What is the spiritual perspective on organ donation?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
so regarding organ donation if we donate our organ to someone are we taking that person’s karma how should we behave in such situations actually this is elaborate subject in which there are multiple factors involved every action that we do we have to recognize that there is always some interaction of karma that happens and that alone should not be the only factor which determines what we do say for example if we just focus too much on karma then we may lose awareness of what is our dharma what is our duty if a baby is crying and the mother says the baby is crying because of her past karma it’s ridiculous isn’t it the mother has to think what is my duty in this situation so when the baby is crying I should comfort the baby if somebody slips and falls they slip and fall because of their karma no we would become very heartless by such an attitude so that is definitely not desirable the principle of karma is not meant to make us heartless there is a natural human tendency to help others and that is not meant to be suppressed that is meant to be channelized the problem comes when this tendency to help others is restricted only to material help and we don’t think of helping people in higher spiritual terms so for example if a child is lost, if a billionaire’s child is lost and somebody comes and offers some person comes and offers the child some food somebody else comes and offers some clothing somebody comes and offers some medicine somebody else comes and offers some toys all this is good but if somebody comes and takes that billionaire’s child back to the father that is the best service but others are also trying to help according to their capacity but what they are offering is not the best so like that when devotees share Krishna Bhakti with others what they are doing is they are connecting the soul who is the beloved part of Krishna connecting them back with Krishna so that is a form of help which is not being offered in today’s world by many people and that’s why devotees focus primarily on offering that help now while offering help in that way there are other forms of help which can also be offered now how much one can offer that how much that will vary according to time and place so now suppose we give money to someone before I was introduced to Krishna Consciousness I was a part of a social welfare organization and we used to go to underprivileged areas and we used to teach various school subjects I was a part of an organization that was doing that so one of my friends I used to go to nearby slums and one of my friends used to go to nearby village and then we found that when they went there they found that the children they were not educated properly they were not able to study and understand the subjects we used to do that but often the children in their houses, their parents especially their father would be alcoholics and they would just wreak havoc with the finances and they would sometimes lose in that they would be physically abusive and we realized that actually just offering the children some education that’s only a very small part of the solution for them so then we also started offering some sort of education for helping the children their parents to get off alcohol and that helped to some extent but then the elections came up and then the local politician the local political candidate he came to that village with four trucks of alcohol free for everyone and not only the parents but even the children took it and then at that time and I had my friend now are we really helping people so then what we recognized that was a time when we felt that we need to empower people not just in terms of providing education or wealth or food these are important but equally more important is to empower people to change themselves empower people to change themselves so that they can become break free from undesirable habits and that is what spirituality offers us so our primary focus is when we connect with Krishna we become free from the lower drives that drag us down and the more people become free like that the more they can contribute constructively to their own future as well as to the future of others so there is when there is no understanding of this higher spiritual help, at that time any form of material help that seems to be the only way we can help, that seems to be a very laudable way to help and anybody who says that we should not help materially that can seem very heartless so now as far as helping materially is concerned suppose Bhagavad Gita talks about charity in three modes, goodness passion and ignorance normally you would think that charity is very good but suppose a person is drunk and a person comes out of a bar and he sees a beggar and this person takes out a bottle and gives him and now that is charity but what kind of charity is that say that person drinks that alcohol and then goes and abuses the family after that that is horrible that is destructive charity so here is a simple example when we talk about karma we should not necessarily think in terms of abstract terms sometimes we may give people things with good intentions but good intentions alone are not always good enough so we have to also help people to make wiser choices so charity in the mode of ignorance means people are inclined to act in wrong ways and we help them to act in wrong ways further so that is undesirable and the spiritual charity where we help people to connect with Krishna and to purify themselves of their lower urges that is the best so just as giving alcohol to a person who is likely to be abusive that can be actually dangerous similarly there is an understanding that if we help people to do certain actions by our charity and those actions are undesirable then that is bad so for example if we help people to if we donate let’s say eyes to people and then those people abuse their eyes for certain things then that does that give us some karma? yes, we empower them to do those things so then we will get some karmic reaction for that and that’s why every charity has to be done thoughtfully this does not mean that we should not give organs when we give organs to some people they may abuse them and that is a factor which needs to be considered but that is not the only factor that needs to be considered yes, people may also use their eyes for good purposes and if they use it for good purposes then yes, as compared to a person who doesn’t have eyes, if they have eyes that’s definitely very good they can do so much more with that particular organ as compared to without that organ so now should devotees give charity? generally speaking as devotees the overall mood is we don’t interfere inordinately with the process of nature the process of nature we don’t interfere inordinately with those processes now what does inordinate interference with processes mean? the process of nature that can vary according to time, place and circumstance so for example say if we are connected with a person who will be benefited by that organ donation and we know that person we have a relationship with that person and that donation is going to help that person not only do things properly better in their lives which they are not able to do because of the lack of organ and they are also connected with us and later on by their appreciation for what we have done or what someone connected with us has done if they become more spiritually favorable towards spirituality and their chances of coming closer to spiritual truths increases then that organ donation is favorable and then in that situation it can be done.
So for example devotees have a hospital where in that hospital certain organ donations are done and then people have that whole process of organ donation in a spiritual atmosphere where their chances of not just becoming materially benefited but also becoming spiritually elevated they are also there so in such situations their organ donation is favorable so rather than blanket statement about whether organ donation should be done or should not be done the point is we all have to recognize that any form of material charity has to be thoughtfully done and if we are empowering people, are we empowering people to do right things or are we empowering people to do undesirable things, we have to consider that and overall if it helps people to come closer to higher spiritual truths then such charity is favorable and if it is not going to interfere with our own bodily behavior of our own conduct whatever it is then that is not considered that is favorable now some people may have some individual sentiments you know say the body traditionally the body is in some cultures it is buried in some religious traditions it is burnt cremated and some people may feel that the body should not be disfigured nothing should be changed in the body there should not be any any removal of any part in the body that is a feeling that some people have then it should not be that understanding that this body was a gift given to me by God and I use this body and now this body has come from nature it will go back to nature if that is the understanding that certain people have that should not be considered as wrong so it’s yes if they feel yes nature gave me this body and now this body goes back to nature in whatever form it is so it will depend on individual circumstances and individual consciousness so there are in spirituality there are principles and there are preferences and to make matters of preference as matters of principle that is fanaticism so matters of preference means that these are matters of individual choice so His Holiness Radhanath Maharaj was once asked that suppose we are writing suppose we are studying scripture we are studying say Bhagavatam if we are studying Bhagavatam at that time should we underline the Bhagavatam should we mark on the Bhagavatam so Bhagavatam is Shastra it is Krishna and how can we mark Krishna how can we make any scratch on Krishna it should be kept as it is another devotee said no but you know if we underline Bhagavatam we mark something we highlight something it becomes so much easier to find that point later to read it better and then we can understand Bhagavatam better we can serve Bhagavatam better by speaking on it more effectively so what should we do so Radhanath Maharaj replied that yes when we are treating Bhagavatam as a deity and we consider Bhagavatam as a deity and we don’t want to underline it that’s fine that’s one attitude somebody else may think Bhagavatam is a deity and when I am underlining it that is like decorating the deity which is also fine so here what is important is individual consciousness so the principle is that the Bhagavatam is to be served the preference may be one preference may be Bhagavatam is served just by keeping it as it is another preference may be Bhagavatam is served by underlining so like that devotee always wants to help others and according to our capacity we should always help others but the principle of helping is a principle but the way in which help may be offered that is a preference and whether organs are to be donated or not and how they are to be donated or in which situations to donate that is a preference that has to be determined by individual people according to their conscience and according to their circumstances consulting those who are consulting our well-wishers, our spiritual guides we can make that decision does it answer your question? yes