“The truest sign of Great Wealth is the ability to give – not just your money, but also your knowledge, attention and time”

—Sam Adettiwar

The Mahatman ideal of Philanthropy is borne out by the icons of generosity in today’s world. Take Warren Buffett for example, in 2006, the legendary investment guru made the now-famous announcement of giving away 99% of his wealth to charitable causes. Until date, he has already given $35.1 billion to charity, most of it to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Software mogul Bill Gates had established the Foundation in 1994 and until 2017; it had an endowment worth $50.7 billion USD, making it the largest private charitable foundation in the world. In 2010, Buffett joined hands with Bill Gates to launch The Giving Pledge campaign, which calls upon billionaires across the world to contribute at least half their wealth to philanthropic causes. All these are not just publicity measures but real ways of solving so many of the world’s problems like poverty, poor health, sanitation, education and environment.

The examples of Buffet and Gates are proof, that philanthropy is all about continuing productive action. Traditionally philanthropy has been associated with the end of life gestures when the rich man is at death’s door and as a last-ditch effort to rack up some good points with the Maker, bestows some money to the less privileged. It is time to get out of such reductive notions of Philanthropy and see it as empowering and highly motivating. Being generous to others rather than depleting your assets inspires you to do more, thus solving the problem of lack of motivation, which can occasionally plague the best of us. Indeed, the joy you get from giving makes you work more, earn more so that eventually, you can give, still more. Like Buffet and Gates, it helps you make more impact in the world and influence others into similar philanthropic action. The Giving Pledge is again a shining example – started with just a handful of billionaires, it has steadily expanded to 204 signatories, either individuals or couples, from 22 countries and covering a corpus of over $500 billion.

Now I come to the heart of this topic – more than giving money, philanthropy is about solving problems of the community and larger humanity. Indeed, there are many ways to be philanthropic and you do not need a billion dollars in your bank to put this essential Mahatman tenet into practice. You can give your time and effort to your community or the less privileged. You can coach a poor student to pass his exams or mentor a subordinate to overcome a professional crisis. Consider the sixteen-year-old Greta Thunberg making waves on the global stage with her intense commitment to counter climate change. Then again, there is Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Mathai who started grass root movements for environmental and women’s rights while Arunachalan Murugananthanam popularly known as Pad Man has revolutionized affordable sanitary health products in rural India.

What’s more, acts of generosity have been repeatedly linked to better mental and physical health in scientific studies. Research into the biological basis for generosity has found a correlation between generosity and higher levels of the neuroactive hormone oxytocin, which connects us to others and lets us understand their emotions. This sense of social bonding in turn has been linked to increased feelings of happiness in research. Another study found offering targeted support resulted in reduced amygdala activity, which in turn may lead to physical health benefits by reducing anxiety and stress.

Finally what makes the wealthy people stand apart from people with just a fat bank balance is the impulse to Philanthropy. The truly wealthy people do not stop making money but ensure that the fruits of their efforts are distributed to the community. They give funds to worthy non-profits, volunteer their time for important causes as well as share their knowledge and experience in the form of mentoring or coaching. The merely rich guys on the other hand will still be grasping and talking like it’s their last day on earth – they will take and take from their relationships, businesses, the environment – in effect their entire ecosystem without putting back a dime or an act worthy of a blessing. Such people, despite their private jets and luxury yachts are the real paupers of society since they suffer from poverty of vision and intent.

Indeed, you do not even need to possess big bucks to be truly philanthropic. A person with the mind-set of generosity can give to others even when he or she is not rich in the conventional sense. While a billionaire would be feted for giving away millions to charity, if all you can give is twenty dollars to someone who needs it, even that is philanthropy.
Unfortunately, there are people who can do nothing but judge – so if they come across a person capable of giving twenty dollars rather than 2 million or someone who can give time and effort rather than money, it is not good enough. To hell with such negative mind-set – I call them Anti Mahatman or the Antithesis of Mahatman! Such people who cannot give themselves but can only sit and judge others are the real losers of the world. Their fault-finding is yet another way of justifying their greed – rather than doing anything good on their own, they justify their toxic attitude by bad mouthing others who are being philanthropic in whatever way possible.

Philanthropy literally means love for humanity. Mahatman believes that it is important to be successful in work and business so that you can leverage it to power social entrepreneurship. All over the world, there is an increasing realization that business needs to empower the community and sustain the environment. This is intrinsically related to the Mahatman ideal of Life entrepreneurship, which is all about improving and energizing yourself to set audacious goals and meet them for the purpose of Self Actualization.