The Mahabharata, Yudhishthira And Bhishma

Chapter 58, it describes planting public orchards, with trees that give fruits to strangers and shade to travellers, as meritorious acts of benevolent charity. In Chapter 59 of Book 13 of the Mahabharata, Yudhishthira and Bhishma discuss the best and lasting gifts between people: An assurance unto all creatures with love and affection and abstention from every kind of injury, acts of kindness and favour done to a person in distress, whatever gifts are made without the giver's ever thinking of them as gifts made by him, constitute, O chief of Bharata's race, the highest and best of gifts (dāna). — The Mahabharata, XIII.59 Tirukkuṛaḷ, is one of the most

Tirukkuṛaḷ suggests charity is necessary for an virtuous life and happiness. He states in Chapter 23: "Giving to the poor is true charity, all other giving expects some return"; "Great, indeed, is the power to endure hunger. Greater still is the power to relieve other's hunger"; "Giving alms is a great reward in itself to one who gives". Chapter 101, he states: "Believing wealth is everything, yet giving away nothing, is a miserable state of mind"; "Vast wealth can be a curse to one who neither enjoys it nor gives to the worthy". Like the Mahabharata, Tirukkuṛaḷ also extends the concept of charity to deeds (body), words (speech) and thoughts (mind). It states that a brightly beaming smile, the kindly light of loving eye, and saying pleasant words with sincere heart is a form of charity that every human being should strive to give. The effect of dāna Charity is held as a noble deed in Hinduism, to be done without expectation of any return from those who receive the

Living creatures get influenced through dānam,
 Enemies lose hostility through dānam,
 A stranger may become a loved one through dānam, Vices are killed by dānam. — A Hindu Proverb,[18] Like Hinduism, many other religions such as Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism holds a similar point of view on the system of Dāna. Similarly, the term sadaqa is synonymous with Tzedakah(charitable giving, typically seen as a moral obligation among Jewish people) . So we can draw a common point by the above explanation that charity is closely related to love and duty, which is a means to eternal happiness. Further more, a question can be raised ‘do we need religion to do charity?’. Well the answer may vary from person to person. But according to the poll of 4,000, carried out in conjunction with the JustGiving website, nearly four in 10 atheists did not donate at all, compared to three in ten Muslims, Catholics and other Christians, nearly three in ten Protestants and more than four in ten