Giving Without Asking To Get Back
One of the most important
spiritual lessons I received some years ago was an answer to my question: “What will I receive if I risk giving of myself to Life?” The answer that came back was: “There are no Brownie points in Heaven.”
What I translated this to mean was that there is no reward from God for having the courage to open my heart and share my deepest self, my
love and my gifts with the world. As long as I was looking for what I could receive in return for what I might be able to give, then I was missing the point!
Undoubtedly, the journey from self-centredness to selflessness is often very difficult. How much easier it is to opt for staying safe behind habitual patterns of “What’s in it for me?”
How much easier it is to hide in the shadows of smallness than to reveal the magnificence of our true nature? But as long as you are hoping – as I did – that you will be granted ever-lasting
happiness in return for giving the best of who you really are, then the true gifts of giving cannot be revealed to you.
As I contemplated the answer I was given, I realized that giving is written into the fabric of Existence and that when we focus on giving rather than getting then we align ourselves to the awesome power of the Universe.
The Power Of Thought Creates Reality
There are a number of ways to look at this. Firstly, the Universe is forever giving us life in the form of the bounty of Nature, life-force, growth and evolutionary impulse. In fact, the Universe is eternally abundant: there is no lack other than where we create it with our limited belief systems. Secondly, the Universe operates with a “YES” mechanism: whatever you think, feel or do, the Universe responds by saying “YES” and gives you more of it … even if your thoughts and feelings are ones of scarcity and fear!
In other words, whatever you affirm in your life – consciously or unconsciously – the Universe will affirm that back to you!
So it makes sense that whatever you give, you will get more of. If you give impoverished thoughts, feelings and actions to yourself, to others and to the world, then you will get a poor reflection of your worth from the Universe.
If you give thoughts, feelings and actions that resonate with your highest vibration of love, abundance, joy and
peace, then you will get an enriched and loving reflection of your grandest nature. But the trick is to give without expectation of outcome!
No End To Inner Resources
To give freely from a truly generous heart means to have absolute faith in an infinitely loving and abundant Universe. To give freely there must be no fear of lack. To give freely implies such an innate trust in the eternal well of your inner riches that you know there is nothing to lose.
Very often, I hear people complain that they cannot be generous because they haven’t got enough money/time/energy/etc to give. I certainly used to be that kind of person! But the
truth is that your inner resources are always available to you. You may not have a lot of material wealth to give but you always have access to the generosity of a compassionate heart or the radiance of a loving smile.
One of the most amazing ways to feel the power of Universal alignment is to empower others to be that which you want to be yourself. If you want to be happy, radiate an aura of happiness so that others are uplifted.
If you want to be at peace, emanate a peaceful vibration for others to bask in. If you want to be rich, help another to be enriched by your thoughts, feelings and actions. If you want to be successful, help another find success through believing in their highest potential.
When you give freely of yourself, your generosity attracts more generosity and your love attracts more love. The gift of giving is that you become that which you give and so you attract more of that to yourself. It’s a win-win situation!
The lesson here is to give to another as if you are giving to yourself. Indeed, when you give to another you are giving to yourself because ultimately we are all one.
Giving connects you with both your inner wholeness and the wholeness of Existence. It's an expression of your own divinity because it puts you at one with the Divine Creator. Giving is God’s nature! So give, give, give!
These days, whenever I notice myself shrink back from giving – whether it be money, resources, love, kindness, or anything else – I pause and renew my commitment to sharing my inner and outer wealth. I give because giving is an expression of gratitude for the gift of life that has been given to me. I give with joy and appreciation. I give because I know that giving and receiving are one and the same thing.
Amoda Maa Jeevan is the author of a new book “How To Find God In Everything” (Watkins, 2008)