36
Noble Use of Money
are, then you have bound merit karma for whatever you spent
for Hiraba.
Dadashri: Why would I gain anything? I have nothing to
do with it. No merit karma is formed or charged in this. In such
a situation, the merit karma is expended when people give you
praise for your deeds.
And when you do something wrong, people will criticize
you and you have to suffer the consequences, here and now.
Everything takes place in this life. When one builds a high school,
he is praised for it here in this life. He receives nothing for his
next life.
Questioner: But the school is built for the benefit of the
children, for their education and for the improvement of their
minds.
Dadashri: That is a different matter. But when people
sing your praise, all benefits for you are spent here only.
Can One Person Benefit Through Another?
Questioner: The benefit of your donation goes to the
person in whose name you are making the donation. You do not
get the benefit of it.
Dadashri: Have you ever heard of such an incident where
one person does the deed and the other reaps the benefits?
Questioner: But did you not make the donation in
someone else’s name? You are merely an instrument (nimit) in
the process.
Dadashri: If that is the case, then what is wrong in eating
for him as his nimit? No, it is not like that, this is just a ploy
people use to deceive others and lead them down the wrong
path. How does a hungry person benefit if you eat on his behalf?
In reality the whole world is regulated under very precise rules.