Baba says, ‘become a great donor‘. In bhakti, they say that when you lack something, you have to donate that very thing. So if you lacked in wealth, you donated it and so on.

Here too, Baba says, if you lack in a particular virtue, donate it to others and you will receive it.

Often times we say things like, ‘well I am good with most things but I simply lack patience…’. The method to become patient, Baba says, is to donate what little you have of it to others. In the next situation that comes my way where I see myself becoming impatient, let me with effort bring into use the little grain of patience I do have. That little donation will give me power and confidence that yes, I can do this, I do have it. And then the next time, I find myself being able to do it a little bit more and gradually, I get much better at patience.

If I feel I don’t understand a specific concept of the knowledge as well, let me try to explain it to others and that will force clarity as I work through it in my mind.

Many of us find this method counter-intuitive. We think we should wait till we’ve somehow figured everything out, and wonder how I can donate something I don’t have enough of. But Baba says, it is a great mistake to wait until I am complete. Donation is the way to becoming complete.

Don’t dwell on the weaknesses and the shortcomings, He says. Instead, focus on the positive. When I donate the Father’s teachings through my being- my thoughts, attitude, words, actions, face and behavior- I emerge and strengthen those sanskars. And so the first beneficiary is always me even before it reaches others. If I always brood over my weaknesses and defects, I strengthen them instead- where the mind goes, the energy flows.

So the next time I realize a virtue or skill I need to build up, let me find the little grain of that I have within me and donate it. That little donation does wonders.