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To give or not to give? Answer by Radhanath Swami.
Question: While traveling by trains I see many children begging. They seem hungry and I can’t bear the sight. When they ask for money, one side of me says I shouldn’t give them the money, for they might give it to people who’ll misuse it. My other side says that I should. What should I do? 
Radhanath Swami: Real joy comes through service – through serving without expecting anything material in return. When we do something and we get something in return, it gives satisfaction to the mind and to the senses, but it does little for the heart. Actual inner wealth is the propensity to serve, not to exploit – not to take, but to give. There are different levels of service that give different levels of inner fulfillment. Philanthropy is to serve those who are in physical or mental need. That service is in sattva guna, the mode of goodness, if it is done properly. And that gives us a higher sense of gratification than just making and taking, because it gives us a chance to express a selfless spirit of servitude. To give without expecting anything in return is love, and ultimately it is love that we are all looking for. Greater service is done when we cater to the needs of a person’s soul. While giving a person inner enlightenment, we are not just solving temporary needs which will come back in a few hours. We are actually giving them inner eternal wealth. When these children come to beg from you, in my opinion, as far as possible you should give them something. If you are afraid that they are going to misuse your money, then always carry some prasad, nice food that’s sanctified by offering it first to the Lord. Have a little bag of prasad, or a big bag of prasad, and give them prasad. You will see that the children will become HAPPY! We have an instruction for our entire congregation: wherever you go in your car, have prasad in your compartment; and if you’re walking, have some prasad in your bag, and never leave a beggar empty handed. If you give beggars money they may spend it on food, or they may spend it on drugs or they may give it to some mafia person who’s hiring them – you don’t know. But then, YOU DON”T KNOW! They may give it for food. So no harm in giving them money. But if you want to be sure of really helping them, give them some prasad, and then they will be very happy. In fact, whenever we drive in Mumbai, at the stop lights little children come running to our car, and they surround us saying, “prasad, prasad, prasad.” They jump, they laugh, and they are happy to get the prasad. Thus they get some nourishment, their bodies get some fulfillment, and they are also getting spiritually enlightened through the process. There is a certain natural guilt in our heart if you just refuse a beggar, and that guilt in the heart is your higher nature saying, “Somebody has come; you should help them if you can.”

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=18307