Chapter 8: Compassion makes me human


When I think of compassion and unconditional love, the person who exemplifies it in my life is my mother. For me my mother is a living goddess, Devi Lakshmi, the epitome of compassion. It isn't possible to put her love in words, let it be in my heart, it is too sacred to be written. There is unconditional unbound love for my mother and for my sons! How can I express? Compassion also emanates from the unconditional love that we are. It is compassion and kindness that makes us human. There is no point in being supposedly spiritual and not being compassionate. Those who are compassionate are spiritual in practice.

Life flows through the heart. It cascades like a water fall through all the other faculties needed. This life force utilizes the mind and intellect as and when needed and has access to infinite knowledge and intuition. This flow of the river of life expands outwards infinitely as Compassion. I feel it radiating like ripples from my heart.

If I live from my mind and intellect then this life force doesn't flow. I'm stuck in my head and in my ego, and thoughts veil the heart. I have used so much intellect in my life that now I need to turn the switch. To understand Hindu scriptures requires a lot of intellect, however when spiritual knowledge dawns it purifies the intellect! There is so much Rasa in these Hindu texts. Rasa loosing translates to divine nectar. It is not like science where everything is an object, everything is cut and dry in Hinduism everything is alive, the whole creation is a living organism. All Hindu scriptures are written as poems and sung in various rhythms, and there's that heart aspect to it, so that the knowledge has both the intellectual aspect (left brain) and the creative aspect (right brain).

For someone like me who's existence is focused so much within, it's important to bring balance by being awareness about the outside. There needs to be this balance inside and outside. As I was telling my son, inside you need to feel freedom, devotion and compassion; outside you need to be energetic, dynamic, and skillful. I have spent lifetimes with the journey inward. Our Hindu scriptures talk so much about turning inward and focus  a lot on the individual, this has made me disconnect somewhat from the world. Now that I focus on the outside world I realize there's a lot to learn!

I need to express my compassion, which I take for granted I already have, or I am. Only this can overcome a lot of my short comings in dealing with people, in overcoming my anger, etc. Now that I am bringing attention and awareness in engaging with people and situations it's bringing so much knowledge and happiness. It makes me see the live force within others. If only each one could only see this life force within all and the same life force everywhere, it will do away with so much conflict and hatred. Compassion has made me happy as it has improved my relationships.

What I project is exactly what gets reflected back to me. Even a hint of negativity comes back to me as conflict. When compassion flows to the other then the other person also responds in peace with love. Amazing!
So I need to live, act and speak from the heart, all the time. See like I tell my, "Do this, do this, do this. You didn't do this. Have you done this? Why didn't you do this?". So much in the head, focused on what needs to be done, that everything needs to be perfect, not letting go. So his reaction also reacts from the head, heartlessly. And if I move from the heart, speak with love and sweetness, "Beta (son) did you do this? Can you please do this? I know you must be tired, so much to do and remember. But you're so much better, you're such a wonderful son. Love you! :-)". Then he also responds with so much love, wow! And there is a connection!! Our hearts are bonded! Rajshree (an Art of Living teacher) told me once that I need to work on connecting with people. She said, "You need to do that nu-nu na-na with people". Meaning I got to be nurturing, caring and spoiling people with my love, like a woman, a mother, a wife, should be. I'm working on it...
I am so focused on knowledge, on being perfect, on content (as Rajshree said). But see knowledge is embedded in compassion!

So much anger comes in seeing imperfection in people and situations, make one imperfect in the process, isn't it? So much conflict comes in seeing right and wrong in people, their opinions, their actions. Compassion is more important that right or wrong. Like Rumi writes: "Out beyond the field of wrong doing and right doing there is a field, I'll meet you there." With compassion it's possible to bring about change in the imperfect without resistance, reaction and conflict. Isn't it?

Compassion is needed because people are imperfect, even the most cruel and evil person. To see through their imperfections and see that human within who is just like me. I am also imperfect yet I still love my inner core which is perfect, knowing this brings compassion for myself and others. When that tenderness comes in the heart I will see just that pulsating life in everyone and realize we are all the same. The more compassion I have the more humanness I see in the other person, their ignorance, imperfection and negativity as their suffering so how can I react to them. To the level I am centered in compassion, to that level I am comfortable with imperfections in people and situations. That brings peace of mind, that brings happiness, that brings freedom. Sri Sarada Devi (wife of Ramakrishna Paramahansa), an enlightened being, also called the Holy Mother by her disciples, was an embodiment of compassion and love of a mother. Her last words were: "I tell you one thing. If you want peace of mind, do not find fault with others. Rather see your own faults. Learn to make the whole world your own. No one is a stranger, my child; the whole world is your own."

If only I could love everyone as One, as a small mirrors reflecting the same creator. Love has meaning when I love the life in the other, otherwise it's just an emotion. What beauty this love has! It's ability to connect with every heart instantly without a spoken word, just an immense presence, a flood of sweet nectar. With this love and compassion I break free from this cage and I find I can bring so many smiles, so much happiness, light up someone's eyes, just by the mere presence of this compassion! In each eye I see, it's me, it's me, it's me everywhere! Like a light among lights, a drop among drops of this ocean. My heart speaks the language of love, each cell brimming with ecstasy! Only with love does life become a song, only with this song does life become a dance! I dance in this imperfect world - untouched! I smile, I see life everywhere like an ocean, our bodies just shells, with life within and life without. I am always at home!

Compassion should be the foundation on which the pillars of knowledge are built. Love should be the basis of all expressions of existence. Established in compassion one should have dispassion. With these two it brings out the best skill in dealing with problematic people and situations.

Compassion doesn't mean accepting injustice from others. Krishna tell Arjuna that it's your Dharma (duty) to fight for justice and it's Adharma (unrighteous) to take injustice, in fact stupid, and very few people realize this.

Only from compassion can come service to others, only with compassion can one forgive.It is compassion and love that dissolves the ego and bring humility. Compassion is the fountainhead of all other virtues. Buddha embodied compassion and the Dalai Lama speaks so much on it. Jesus was the messenger of love. Krishna embodied divine love. The basis, the fabric, the essence of all spiritual-religious traditions is love and compassion. Love like Existence and Consciousness are the substratum of existence, if established in one the other two come along like three legs of a stool. God created love equally in all humans, universally, unlike intellect which He distributed differently. Therefore from an illiterate pleasant to the President of a country, each one has the same love even though the expressions may differ.

Compassion has also opened me to receiving from others, got me listening to others. When I'm so caught up within it cuts people out, I'm not so sensible and sensitive to others. It is compassion that has melted my own concepts and opinions, I listen to others more and accept others just the way they are, with a smile. However; acceptance is within, doesn't mean I accept negative people and not do anything. No! I am still dynamic in action. First accept the fact that someone doing or saying something immoral / unethical and then so something about it. This is one of the points in the Art of Living course also.

Showing compassion to others should come with dispassion. Those who are sensitive and get so involved in helping someone else in a problem, get entangled and drown themselves. It is good to help someone but also maintain a distance within. Like a doctor who cares for a patient without becoming emotionally involved or miserable himself. At another level of understanding it is good to know that suffering comes from a person's own ignorance and past Karma. So while caring for others is one's Dharma, also remember that this is all a play of Karma.

The knowledge I practice is the knowledge I have gained the rest is still in theory which I'm still working on imbibing. Knowledge in practice are virtues and values. Krishna lists twenty values in the thirteenth chapter of the Gita, and in the sixteenth chapter how these manifest as traits of a noble person These are prerequisites to spiritual seeking. So one should live this knowledge as values, this will automatically make one spiritual. If values are like the beads, love and compassion is the thread, and this necklace once woven is adorned by the Self.

In a world that is becoming so oriented towards technology and so busy, where life is getting so complex and values seem to be degenerating, let me, let us, revive this compassion. Compassion is simple, natural and universal! It will lead to happiness...