COMPASSION
I
first experienced it when I looked at a photograph of Ramana Maharishi, the
intense compassion in those eyes. I understood it in Buddha’s words “Compassion
is that which makes the heart of the good move at the pain of others. It
crushes and destroys pain of others. It shelters and embraces the distressed”.
28th
June is now designated as ‘Compassion Day’. As I sat down to read the newspaper
in the morning, with my cup of coffee, I stopped before I took the first sip.
The first page of the ‘Times of India’ read “You can turn the page or turn a
life around” in bold letters. I did turn the page for it was easier to do that
than turn a life around and it did not stop me from having my coffee. The paper
also said ‘Today is not just a new day, but a new beginning’. How many times
have I told myself that I should do something that could alleviate the
sufferings of others? That thought has only stayed in my mind but never
executed. There is a certain inertia which I guess arises out of the fact that
I fear it may destabilise my position of comfort.
The
first question I ask myself is ‘Can compassion be taught?’ No, you cannot teach
a person to be compassionate because it is innate and rises from the core of
your heart. You may pity a person for the suffering he is undergoing and try to
mitigate this by offering your help in which ever way it is possible for you. But
in all this a sense of doership arises. You can always pity someone but you can
only ‘be’ compassionate. Compassion arises out of selflessness and when I say
this I am reminded of Mother Theresa who had dedicated her entire life caring
for the less fortunate amongst us. A touch or a look is enough to convey
compassion or even lending an ear to the sufferings of others. The healing
touch we call it.
The
second question that arose was ‘How do I become compassionate?’ when I said
that compassion rises from the core of one’s heart I recognise that it is innate
in every being like all other qualities that we attribute as a characteristic
of an individual. That it is not
recognised is because it has been buried under layers of all our selfish
impulses cultivated during the process of our growing up. How do I dig out that
compassion from the depths, I find the burden heavy.
Why
did I have to write all this down? It is because after the disaster that struck
Uttarkhand when thousands of lives have been literally washed away something
has been tugging at my heart, not that there have been no disasters in the
past, in fact I was there in Ahmedabad at the time of the earthquake. Every time
such a thing happens there is an initial shock and a sense of pity at the
suffering that had been unleashed. Subsequently I may have even nurtured the
feeling that I was lucky not having been there at the scene of disaster and
thanked God that my near and dear ones were safe. I speak for myself for I find
that I drift back to my world of comfort and may be waiting for the next
disaster to feel bad again. I have
always found excuses as to why it has not been possible to sustain that initial
surge of pity that engulfed me
This
is a confession, for I realise that the answer to my second question lies in the acceptance of that element of
hypocrisy that governs my life. That perhaps is the new beginning and the way
to becoming a person capable of compassion
4 comments:
The relief one feels that he or his relatives escaped the tragedy and the grstitude to God therefor is also a God-given feeling about which there is no need to feel guilty. But the more problematic issue seems to be how one needs to show the compasion. Some actually go the disaster site and give physical help. Some donate, in cash and kind, to relief funds, NGOs etc and some others satisfy their conscience by rationalising that all these donations are misused /looted by the relief-organisers
Pity is easy. We pity someone who is worse off than us. In circumstances or situations. Pity is actually not a good feeling. We are quite lofty when we pity someone.
Compassion on the other hand is empathy with our fellow beings. We feel compassionate and can actually try to mitigate their sorrow by our action of a feeling of oneness. If something is done with compassion then we do not feel the stress or strain of being compassionate. Because it is as if we are doing something for our own self.
Compassion need not be for all those who lost their lives in some tragedy. It could be for all those who are a part of our life.21
Pratap Singh Rathaur: I have gone through your nice thoughts in re compassion.Compassion is normal part of the make up of most of the human beings and we exercise it regularly in day to day lives.In some cases it goes to funny lengths e.g., feeding dry flour to the ants and keeping water troughs for the birds in the parks.You are adequately compassionate in your routine life.Your concern is however about the demonstrated compassion at the time of natural calamities etc.,Well,there also a very large number of people render all sorts of help in a naturaL way by offering succour to the distressed without a thought for any publicity.I have seen this and lent my hand at the time of train accident, violent storm and saving a girl from eve-teasing in the train.However, at the time of a major calamity like earthquake etc., majority of the pareson get benumbed by fear seeing the devastation.They cannot be blamed for being frozen with fear.The ostentatious part of political or NGO brand of compassion (?),well,that is a different cup of tea and let us not talk about it.You are adequately compassionate and need not worry on this account.
7 hours ago · Unlike · 1
We bury our compassion deep within because it allows us to carry on with our lives without guilt...guilt of not being able to contribute or make a difference. I remember that day in June 2010 when a body lay shattered in the congested traffic of Madras. Life just continued around the lost being as if it did not make any difference. Does that mean all compassion is lost?
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