Should you Give Money to Beggars or Not?

You must have heard that everyone carries their own karma into the birth. Do you know what that means?

Two days ago, while queueing at a traffic light near the Yu Business Centre in Novi Beograd I saw a girl begging for money, walking from one car to another. She was unexpectedly well-dressed, and would walk up to the drivers with a piece of paper in her hand, saying she needed help. The reason was lame, but not badly worded. I noticed the look in her eyes, a judgmental stare filled with hatred, which intensified if someone refused to open the window and give her money. I was one of them. What I could detect in her biofield so very clearly was a stubborn refusal to learn a lesson from her past life. The lesson stood stark, but her ego and judgment were making it impossible for her to learn it! I didn’t give her anything, not because I didn’t have any money on me, or because I was angry, but rather because I wished her well!

Do you think I should have given her money?

A priest came to my office once. I could see in his posture that he was torn between a yearning desire to get help and the urge to judge me. I started a casual conversation to help him relax, trying to create a positive atmosphere. I shared with him my view on life, told him what I had learnt from the healing techniques used thousands of years ago, and proven by the more recent scientific discoveries.

The moment I touched upon the fact that the cause of a human condition might lie in a past life, he leapt to his feet, snapping back into the role of a preacher, and began to criticize me without a single fact or argument to prove otherwise.

“Father, if you have evidence to overturn my arguments, please, enlighten me. I don’t want to be too blind to see, a sinner in denial, spreading lies. Everything I know I’ve been questioning every second, seeking evidence to confirm my knowledge or shatter my misconceptions. This is the way I learn, constantly refreshing my mind. If you think I’m wrong, please, help me. I am completely open and ready to talk and to learn. But give me evidence stronger than mine, please.”

“What do you mean?” the priest snapped at me.

“It might be easier if I just asked you questions, which you could answer. Is that all right with you?”

“Yes!” I could hear superiority in his voice, and feel a smirk hidden behind a big, long beard.”

“Are we all equal before God, born to learn, overcome obstacles, temptations, evil thoughts and emotions, in order to find serenity and deserve a place at God’s feet, with our names unstained?”

“That’s right!”

“How come then that the beginning of the journey is different for everyone? For some it’s in a cardboard box under a bridge, and others are born into lives of wealth and privilege. Some journeys begin with a disease and go on in poverty, for others it’s the easy life of an heir. If we all share the same commencement, and if there’s nothing before and after this life, why isn’t that beginning the same for everyone?”

I was sure he was drenched in sweat, coughing and asking for a glass of water, like a first grader dreading a test he’s about to take. I tried to say what I think, as unassumingly as possible:

“Based on what I’ve seen and learnt, I believe that it’s precisely the diversity that proves that only our body rots, and is here only once, but not the soul.”

There was no answer, a pensive look on his face aside. I think he liked my little speech and everything I said to him after a diagnosis I had given him. He must have had a myriad questions, but was not prepared to hear the answers. The priest promised to think about everything and come again. I’m still waiting, hoping sincerely that he will.

No sooner are we born than we are on a journey – there are lessons we are predetermined to learn, and into this life we bring the good and bad, everything we skipped and left unlearnt in our past lives. That is what makes our beginnings weak, forcing us to learn from suffering, and brace for new lessons, the lessons of today.

We’d better get back to the girl from the beginning of the story. Everyone has their own karma, learning their own lessons. There’s a steep price to pay for any shortcut you may try to make, for your laziness, indolence and judgment!

Giving money to a beggar, able to earn a living, will only rot his soul. The gain might give him fleeting encouragement, but it will certainly not motivate him to find an honest job. Quite the contrary, his is the cunning ego, just like everyone else’s, steering him towards a shortcut and deeper into the darkness. What does it have to do with you? It’s his karma, isn’t it? How can giving him money be bad for you? At first glance, it all looks pretty good – you’ve just done a good deed. Yet if you help him rot and burn his soul, that’s one more sin in yours, as your action has contributed to the rot.

Everything in this world is energy, and the law of balance is one of the most powerful in the universe. Nothing is for free! You’ll have to pay the piper eventually. If you want to help a beggar, do it, but in a way that will not tarnish your soul, and there’s no other but to encourage his to do the right thing. In the end, that’s what Christ preached. Let him do something for you, let him wipe your windshield, and you can pay him as much as you want, be very generous if you like. There must be an exchange of energy!

Yesterday I drove by the same girl at the same traffic light. I stopped, opened the window and gave her a piece of paper with the phone number of a friend who wanted to hire help at her bakery. She took it, clearly disappointed that it wasn’t a banknote.

The girl was begging for money at the traffic lights today. She walked around my car.