Giving Without Another Thought?

रहिमन वे नर मर चुके जे कहुं माँगन जाय l

उनते पहले वे मुए जिन मुख निकसत नाहिं ll

(Says Rahim, that those that keep asking for, are dead;

but the ones who refuse to give have been dead for longer.)

     

     They say that the simplest words convey the deepest sentiments. I am not sure they remain simple ever after that. I was speaking to a friend of mine on Facebook and I, suddenly, thought I should write something I can, about Rahim's doha I've typed out above.
     I have been in a number of situations where I have had to ask for things from people, borrow    a pen, a pencil maybe. How dead am I? Is self-reliance above all other merit? It is a matter of killing your pride, a small part of it, when you go asking for things, when you don't have things you need. But how much is it your fault? In my case, it was, for I have just been careless. But what is it about the hundreds of thousands who beg on the streets of the world? They might be a part of rackets to 'loot' people. But I don't see how they have an option against it. It's like a magic trick gone wrong, like the magician losing themselves to their own game.

     At the same time, I have been at the giving end. A good ten people hopped into the First Class compartment today in the morning, and they apparently did not 'look' like people who would waste a bulk for something like a one-day train-travel by 'First Class' in Mumbai. A man refused to let an old man share some part of the extra-long seat he was occupying. Fortunately, there was enough place elsewhere, so the old man got to sit. The people had got in at Dadar and were about to get down at VT. That is quite short a distance, and there is hardly any crowd between the two stations. I wonder how different or difficult it would have been to give an old man some place to sit    in fact, only share a part of your seat. Many of those people might not get to see Mumbai again in their lives. They might not be able to pay a hefty fine if asked for by a Ticket Checker, but that is another story altogether. How much of a role does a poor person play in their 'attempt' to remain poor for generations?
     And another subhashita in Sanskrit comes to my mind.

एकेन तिष्ठताधस्तादन्येनोपरि तिष्ठता l
दात्रुयाचकयोर्भेदः कराभ्यामेव सूचितः ll

The relationship between a giver and a taker is demonstrated well by a hand above another, it says. I wonder what shows the relationship between the hoarder and the beggar    if there is one at all.