It’s Free, Are You?

It’s Free, Are You?

Isn’t it an interesting concept, particularly in this day and age when everything costs so much, that something could be given freely, without any expectation of a return? One such example is the Brahma Kumaris.

There are many charities and temples that provide free food and essential items to people in need. The Government also pays out millions of pounds in the UK to those who require support. My point is that, although things may be given and distributed freely, there are often conditions attached; people must prove their eligibility.

To have absolutely no notion of “sales, contract or exchange”, and to give without any expectation, is indeed a very high order.

Everything—and I mean everything—seems to have a monetary value placed on it. There are very few things on this Earth that are truly given for free, with love, kindness and generosity. And when they are, you can totally feel the positive, pure energy behind the giving.

Our prophets and the wise sages knew this truth, and they tried in many ways to teach us the power of giving without expectation.

I am not talking about things that merely seem to be free, such as WhatsApp and Facebook. As a cyber expert recently explained in a podcast, when you get an app for free, you may be paying for it in other ways. Your profile is curated through the collection of everything you tap on, search for and revisit. You are then shown corresponding advertisements and add-ons, and gradually drawn towards buying things you may not even need. So, in reality, you have paid for it after all.

Every time a price tag is placed on an object or service, something can shift. What was once an act of benevolence can become a business transaction or barter. And when expectations and greed enter the picture, even our morals can sometimes be compromised.

Sometimes friendships can be lost because one person is unable to return the same item — or something of equivalent value—that was given to them. Unfortunately, our relationships, too, can become transactional, losing some of their purity and trust. Perhaps this is one reason we increasingly feel the need to put agreements around even our most intimate relationships.

The notion of generosity means giving without a single thought of receiving anything in return. That giving is unconditional.

The more something is given with love, from the heart and with purity, the more powerful it becomes. You can feel the honesty and purity behind it, and therefore the power. It carries a high vibration.

Recently, in Beirut, Lebanon, we were passing through the mountainous area of Zaarour. We saw many trees loaded with beautiful, ready-to-eat apples. I thought I would bring some back for the family—yes, to an apple-loving country like the UK! I wanted them simply because I knew they would be sweeter and juicier.

Our kind friend drove around looking for someone to speak to about buying some apples. Eventually, we found a farmer working in the orchard. They spoke in Arabic, so I don’t know exactly what was said, but my friend told me that the farmer would not charge us. He allowed me and another friend to pick the apples ourselves. Intuitively, we felt that around twenty apples were enough.

Even though the farmer had refused any money, my friend insisted on offering him $20—more than enough to cover the cost of the apples had they been sold. But he simply refused to take it, even after all of us insisted. He could easily have pocketed the money. There was no owner or manager standing over him. But he didn’t. We tried offering other things in exchange, but again, he refused. What a pure, kind soul.

And I tell you, the taste of that apple was heavenly. Firstly, it had just been picked by me, with my own hands. There wasn’t a single bruise on it. But perhaps it tasted so good because it had been given truly from the heart, by the heart, to the heart.

In the Indian tradition, food is prepared with care, blessed and offered to the Divine in temples—even in a temple within your own home—with the intention of removing the grosser energies associated with money-making and commerce. A banana that was simply a banana a few minutes earlier becomes prasad—a sacred offering. It becomes holy food: nourishing the body and, in a deeper sense, healing the soul.

This was the original purpose of food: to be our medicine. Not to weaken or harm us, but to nourish us and strengthen our immunity.

At the Global Retreat Centre in Oxford, those who come can feel the intense energy of love, dedication and meditation embedded in everything they touch, feel and eat. With that loving kindness, everything is offered with a good heart.

Over the last few weeks, we have had a string of authentic, sincere and contemplative retreaters, many of them completely new to meditation. They may have initially been touched by what seemed like a bunch of strange or even “weird” ideas. But after living and breathing them for a while, they walk away praising the benefits and questioning themselves as to why they hadn’t recognised the logic before—or applied these ideas in their lives earlier.

There is something powerful about giving purely, authentically and freely. It is one of the ways we keep ourselves free from unnecessary karmic accounts. No one can question what you give from the heart. They may question what you bought and gave from a shop. But when the intention behind a gift is pure and loving, it goes beyond any valuation. It becomes priceless.

The Brahma Kumaris, after almost 90 years of service, do not charge for their activities at any of their centres. Everything is offered in support of the community, and the organisation runs primarily through donations.

Those of us who have experienced this trust understand that if we are to touch souls from the heart, it has to be without body consciousness, without the vibration of the physical world—and that includes, as far as possible, the vibration of money and transaction.

Nature, like God, gives everything freely. The sun doesn’t send us a bill. The trees don’t charge us for oxygen. The rain doesn’t ask what we can give in return. And perhaps when we learn to give from the heart, we are, in some small way, receiving directly from the heart of the Divine.

So perhaps the question isn’t simply: “Is it free?” The deeper question is: “Am I free?” Free from expectation. Free from calculation. Free from the need to receive something in return. Free to give. Free to love. Free to serve.

It’s time… to be free and give freely.