anna miDuTa kanna adhika dAnambula
nenni cEya nEmi enna bOru
annamenna jIvanAdhAra magunayA
viSvadAbhirAma vinura vEma.
ENGLISH GIST
When a person gives away many charities, without giving free food to the hungry, nobody is going to count. Food, in comparison, is the pre-requisite for survival. (It must rank first.)
ybREMs:
*Bill Gates must read this. He was campaigning, impressing on the world's billionaires to give away large amounts as charity.
*We have a story in AsvamEtha Parva of Mahabharata. A hungry family of four were about to eat some pan cakes made after several days of starvation. A guest appeared at the same moment and sought food. One by one, all the family members gave away their food to satiate the guest's hunger. After testing them, the guest disappeared. The family died out of hunger. A mongoose which accidentally came into contact with the remnants of the powdered barley used for making the cake, got its head turned into gold. There was no barley flour left to convert remaining body of the mongoose into gold. The mongoose went on visiting the sacrifices conducted by kings, to get itself into touch with the sacrificial offerings and get its skin converted into gold. The conversion did not happen. The mongoose visited Yudhishthira's horse sacrificial venue, with a hope that Yudhishthira's sacrifice will match the sacrifice of the hungry family. The mongoose again failed.
