502 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
The Buddha, although he preached Dana Paramita, was very particular in insisting that Dana must be to a deserving person. While it does elevate the person who gives, it must not degrade the person to whom it is given. Charity is aid and help to those who have fallen in order that they may one day walk the road of life by themselves.
If you have collected money in the name at the saint whom you revere, it is necessary that you should devote this money in the establishment of such acts as are indicated by the Paramitas. There is so much misery, so much ignorance and so much sickness that in the modern days it would be an act of cruelty, as I said, to feed well-to-do people who can look after themselves. Such charities should be devoted to hospitals, to education, to establishing small scale industries, for the helpless and the widows who, may be enabled to earn their living by being taught some trade or some industry. There are many examples yet to be found for you to copy if you were only convinced of my thesis and if you would only look around yourselves for practical examples.
I hope I have given you some food for thought. If you have collected money, use it in the way I have suggested. It will not only do you good but it will elevate the name of Sai Baba.” [1]
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1 : Reprinted from a printed booklet circulated in Sai Convention held at Bombay in January 1954.