SLOKA OF THE DAY:

Bhagavad Gita As It Is -
Chapter 17 Text 22
adesa-kale yad danam
apatrebhyas ca diyate
asat-krtam avajnatam-
tat tamasam udahrtam

adesa--at an unpurified place; kale--and unpurified time; yat--that which; danam--charity; apatrebhyah--to unworthy persons; ca--also; diyate--is given; asat-krtam--without respect; avajnatam--without proper attention; tat--that; tamasam--in the mode of darkness; udahrtam--is said to be.

TRANSLATION

And charity performed at an impure place, at an improper time, to unworthy persons, or without proper attention and respect is said to be in the mode of ignorance.

JOURNAL:

Living in the city, as I do, I run across beggars all the time. Here in Portland there are many groups that will feed the poor (although the food is a long way off from being in the mode of goodness) so, for the most part, people are not begging for their needs but for their wants, and intoxication is what a lot of them want. It is not hard to understand that they simply want to blot out the conciseness of their miserable existences.

I, as a giver, must remember what Srila Prabhupada points out in his purport; Contributions for indulgence in intoxication and gambling are not encouraged here. That sort of contribution is in the mode of ignorance. I need to offer real help to my brothers, not just escapism. For his good, and for my own, I must seek the mode of goodness.