On a lovely Monday morning yoga session, we discussed about Compassion and whether we understand it properly . It came out that each one of us had a different perception of Compassion. So by grace of the teacher our inquisitiveness found a direction……..to know what actually is Compassion !
So,to explain this let us start from the simple literal meaning of compassion which is “to suffer together.” Does this mean sympathy, empathy, pity, mercy are same as compassion? If we see the above meanings they all seem the same …being sad/ grieved in other person’s grief , pitying others, shedding tears over their sorrow or misfortune.
Now let’s see what is it that we are missing about the concept & quality of compassion…. it’s true meaning.
Have we ever seen or heard any professional, doctor or nurse crying seeing the patient’s pain or while performing surgery ?? These professionals , nurses, doctors, emergency service personnels ,therapists learn to strike a balance between work and themselves, to know when to say no, to live their own life…to be themselves. It would be extremely unfair to conclude that they have no compassion!!…after all they are also human beings.
Doesn’t this mean that the literal meaning of compassion is just for descriptive purpose ??
Let us try understanding from the perspective of Bhagwad Gita on this subject:
In the battle of Kurukshetra , Arjun was overwhelmed with pity toward his enemies or relatives gathered for battle. The fact that Arjun is overcome by grief and despair shows that he is himself in dire need of compassion. Therefore, the idea of his being merciful upon others was meaningless.
According to Shree Krishna’s preachings in Gita compassion is of two kinds :
- The divine compassion that God and the saints feel toward the souls in the material realm, on seeing their suffering in separation to God.
- The other is the material compassion that we feel upon seeing the bodily distress of others. Material compassion is a noble sentiment but is not perfectly directed. It is like being obsessed with the health of the car while the driver sitting within is famished for food.
Even in the holy Quran a lot of stress is paid to Compassion and kindness. It explains: Goodness does not consist in turning your face towards East or West. The truly good are those who believe in God and the Last Day, in the angels, the Scripture, and the prophets; who give away some of their wealth, however much they cherish it, to their relatives, to orphans, the needy, travelers and beggars and to liberate those in debt and bondage; those who keep up the prayers and pay the prescribed alms; who keep pledges whenever they make them; who are steadfast in misfortune, adversity and times of danger. These are the ones who are true, and it is they who are aware of God. (Al Quran 2:178)
Now for us simple human beings in simple words : a compassionate person is able to sympathise or empathise without himself being affected.
Compassion doesn’t stop with social or emotional contribution; it extends to spiritual contribution, striving to connect others with their greatest well-wisher – the Almighty, thereby doing eternal good to the complete person who is suffering.
Therefore we must cherish compassion not just as a position or an emotion, but as a foundation…..by helping to alleviate the other being’s sorrow or problem whilst being emotionally unmoved in oneself. If we are not spiritually balanced ourselves we have no strength to be compassionate….therefore our first step is to work upon- self compassion. 🙏