Janmashtami is celebrated all over the world as the birth day of lord Krishna. Lord Krishna is known around the world as the preacher/messenger of love.

He has also given the idea about the way to lead the life which is documented as preaching to Arjun in the “Bhagvad Geeta”. There have been lots of incidences penned as small stories of Krishna to teach the common man about basics of life. One  such story is :

Once Krishna and Arjuna were walking towards a village. Arjuna was pestering Krishna, asking him why Karna should be considered an unparalleled Donor & not him ?

Krishna, turned two mountains into gold. Then said,  “Arjun, distribute these two gold mountains among villagers, but you must donate every bit of it “. Arjun went into the village, and proclaimed he was going to donate gold to every villager, and asked them to gather near the mountain. The villagers sang his praises and Arjun walked towards the mountains with a huffed up chest. For two days and two nights Arjun shoveled gold from the mountain and donated to each and every villager. The mountains did not diminish in the slightest.Most villagers came back and stood in queue within minutes. Now Arjun was exhausted, but not ready to let go of his  Ego, told Krishna he couldn’t go on any longer without rest.

Then Krishna called Karna and told him to donate every bit of the two gold mountains.

Karna called the  villagers,  and said “These two Gold mountains are yours. ” and walked away.Arjun sat dumbfounded. Why hadn’t this thought occurred to him?

Krishna smiled mischievously and told him “Arjun, subconsciously, you were attracted to the gold, you regretfully gave it away to each villager, giving them what you thought was a generous amount. Thus the size of your donation to each villager depended only on your imagination. You expected in your subconscious for people to praise you for your donation. Karna holds no such reservations. Look at him walking away after giving away a fortune, he doesn’t expect people to sing his praises, he doesn’t even care if people talk good or bad about him behind his back. That is the sign of a man already on the path of enlightenment”.

Giving with an Expectation of a Return in the form of a Compliment,Thanks or similar deed is not a Gift, then it becomes a Trade.

We all pretend to be “Karna” in our life but majority of us act as “Arjun “. We share, we do little good things for others but the continuity of that relation depends on the trade meaning the thought always comes up “I did so and so thing for him/her and s/he didn’t reciprocate the same when my time came” or “I did such and such thing for him/her and s/he did not even acknowledge it”, some people can go up to the extent of making other realize “I did it for you”. We forget that we don’t have to maintain the balance sheet of our karma as a trader , what we do or don’t do is between us and that supreme power . We might be just the chosen one by him to reach to desired person. The day we will learn this lesson we all will come to peace with our soul. “Give without  expecting anything in Return.”