Author: DAIV
Generosity is not measured by what we give, but by how much of what we have we are willing to give.
Tradition tells of a young Shankara, still a student, who went from door to door seeking alms in a village in Kerala. At one humble home, a poor woman had nothing to offer. She searched the house and found a single dried amla, a gooseberry, all that remained of her family's food. Ashamed that it was so little, she placed it in his bowl with folded hands. Shankara, then a boy, was deeply moved. She had given him everything she had.
Moved by her generosity and by her poverty, he is said to have composed the Kanakadhara Stotram in praise of Goddess Lakshmi, and golden amlas are said to have fallen upon the woman's house. Whether we read the story as history or as parable, its meaning is clear: the divine responds to the sincerity of the gift, not its size.
The woman did not wait to become wealthy before she was generous. She did not compare her offering with what others could give. She gave from where she stood, and that single gooseberry was weighed as gold. We often hold back kindness, time or money, believing our share is too small to matter.
Today, offer someone the best of what you have right now, however modest, and offer it without apology.