Guru Dakshina

Shri Sai Baba emphasized the importance of giving Dakshina as the giving of Dakshina was to remove devotees’ attachment to wealth, ego, and possessiveness, teaching them the virtues of charity, surrender, and detachment. Baba often said, “Give with faith, give with magnanimity, i.e. liberally, give with modesty, with awe and with sympathy. If I take one rupee as Dakshina from anybody, I have to return it tenfold to him. I never take anything gratis. I never ask anyone indiscriminately; I only ask and take from him whom the Fakir (God) points out. If anyone is indebted formally to the Fakir, money is received from him. The donor gives and sows his seeds, only to reap a rich harvest in the future. Wealth should be the means to work out Dharma. If it is used for personal enjoyment, it is wasted. Unless you have given it before, you do not get it now. So, the best way to receive is to give. The giving of Dakshina advances Vairagya(Non-attachment) and thereby Bhakti and Jnana. Give one and receive tenfold”.

In order to teach the devotees, the lesson of charity and to remove their attachment to money and thus to purify their minds, Baba emphasized the giving of Guru Dakshina.

-[Shri Sai Satcharitra- ch. 35]

Offering Guru Dakshina