1. Give in charity fifty percent

    Similarly, the family life, those who are… Yajna-dana. Dana means charity. A grhastha, those who are living in family life with wife and children, they are expected to give in charity as much as possible. That is also service.

    Suppose you are earning $1,000 in a month. So according to Vedic instruction, you should give in charity fifty percent of your income. Five hundred dollars you should give in charity. And twenty-five percent you should spend for your family and twenty-five percent, as you are a family man, you may have it as bank balance so that in case of emergency you may require it. This is the prescription. Suppose you are earning $1,000 a month. You should give in charity for God’s service fifty percent, and twenty-five percent you should spend for your family, dependents, and twenty-five percent you may have in a bank balance so that… This is the point.

    So yajna-dana, this is also sacrifice, sacrifice. So yajna-dana and tapah. Tapah means penance. So the students are meant for sacrifice, and the grhasthas, the householders, are meant for giving in charity, and so far we are concerned, just like sannyasis, we are meant for tapasya, penance.

    Srila Prabhupada — Lecture on Bhagavad-gita 4.24-34, New York, August 12, 1966