Once, Indra, and Indra is a seat, like the seat of a president, prime minister, or senator. It’s a seat (a designation), the king of swarg lok. So there was an Indra who had become Indra not because of his knowledge. He was very pompous. He had given a lot of charity and had performed yagyas, and on the merit of those yagyas and his charitable activities he had secured the seat of Indra.
But when he went to swarg lok, and he was by nature a cruel man, he would make the sages who came to visit swarg lok carry him in his palki, his palanquin, and then he would beat them mercilessly. They were tormented by him, so all the sages held a meeting and said,
“This Indra doesn’t know any better, so we should fool him! We should ask him.”
And they did. They asked him a question,
“Maharaj, how did you become Indra?”
And he said, “Well, let me tell you. I donated so much money.”
“And what else did you do?”
“I built so many hospitals.”
“And what else?”
“So many orphanages...”
He started counting everything he had given, and all the charitable activities he had performed. He kept telling them, and they kept asking him,
“And what more? What more did you do? That’s wonderful! And what more, what more?”
And he kept on speaking about what he had done, and when he had finished talking about all the charity he had given, he was kicked out of swarg lok. His merit of giving charity was exhausted because he talked about it.
When we do charity, we must not want it to be publicized. It should be done in as much privacy as possible. Pride must not come in, because this charity, whatever we’re giving, was not ours; it’s not ours in the first place. With that feeling of humility, and with that feeling of gratitude that I am being allowed to share this, that feeling of utmost humility; that is what God wants from us.
