The impulse to help others can stem from any of the four states with resultant different effects. Help done under tamas is an unthinking help done without giving due consideration to the real causes of the suffering. Thus, a poor person may be in a state of poverty because he is too overcome by inertia to bring in the desired effort. Economic help in such a case (granted it is a genuine case and not dramatised to extract money) only increases the inertia. Rajasic help is done usually with the idea of some name or to earn merit. It only ends up bloating the ego. The only help truly worth anything is the sattwic help done with due consideration and thought as not to encourage inertia or wrong tendencies through the money given. The best help however is when we empower and equip the person inwardly to manage his affairs rather than weakening his own capacity to make effort. In any case it your own financial condition is not good enough then it is best not to rush into providing monetary help.
At the Feet of The Mother
I feel an urge to help the poor, but don’t have much resources, what should I do?
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‘Sri Aurobindo does not belong to the past nor to history. Sri Aurobindo is the Future advancing towards its realisation. Thus we must shelter the eternal youth required for a speedy advance, in order not to become laggards on the way.’ The Mother
I had been afraid of meeting her. It had taken me six long weeks to get to this point because I was afraid of her. In some of her photographs we see how formidable she can be.