Lord Krsna said to Shree Arjuna in the Bhavishya Uttara Purana:
“One who performs charity on a Monday when the moon is full, one obtains a hundred thousand times the results of ordinary charity.”
(What the above means is that if you donate one loaf of bread you will receive the benefit of donating 100,000 loaves of bread. Amazing, isn’t it?)
So what should one do? On this day, Lord Krsna recommends to Shree Arjuna:
“O son of Kunti, all the ancestors and devas in heaven become very satisfied when one donates food grains in charity.”
A Practical Charity Suggestion
You can donate rice or any grains, for example, to your local temple, your family guru, a priest or a poor person.
This may not be very kosher with many, but I would highly recommend this little concoction of Dipika’s: purchase one loaf of bread, one can of baked beans, one tomato and one onion. Place them in a bag like a hamper and donate it to a poor person.
This is a ready-made meal. The person can cut up the tomato and onion and mix them with the baked beans, and this can feed four or more people in a family.
It is a modern version of charity intended to make things easy for a poor person. Remember that many do not have a stove on which to cook rice, so we have to make it easy for them.
Ultimately, you must decide what to donate according to your means. I have only suggested the above. Please refrain from donating any meat items.
Why Should We Perform Acts of Charity
A question was asked recently: why should we perform all these acts of charity?
Answer: In the Garuda Purana, Lord Vishnu states to Shree Garuda-ji:
Garuda Purana Preta Khanda 13.19
“Whatever gifts are made by one during one’s life time, becomes beneficial later”
Garuda Purana Preta Khanda Chapter 14
4-5 “Anything given to a deserving person flourishes day by day. A gift wipes off the sin of the giver and the acceptance of the same by a person of good wisdom does not affect him.”
8 “I affirm that just as seeds and other valuable things invested or sown in the ground offer fruitful results so also things by one’s own hands yield fruitful results.”
12 “Therefore, life being unsteady it is incumbent on everyone to do every thing beforehand. With the food for the journey in the form of gifts offered to the deserving, one is able to travel with comfort in the Great Highway in the journey after death. Otherwise, the wretch undergoes great hardships without food to subsist on, on the way.”
Garuda Purana Preta Khanda Chapter 20
8 “Those who have offered gifts in their lifetime should not entertain any fear from Dharmaraja”
10 “Virtue can easily be procured by offering gifts. The path to Yama’s region can easily be traversed by acts of charity. This highway cannot be easily covered otherwise.”