrong when they say condoms are forbidden and force their priests into celibacy... because it just makes it worse]

D) Perhaps… but I fail to see the good in helping a mad person so he can kill even more. If there was a guarantee that he would not get out of prison until he was a better person I would donate. [This might be sensitive to some, but its not the person that is important in the end, its truth itself, dharma itself. Dharma looks beyond the current life... why else would the Kurukshetra war take place?]

[kshama]

Namaskar Ekanta Ji,

Thank you for the views, it made me think more abt it. I am eager to know what other members think abt the situations.

[sanjaya]

Hi Kshama. These are some interesting hypotheticals. I'll try to answer as best I can.

A.) I wouldn't donate. I would tell the person that while I respect everyone's right to worship as they do, animal sacrifice isn't in keeping with Hindu dharma, and it's something I can't support.

B.) Definitely not. Christian conversion programs help very view people. The Western atheistic drug addicts and sexual deviants who might be helped by conversion to Christianity are going to get converted without any serious investment of money. Most of the money is going to be used for overseas conversion programs. This is bad because the Christians are converting people who already belong to other religions, so I would not fund such crusades.

C.) I would donate. I don't think it's a good idea for people to engage in sins like drug use or sex before marriage. But it's clearly better than doing these in an unsafe manner. I would hope that the people providing these syringes and condoms would also use some of my money to curb drug use and premarital sex.

D.) This is a harder one. Being a sinful human, I'd probably say no out of spite. But ideally, since the guy has already been convicted and would be sent back to jail, the right thing to do would be to provide the blood.

[kshama]

Namaskar Sanjaya Ji,

Thank you for your views. So many angles to see and decide, thank you for highlighting them.

[ScottMalaysia]

A) Imagine you are a vegetarian. Suddenly a temple official (of a Hindu temple) came to your door to collect donations for the coming festive season. When you see the pamphlet, it is a temple where animal sacrifice held. Part of the money goes to serving food and for the purchase of meat. Would you donate? If not, isn't it a bit harsh to turn down a temple official at your door?

No, I wouldn't. I wouldn't even go to a temple that practices animal sacrifice.

B) Imagine you are approached by a brother or sister of another religion. They say they are collecting funds for their place of worship or for their religious propagation programmes. Though they know you are a Hindu, they say, it is ok to donate. Would you donate?

I'd donate if I could spare the money. Everyone has a right to worship God and practice the religion that they want to.

C) The organization where you work is holding a charity event or a donation drive to help a certain NGO (non-govermental organization) that handles and cares for drug addicts/AIDS victims etc. Part of the money goes to buy some syringes so that they can distribute to the addicts to curb needle sharing. Part of the money goes to purchase protectives so that, the AIDS victims can have protected bodilly relations. Would you donate when you know, these money will pave way for the people to indulge more in sin?

I'm against giving needles to drug addicts. The Malaysian government has stated that providing needle exchange centres does not fit with the government's opposition to drugs. I'm not against condoms, but I think that if a person has AIDS, then they shouldn't be having sex at all since condoms are not 100% safe.

D) A criminal who tried to escape from jail got knocked down by a car, he is now in dire need of blood. He is of a rare blood group. He has 24 hours to live. You happen to work in the hospital he is admitted and you know you have the same blood group. Would you donate? This criminal is very notarious and cruel.

I would donate blood to save anyone's life.


For some these situations are trivial, but to a selected few, these situations will agitate their minds. It is a known fact one of our dharma is to help others in this world, but what to do in these situations? Thank you[/quote]

[sanjaya]

I'm against giving needles to drug addicts. The Malaysian government has stated that providing needle exchange centres does not fit with the government's opposition to drugs. I'm not against condoms, but I think that if a person has AIDS, then they shouldn't be having sex at all since condoms are not 100% safe.

That's actually a very good point, and one that I haven't considered before. I suppose I should reconsider my response to C.).

[kshama]

Namaskar ScottMalaysia Ji,

Thank your for your views. I have to agree with Sanjaya Ji, there should be a lot of thinking done in situation C.