Lord Krishna says that “He who sees the Supreme Lord dwelling alike in all beings, the imperishable in things that perish, he sees indeed”. Seeing deeply, we become the storehouse of compassion.
‘Com’ means together and ‘pati’ means to suffer. Krishna teaches us that true compassion arises when one sees the Self in others and understands their suffering as one’s own. In effect, we exchange Self for other. But we must know our Self first. The Self is the Supreme Lord dwelling in all things.
Krishna says, “But by worship of the Lord, who is the source of all beings and who is all-pervading, man can, in his own way, attain perfection. Everyone can elevate himself to the perfectional stage by worshiping the Supreme Lord, for the Lord is the Soul of all souls.” He tells us that ‘Equal Vision’ arises from true knowledge. True knowledge is the experience and understanding that our Self, Brahman, is the same consciousness that resides in all beings.
By experiencing the oneness of all beings, compassion arises as a natural outcome of unity. Unity is the cause and compassion is what is released. The supreme compassion exists in everyone, but it must be revealed and allowed to flow through us.
But our desire for independence and self-sufficiency, our attachments and aversions, and our differentiation can cause selfishness which builds separation and walls around our heart. Compassion melts those walls.
Pity is when we see someone suffering and we put ourselves in their place and think if we were suffering, we would want help – so we help them. But this is a self-centered approach. We expect a thank you. Selfishness grows out of our sense of doership. It wants praise, fears humiliation and takes credit. In compassion, there is a recognition of unity, we are moved with love, and the one who inspires it receives love and healing.
To feel genuine compassion, we must first think well of ourselves. We do this by knowing our true Self. The nature of the Self is omnipresent, unbounded love and so naturally, when we know our Self and all beings as our Self, compassion arises within us. Compassion is the wellspring from which grace flows, so we become the grace of God in this world. This grace is the power of God that wishes to liberate all living beings from suffering and attain permanent happiness. This wish becomes our purpose, so our goal becomes the attainment of enlightenment so we may become the grace that eliminates all suffering and restores the bliss of the Self to all beings. This is the nectar of compassion.
The nectar of compassion is realized through morality, generous giving, patience and non-anger, focus on accumulating wisdom, spiritual effort to create positive thoughts and actions, following the wisdom of our teacher and meditation. This is a path of purification, wisdom and removing differentiation – a path of moving from self-centeredness and separation to unity. Our realization of ‘Thou art That’ becomes the essence of becoming compassion.
Blessings,
