If you give
one-tenth to the unknown, The unknown will give you seven hundred
percent. It is true. It will give you nine occult facilities, ‘Nao
Nidhee’. It will give you ‘Ataaraa(n) Siddhee’, eighteen perfections,
And the nine treasures, seven hundred times. And ten times always. If
you totally count it and multiply it, Just see how it happens....
--Yogi Bhajan
Tithe or Not to Tithe:
The Reluctant Dasvandh Bunny From Memoirs of a Yogini
May 17th, 2008
My Saturday errands and chores were completed and I had a free hour and a half to dedicate to the Guru. Work on the book? Not quite yet. I'll wait until the Golden Temple comes on Z T.V.
I went to give my dog Cookie a freshly purchased chicken quarter and noticed the forlorn half-grown lilac bunny crouching in a corner of his porch cage. I had prepared a new flat for him next to his matching brother and sister out in the farmyard. He was not ready to join them. His matted winter coat had yet to be removed to keep him cool in summer heat. He would have to stay in a shaded cage until then. This bunny had run wild in the meadow and apple orchard since birth, making him hard to catch and left his beautiful angora coat in sorry shape.
Grabbing a wooden comb and a pair of scissors, I placed him on top of the washing machine and began piercing velveted chunks of wool, separating and pulling them out. A lot of cutting went on under his neck where he is very sensitive. Rabbits naturally tuck in their chins to protect the jugular vein. Rubbing creates mats that are hard to remove in this area.
The way it works, when an Angora bunny's coat is pulled out, it grows in quickly and with beautiful, fine wool; if it is cut, less so. In the case of dense mats it can be difficult to simply pull it off--hairs that cover a wide area are bunched together.
It had taken too long to catch this bunny and harvest his coat and he had not given it proper care, even though rabbits habitually lick their wool to keep it clean. This rabbit held on to his freedom too long and was suffering for it. A few loud, high-pitched cries indicated that a bit of surface skin peeled away with the wool. I comforted him as best I could and cut around the sore areas. After completing Rehiras, the evening prayer, he was only halfway cleaned up.
I wondered, what I am doing with this precious time plucking a bunny, of all things? It is natural, chanting as I go, Guru plucking it with me--but why?
Guru spoke from my conscience, "This is what happens when a person does not tithe."
Oh, they get reborn as a long-haired rabbit? It took a stretch of my imagination, but it makes perfect sense to me now. "God processes all that God gives me," is something I pray everyday as a part of the Morning Prayer, where I bless every facet of my being.
The rabbit is a person who has held on to his income, explicitly avoiding tithing. Perhaps he thinks his wool will be needed to keep him warm in cold weather (electric bills) or, more likely, the extra cash has been used to gamble and play and imagine he is free, like this Angora bunny, his wool tangled around wild weed seeds. At least ten percent of the wool was bound down in felt-like mats, useless and unsightly. Once it is removed I throw it away.
Tithe or not to tithe--If we do not tithe, that ten percent will be taken by the universe in its clung-onto state, painfully. We feel like money is being thrown away, wasted.
The bunny tried to run away when the pulling became rough. I held onto him by a clump of matted wool, like a leash. If his coat had been slick and smooth that would not have been possible. His wool could have been put to good use--spun, dyed, and woven into wonderfully warm, soft, lightweight wool clothing, if it was not felted into mats.
Now he is in the farmyard in a spacious cage next to his brother and sister, with a white door for a roof across their complex, plenty of food and water and forever trapped. His father, Koppo, is the dominant buck, and helped me chase this guy down, at lightening speed, intent on destroying him. I saved his life. He is being kept solely as a source of Dasvandh in this new life. I mean, of really lovely gray angora wool that will blend nicely with the black wool of our graying Babydoll lamb!
Today's Hukam from the Golden Temple, Siri Guru Granth Sahib, page 613:
Raag Sorath, Fifth Guru:
We are filthy, and You are immaculate, O Creator Lord; we are worthless, and You are the Great Giver. We are fools, and You are wise and all-knowing. You are the knower of all things. ||1||
O Lord, this is what we are, and this is what You are. We are sinners, and You are the Destroyer of sins. Your abode is so beautiful, O Lord and Master. ||Pause||
You fashion all, and having fashioned them, You bless them. You bestow upon them soul, body and the breath of life. We are worthless - we have no virtue at all; please, bless us with Your gift, O Merciful Lordand Master. ||2||
You do good for us, but we do not see it as good; You are kind and compassionate, forever and ever. You are the Giver of peace, the Primal Lord, the Architect of Destiny; please, save us, Your children! ||3||
You are the treasure, eternal Lord King; all beings and creatures beg of You. Says Nanak, such is our condition; please, Lord, keep us on the Path of the Saints. ||4||6||17||
Tithing
Tithing means to give one tenth of your income to charity, to the unknown. As Sikh Dharma emerged in the western hemisphere, the tithing tradition was reawakened among us as a powerful act of giving one tenth of all God gives us back to the Divine through the support of spiritual and service-oriented community institutions.
What is the secret of the "10th"part?
Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru, told his disciples that one tenth did not belong to them, but belonged to God. When we give it back to God, all wealth and prosperity that is duly ours is revealed to us and bestowed upon us. And yet, if we fail to give God that tenth part, that "Dasvandh" that is rightfully His, that part is still due...and so there may come some unexpected expenses. It is a cosmic inevitability.
The Siri Singh Sahib Yogi Bhajan once said, "Nobody likes the tax collector. Everybody likes to get. But God is God and God loves to give: The Giver gives and gives, and only those who take take get weary of receiving."
"Dasvandh is a pure and simple business with God. The ten-fold return represents your interest and dividends already waiting to be paid to you from the profit sharing pool. To join the credit union and begin collecting your multiple returns, you must first contribute your one-tenth."
Sikh began bringing tithing offerings to the Guru during the time of Guru Nanak. Guru Amar Das, the third Guru, called upon his Sikhs to bring a portion of their crops and earnings to support Guruka langar (free kitchen).
During the time of Guru Arjan, the fifth Guru, the Guru's house fell upon difficult financial times. Guru Arjan's older brother, Prithi Chand's, dishonest acts corrupted the system of Guru's court by diverting donations to his own court and Guruka langar began to fall short of cash. Bhai Guru Das and Baba Buddha became so concerned that they went to Guru Arjan to ask what solution could be applied. Guru Arjan knew the cosmic tithing principle to bring and multiply prosperity and told his beloved Sikhs that the problem was simple--they had to collect the tenth part of everyone's earnings and contribute it to Guru's Court and Guru's Langar, providing free, blessed meals to all who came.
Twenty-two representatives were appointed who visited Sikhs throughout the entire countryside each month, bringing them news of the Guru's mission and collecting the tenth part of each Sikh's earnings to build their community bank.
Sikhs were given through tithing the realization that their concern was not merely their personal financial security. As members of a community they also had a large set of collective responsibilities. The ideal of service in this larger context became intimately connected with the concept of the community, the Sangat, where service ceases to be merely individualistic and involves a sense of community responsibility. A community sense could only arise once common purpose and mutual support were made definite and universal so that the concept of a collective trust could evolve.
In Sikh Dharma, God is often given the attribute as "The Provider." "Providing" is considered to be an important characteristic of the individual Sikh as well as the larger Sikh community. The great benevolence of the community of Khalsa pours forth from the individual contributions of each of the Guru's Sikhs combined and, like a fountain, showers blessings from the common pool on all of those who open their hearts and arms to give and receive.
The Siri Singh Sahib Yogi Bhajan told us the principle of tithing was as true then as it is true today and will be tomorrow. He said, "Do you need your future? Then give one tenth for it! It is insurance, it is paying the premium, it is a participation in your own future. It is a law of the Universe that one tenth of your income you must dedicate to God, to God's work. This law is not made by me; It is a law from time immemorial. If you say that you can't do it, it is because you do not have the endurance to do it. You do not have the continuity to do it. You do not have the values to do it."
In a lecture from women's camp July 30, 1985, entitled, "Dasvandh: A Self-Dictate", the Siri Singh Sahib told us,
"It's a most complicated matter of life...If you give one-tenth to the unknown, the unknown will give you seven hundred percent. It is true. It will give you nine occult facilities, "Nao Nidhee". It will give you 'Ataaraa(n) Siddhee', eighteen perfections, and the nine treasures, seven hundred times. And ten times always. If you totally count it and multiply it, just see how it happens. But give to the Unknown without fear. Once it becomes a habit then there is no fear. You live by habits. Fear is a habit."
"In numerology, 10 is the brightest figure. It represents the royal and courageous heart of the king. The 10th body is the radiant body--it is the golden part of the aura. It is the maximum expression we can manifest while existing in an earthly realm."
