The Great Man Who Gave Away 30 Million Dollars

I just learned that a famous, colorful and charming American philanthropist is dead.

I had always loved his book, Ask for the Moon and Get It: The Secret to Getting What You Want by Knowing How to Ask.

His name was Percy Ross. Maybe you heard of him. Ross gave away an estimated thirty million dollars to various charities and organizations.

He also wrote a syndicated newspaper column, called Thanks a Million, for approximately 800 nationwide newspapers for 17 years. The column contained letters from people writing Ross, telling him their story and asking for his help. It was fascinating.

It was fascinating because Ross could always see through people. He would read their letters and sense if they were sincere, or lazy, or begging. And he always replied with words of wisdom--- and sometimes with a check. He gave checks 120 times per week.

And in 17 years he gave away about $30,000,000.

The thing is, Ross started with two million dollars!

Do you see the giving principle at work here?

Ross began with two million dollars as his source funds. You may not have that amount, but the story still holds true. In 17 years Ross gave away thirty million dollars!

Again, giving leads to receiving.

Consider: Have you ever experienced a situation where you were asked to donate money to a particular cause, and looking at your shrinking bank balance you were torn between giving money or not? Many people have told me stories about being in this exact situation, but after deciding to go ahead and make a donation, these same people were very surprised when suddenly a sum of money came to them from some unexpected source to replace the money they just gave away.

The truth is, if you hold on to your money, you risk losing the very thing you are hoarding. On the other hand, if you trust good things flow to those who give freely, you will always have funds available to suit your needs.

To prove this, look at Percy Ross. He started his charitable ways with $2 million dollars and yet over the course of 17 years donated some $30 million dollars!

I miss Percy Ross.

But now you can take his place.

My Great Confession

Okay, I'll confess.

I found it hard to believe I would receive money if I gave money.

It just sounded like such a con, like a strategy promoted by people who wanted me to give money to them.
Well, I was too smart for that.

I decided that I would not give money, but that I would instead give books.

That's right. Books. I had plenty of books. Since I had worked as a New Age journalist and book reviewer for many years, I had collected a lot of books. I had more than I needed. Why not give some of them away?

I still remember making the decision. I was lying in bed in Houston, where I lived at the time, reflecting on how to get prosperous.

I remember thinking, "I can become the richest man in America in terms of books."

And right then and there I decided to try out the giving principle on books.

Within days I had called a few friends over and let them pick out books. I didn't let them pick out any books or all my books, of course. But I pulled a few piles of books out and let my friends take what they wanted.

Then, over the course of the next few months, whenever I gave a talk someplace, I also gave out books. I found it a terrific way to hold attention. Whenever someone.s attention seemed to wander, I announced a free book for the next person who asked me a question.

Everyone in the room perked up.

And when I moved into this country estate where I now live, I set about 25 boxes of books in the garage. I then threw a housewarming party and had people come over. I told them that before they left, they were encouraged to go through the boxes and takewhat they wanted. Everyone did. One person took so many books that he needed a dolly to wheel them to his car.

What was the result of my grand book-giving?

Ever since the day in Houston when I decided to give books to receive books, I have always had an abundance of books.

And today I own one of the largest book collections in the world on marketing, and another on metaphysics.

People see my collection whenever they visit here and are in awe.

What they don't understand is this:

Books will always come to me because I always give books.

I was activating the great giving principle, but on books.

Today I know to give money to receive money. And as a result, I have money, far more than I ever did when I lived in Houston.

But in those early days, when I feared losing money and wanted to hold on to all I had, all I could allow myself to give were books.

As a result, books came.

Listen and learn: Give what you want to receive.


"We must not try to fix the avenues through which our good is to come. There is no reason for thinking that what you give will come back through the one to whom you gave it."
-- Charles Fillmore, Prosperity

Beware This Great Trap On Money-making

The article that gave birth to this book was called "The Greatest Money-Making Secret in History," which was a shorter version of chapter one.

That article became so popular that it was distributed to thousands of people across the Internet. Ezine publishers reproduced and distributed it. Content websites stored the article on their sites. And dozens of people wrote me, most thanking me and praising the article.

But a few of the emails I received were curious. They were from people asking me for money.

Apparently they read my article and concluded that I was someone who would give money to anyone who asked for it. So they wrote and asked for it.

The problem is, that.s not what the article describes as the great secret for attracting wealth. I never wrote, "Ask for money and you'll get wealthy." Instead I conveyed the message, "Give money to wherever you received spiritual nourishment and you'll activate the money-attracting law."

I wrote to every person who had written to me asking for money. I explained the concept.

None of them wrote back.

I'm bringing this experience up for you to consider for two reasons:

1. Don't beg for money and expect to get wealthy. Just look at the beggars on the streets. They are not living
prosperous life styles. They are just getting by, if that. Or look at the people who do fund-raising. Most of them are begging, though they would never call it that, and they never seem to have enough. Is that a clue or what?

2. Don't give money to beggars and expect to get wealthy. I didn't say don't help the poor, though it's questionable how much it helps them to hand them things. Instead, I.m saying don.t give money to people just because they ask for it and expect to turn on the universe's cornucopia.

I see giving money out of a sense of obligation or duty as a trap.

That was always the problem I had with ministers who asked people to give money because either (a) they needed it or (b) the Bible decreed it.

Either may be true. But if you or anyone gives money without a feeling of joy in your heart, it is highly unlikely that the money you gave will come back to you multiplied.

The best way to determine where to give money is to ask yourself one simple question:

Where did you receive the most joy?

And if you want further clarity, or more questions to assist you in knowing where to give money, try these on for size:

Where were you reminded of your divinity?
Where were you encouraged to go for your dreams?
Who made you feel glad to be alive?

Whatever your answer, that's where to give your money.



"Many people have had a psychological block against tithing (giving), because so many theologians have stressed what tithing would do for the church rather than what it could do for the individual."
-- Catherine Ponder, Open Your Mind to Prosperity

The Great Back-Door Secret to Wealth

I received a check in the mail today from a long-lost friend.

The check is for only a portion of the money he owes me. But since he took almost ten years to send this amount, I am glad to see it.

Ten years ago he hired me to write a detailed marketing strategy for him. At that time, I charged a few thousand dollars for such a service. He agreed to it and said he would pay. I did the work and he didn't pay.

Because he was my friend, I let the invoice slide. Months went by. Then years. Then he moved to another state. And I moved to another city. He went on his way in life and basically dropped out of my awareness. I went on my own way and fairly quickly became somewhat famous on the Internet for my books and tapes.

One day a few months ago I received an email from someone who wanted to co-author a book with me. He said he knew some of my friends, and mentioned the one who owed me money.

As soon as I saw my old friend's name, my blood pressure rose.

I felt myself get angry. I felt ripped off. Betrayed. Hurt.

I took some deep breaths and calmed myself down. I talked to myself. I reminded myself that the universe is a big place (some understatement) and that wealth can come from many avenues, not just from past invoices. I decided to forgive my friend. And I did, mentally. I sincerely let him and his debt go. I didn't need the money. And I didn't need to be right.

After maybe nine years, my friend sent me an email. He said he knew he owed me money. He explained that he had tough times, that he had moved, that he was trying to make it as a professional speaker. He added that he wanted to bring peace to our oldfriendship.

I wrote him a brief note saying we already had peace. I also invited him to pay off his invoice by sending me a check for a tiny percentage of what he owed me (about twenty percent, as I recall).

He agreed.

Well, he didn't send me a check. Not right away, anyway.

Several more months passed before I heard from him again. This time it was another email, and this time he was again explaining his situation to me.

I remained at peace. I knew I would have money. It didn't have to come from him. The universe---whatever you want to call that power bigger than you or I---would see that money came to me as long as I stayed in the flow. And being at peace is a good way to stay in the flow.

And, as I explained in the beginning of this chapter, the check arrived today.

I have no idea how my old friend felt as he wrote that check. I hope he did it with a heart full of joy. If so, he activated the moneyattracting principle.

I know when I wrote a check for $500 to my brother, who had helped me out of a bind twenty years before and I finally paid him off, I felt exhilarated. Writing that check to Ted made me feel like a king. And it gave me such an inner sense of peace that that alone was worth a million dollars.

I'm calling this sense of peace---or forgiveness, if you will---a back-door secret to wealth.

Where in your life are you holding grudges because someone owes you money? Or maybe because you owe someone money?

Let it go. Talk to yourself. Allow yourself the heavenlyawareness that the universe provides, not your friends. Money doesn.t come to you from them, it comes to you through them.

Once you can let the grudges go, you free yourself to receive.

What is True Giving?

What is True Giving? Or, Do You Have An "Equation Mentality"?

I just got off the phone with my dear friend, Dr. Paul Hartunian, publicity genius, philanthropist and true lover of dogs.

I asked Paul about giving and how he saw it working in his own life and with his own personal cause. That's when he told me something truly eye-opening.

"Too many people make an equation out of giving," he said.

"They give some money and then wait for it to come back to them ten-fold. That, to me, is not true giving."

This was a shocking statement to me.

"What is true giving then?" I asked.

"I believe true giving is done anonymously," Paul explained. "If someone gives a million dollars to a foundation because they are going to have a building named after them, then that is trading, not giving.

Paul was bringing up a valid point.

I remember a time when someone e-mailed me, asking what they should do if they try to give money to their friends and it's refused. I remember thinking, Why do your friends have to know it's coming from you? Can't you give in secret?

Paul went on to tell me something even more fascinating.

"I think the secret to giving is in not caring if it comes back to you or not," he explained. "Once you don't care, you're in the flow."

Ah, yes!

That's the secret!

Give without expecting return --- give because your heart moves you to give --- give because it.s your joy to give --- andyou're in the flow of life itself.

"All I can say is that maybe the Cosmos handles the rest," Paul told me. "I've been blessed in my life but I didn't give to be blessed. The cosmos just took care of me."

I love how Paul Hartunian explained all of this to me. He gave such a practical, level-headed view of giving.

"I have no problem with someone being recognized for giving," he added. "But if you give because you want recognition or you expect a ten-fold return, then you're not giving, you're calculating."

Paul walks his talk. Around Christmas of 2002 he sent me an email and asked if I had anything of a spiritual nature he could give to the readers of his e-newsletter. He said he always gave them publicity and money-making advice. Now he wanted to give them something spiritual.

I suggested he let his fans read the e-book version of my #1 best-seller, Spiritual Marketing. I told him anyone could read the eversion online at http://www.mrfire.com/spirit

Paul let his readers know. He was very generous to do so. After all, he didn.t make a dime off my book and never would from this endorsement. He was simply giving.

Now the punch line here is that Paul had, at that time, about 76,000 readers. That meant his gift (and my gift, too) touched a lot of lives. Paul gave from his heart. I gave from my heart. How this will come back to us, no one knows---except maybe the Cosmos.

Are you giving?


"The law of prosperity, whose first action is giving, comes so close into the heart of being that we can scarcely expect to weigh and balance it by numbers and calculations...We must give without expectation of return."
-- Ernest C. Wilson, The Great Physician

The Great Secret To Activating The Law

The lady on the phone had a question.

"I've been giving money away for years and I haven't seen my own prosperity grow at all. What am I doing wrong?"

"Where are you giving money?"

"To my local church."

"Why are you giving them money?" I asked.

"They need it."

"How do you feel when you give it to them?"

"Like I am helping them out of a hole."

"But how do you really feel when you give them money?"

There was a moment of silence.

"Well, it.s a pain," she admitted. "I cringe when I write them a check."

Not good.

"If you feel lousy when you give money, then you are associating money with bad feelings," I explained. "You probably don't want to attract more bad feelings, so you probably won't attract much more money, either."

"Wow. I never thought of it that way."

"And if you give because someone asked for it or even pleaded for it, then you are reinforcing need," I explained. "In order for you to experience increased wealth, you want to give money wherever it makes you feel good to do so. In other words, giving to someone who needs it is a noble thing to do. Do it. But that.s not the principle I'm talking about here."

"I get it!" she said. I couldn't help but think some other part of the universe was helping her understand what I couldn't explain.

"What did you get?" I asked.

"I've been keeping the church in a begging mode," she said.

"My heart wants to give money to wherever I feel spiritual nourishment. Sometimes that.s my church. Sometimes it's not."

"You got it!. I said.

And there you have it.

You can give money to any causes you like. I've helped The Red Cross, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, cancer funds, and more. But I didn't expect my finances to increase from that giving. That generosity was helping, yes, but not necessarily activating spiritual law.

The spiritual law of financial income seems to happen when you give money freely to wherever you get your spiritual nourishment, with a small expectation that somehow, some way, some day, your finances will increase as a result.

Giving to worthy causes might activate the law if you feel you received spiritual nourishment from those causes. But if you didn't, and you give anyway, you are probably just helping people in need.

That, of course, is noble. I say do it.

Again, the subject of this book is the greatest money-making secret in history. And you activate that secret when you give freely, joyously, to wherever you currently get spiritual nourishment and nurturing.

"Money is an outer form of spiritual substance."

-- Georgiana Tree West, Prosperity's Ten Commandments

The Greatest Money-Making Secret in History!

If you want money, you only have to do one thing.

It’s the one thing some of the wealthiest people on the planet have done and are doing.

It’s the one thing written about in various ancient cultures and still promoted today.

It’s the one thing that will bring money to anyone who does it but at the same time most people will fear doing it.

What is that one thing?

John D. Rockefeller did it since he was a child. He became a billionaire.

Andrew Carnegie did it, too. He became a tycoon.

What is the greatest money-making secret in history?

What is the one thing that works for everyone?

Give money away.

That’s right. Give it away.

Give it to people who help you stay in touch with your inner world.

Give it to people who inspire you, serve you, heal you, love you.

Give it to people without expecting them to return it, but give it knowing it will come back to you multiplied from some source.

In 1924 John D. Rockefeller wrote to his son and explained his practice of giving away money. He wrote, "...in the beginning of getting money, away back in my childhood, I began giving it away,
and continued increasing the gifts as the income increased..."

Did you notice what he said?

He gave away more money as he received more income. He gave away $550 million dollars in his lifetime.

Some people think Rockefeller started giving away dimes as a publicity stunt to improve his image. That.s not true. The public relations man who worked for Rockefeller was Ivy Lee. In Courtier To The Crowd, a great biography of Lee, Ray Eldon Hiebert states Rockefeller had been giving money away for decades on his own. All Lee did was let the public know.

P.T. Barnum gave money away, too. As I wrote in my book on him, There’s A Customer Born Every Minute, Barnum believed in what he called a "profitable philanthropy." He knew giving would lead to receiving. He, too, became one of the world’s richest men.

Andrew Carnegie gave enormously, too. Of course, he became one of the richest men in America.s history.

Bruce Barton, cofounder of the famous BBDO advertising agency and the key subject of my book The Seven Lost Secrets of Success also believed in giving. In 1927 he wrote:

"If a man practices doing things for other people until it becomes so much a habit that he is unconscious of it, all the good forces of the universe line up behind him and whatever he undertakes to do.."

Barton became a best-selling author, business celebrity, contributor to numerous causes, and very, very, wealthy.

While some might argue that these early tycoons had the money to give, so it was easy for them, I would argue that they got the money in part because they were willing to freely give. The giving led to the receiving. The giving led to more wealth.

I'll repeat that:

The giving led to the receiving.
The giving led to more wealth.

Today it’s fashionable for businesses to give money to worthy causes. It makes them look good and of course it helps those who receive it. Anita Roddick’s Body Shop stores, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield’s ice cream, and Yvon Chouinard’s Patagonia, are living examples of how giving can be good for business.

But what I’m talking about here is individual giving. I’m talking about you giving money so you will receive more money.

If there’s one thing I think people do wrong when they practice giving, is they give too little. They hold on to their money and let it trickle out when it comes to giving. And that’s why they aren’t receiving. You have to give, and give a lot, to be in the flow of life to receive.

I remember when I first heard about the idea of giving. I thought it was a scheme to get me to give money to the people who were telling me to do the giving.

If I did give, it was like a miser. Naturally, what I got in return was equivalent to what I gave. I gave little. I got little.
But then one day I decided to test the theory of giving.

I love inspiring stories. I read them, listen to them, share them, and tell them. I decided to thank Mike Dooley of www.tut.com for the inspiring messages he shares with me and others every day by email.

I decided to give him some money. In the past I would have given him maybe five dollars. But that’s when I came from scarcity and feared the giving principle wouldn’t work. This time would be different. I took out my checkbook and wrote a check for one thousand dollars.

It was the largest single contribution I had ever made in my life at that time.

Yes, it made me a tiny bit nervous. But it mostly made me excited. I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to reward Mike.

And I wanted to see what would happen.

Mike was stunned. He got my check in the mail and nearly drove off the road as he headed home. He couldn’t believe it. He even called me and thanked me. I enjoyed his boyish surprise. It made me feel like a million bucks. (Note that!)

I loved making him so happy. I delighted in giving the money to him. Whatever he did with it was fine with me. What I got was an incredible feeling of helping someone continue doing what I believed in. It was an inner rush to help him. I still rejoice at sending him the money.

And then something wonderful began to happen.

I suddenly got a call from a person who wanted me to co-author his book, a job that ended up paying me many times over what I had given away.

And then a publisher in Japan contacted me, wanting to buy the translation rights to my best-selling book, Spiritual Marketing.

They, too, offered me many times what I had given Mike as a gift.

A true skeptic can say these events are unrelated. Maybe in the skeptic’s mind, they aren’t. In mine, they are.

When I gave money to Mike, I sent a message to myself and to the world that I was prosperous and in the flow. I also set up a magnetic principle that attracted money to me: As you give, so you will get.

Give time and you’ll get time.
Give products and you’ll get products.
Give love and you’ll get love.
Give money and you’ll get money.

This one tip alone can transform your finances. Think of the person or persons who have inspired you over the last week. Who made you feel good about yourself, your life, your dreams, or your goals?

Give that person some money. Give them something from your heart. Don’t be stingy. Come from abundance, not scarcity. Give without expecting return from that person, but do expect return.

As you do, you will see your own prosperity grow.

That.s the Greatest Money-Making Secret in History!

"If you see it, touch it.
If you touch it, feel it.
If you feel it, love it.
If you love it...Give it."

Because NOTHING speaks to the UNIVERSE louder, of your BELIEF in self, abundance, and love, than giving.

And when the Universe hears, more will be added unto you. NOT AS A REWARD, but because you truly believed... in self, abundance, and love.
-- from www.tut.com

The Power of Giving

It was a really hot summer’s day many years ago. I was on my way to pick up two items at the grocery store. In those days, I was afrequent visitor to the supermarket because there never seemed to be enough money for a whole week’s food-shopping at once.

You see, my young wife, after a tragic battle with cancer, had died just a few months earlier. There was no insurance -- just many expenses and a mountain of bills. I held a part-time job, which barely generated enough money to feed my two young children.

Things were bad -- really bad.

And so it was that day, with a heavy heart and four dollars in my pocket, I was on my way to the supermarket to purchase a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread. The children were hungry and I had to get them something to eat. As I came to a red traffic light, I noticed on my right a young man, a young woman and a child on the grass next to the road. The blistering noonday sun beat down on them without mercy.

The man held up a cardboard sign which read, "Will Work for Food." The woman stood next to him. She just stared at the cars stopped at the red light. The child, probably about two years old, sat on the grass holding a one-armed doll. I noticed all this in the thirty seconds it took for the traffic light to change to green.

I wanted so desperately to give them a few dollars, but if I did that, there wouldn’t be enough left to buy the milk and bread. Four dollars will only go so far. As the light changed, I took one last glance at the three of them and sped off feeling both guilty (for not helping them) and sad (because I didn’t have enough money to share
with them).

As I kept driving, I couldn’t get the picture of the three of them out of my mind. The sad, haunting eyes of the young man and his family stayed with me for about a mile. I could take it no longer. I felt their pain and had to do something about it. I turned around and drove back to where I had last seen them.

I pulled up close to them and handed the man two of my four dollars. There were tears in his eyes as he thanked me. I smiled and drove on to the supermarket. Perhaps both milk and bread would be on sale, I thought. And what if I only got milk alone, or just the bread? Well, it would have to do.

I pulled into the parking lot, still thinking about the whole incident, yet feeling good about what I had done. As I stepped out of the car, my foot slid on something on the pavement. There by my feet was a twenty-dollar bill. I just couldn’t believe it. I looked all around, picked it up with awe, went into the store and purchased not only bread and milk, but several other items I desperately needed.

I never forgot that incident. It reminded me that the universe was strange and mysterious. It confirmed my belief that you could never out give the universe. I gave away two dollars and got twenty in return. On my way back from the supermarket, I drove by the hungry family and shared five additional dollars with them.

This incident is only one of many that have occurred in my life.

It seems that the more we give, the more we get. It is, perhaps, one of those universal laws that say, "If you want to receive, you must first give."

There is a little rhyme that goes like this:

"A man there was, and they called him mad,
The more he gave, the more he had."

Most times, we think that we don’t have anything to give. Yet, if we look more closely, we’ll see that even the little we have could be shared with others. Let us not wait for a time when we think we’ll have lots and then we’ll give. By giving and sharing the little we have, we open up the storehouse of the universe and permit rivers of good to come our way.

Don’t take my word for it. Just honestly try to give and you’ll be surprised at the results. Generally, the returns do not come back from those we give to. It comes back from sources we could hardly imagine. So give your way to riches.

Take a chance on this universal principle. Take a chance on yourself. Universal principles always work.

Sometimes the return from giving happens very quickly as in the true story above. Other times, it takes much longer. But be assured of this: Give and you will receive -- and you’ll receive lots more than you ever gave.

And when you give, don’t do it with a heart of fear, but with a heart full of gratitude. You will be amazed at how it all works out.

Open the gates of affluence in your life by giving a bit of what you have to those in need. As the great Teacher said, .Give and it will be given unto you..

Try it. You’ll like it.


John Harricharan is the award-winning author of "When You Can
Walk on Water, Take the Boat.. See a free sample download at
http://www.waterbook.com . Also visit http://www.insight2000.com
and http://www.powerpause.com

What is True Giving?

What is True Giving?
Or, Do You Have An "Equation Mentality"?

I just got off the phone with my dear friend, Dr. Paul Hartunian, publicity genius, philanthropist and true lover of dogs.

I asked Paul about giving and how he saw it working in his own life and with his own personal cause. That's when he told me something truly eye-opening.

"Too many people make an equation out of giving," he said.

"They give some money and then wait for it to come back to them ten-fold. That, to me, is not true giving."

This was a shocking statement to me.

"What is true giving then?" I asked.

"I believe true giving is done anonymously," Paul explained. "If someone gives a million dollars to a foundation because they are going to have a building named after them, then that is trading, not giving.

Paul was bringing up a valid point.

I remember a time when someone e-mailed me, asking what they should do if they try to give money to their friends and it's refused. I remember thinking, Why do your friends have to know it's coming from you? Can't you give in secret?

Paul went on to tell me something even more fascinating.

"I think the secret to giving is in not caring if it comes back to you or not," he explained. "Once you don't care, you're in the flow."

Ah, yes!

That's the secret!

Give without expecting return --- give because your heart moves you to give --- give because it.s your joy to give --- and you're in the flow of life itself.

"All I can say is that maybe the Cosmos handles the rest," Paul told me. "I've been blessed in my life but I didn't give to be blessed. The cosmos just took care of me."

I love how Paul Hartunian explained all of this to me. He gave such a practical, level-headed view of giving.

"I have no problem with someone being recognized for giving," he added. "But if you give because you want recognition or you expect a ten-fold return, then you're not giving, you're calculating."

Paul walks his talk. Around Christmas of 2002 he sent me an email and asked if I had anything of a spiritual nature he could give to the readers of his e-newsletter. He said he always gave them publicity and money-making advice. Now he wanted to give them something spiritual.

I suggested he let his fans read the e-book version of my #1 best-seller, Spiritual Marketing. I told him anyone could read the version online at http://www.mrfire.com/spirit

Paul let his readers know. He was very generous to do so. After all, he didn't make a dime off my book and never would from this endorsement. He was simply giving.

Now the punch line here is that Paul had, at that time, about 76,000 readers. That meant his gift (and my gift, too) touched a lot of lives. Paul gave from his heart. I gave from my heart. How this will come back to us, no one knows---except maybe the Cosmos.

Are you giving?


"The law of prosperity, whose first action is giving, comes so close into the heart of being that we can scarcely expect to weigh and balance it by numbers and calculations...We must give without expectation of return."
-- Ernest C. Wilson, The Great Physician