Hasmukh Adhia
Love and compassion are divine qualities. They make our world beautiful. Love is expressed when we make our beloved feel special, taking due care of that person, and wishing well of her, always. Expression of love by words or proximity is optional. Love is the lubricant of all relationships – between spouses, parents and children, teachers and students, siblings, friends, co-workers and more. Without love, our world would be a mechanical contraption.
Compassion is expression of kindness through word and action. There are many people who need help. There are others who fail in life. And still others who make mistakes and end up feeling miserable. Not everyone gets the same opportunities. Hence the difference between the rich and poor, educated and the illiterate, boss and employee. Compassion needs to flow from the privileged to the less privileged. Forgiveness is also part of compassion. It comes from understanding that ‘to err is human, but to forgive is divine’. Compassion is a fundamental human urge. But it is less pronounced in some, and more in others.
The trouble is that love can sometimes get converted into intense attachment, a negative quality. For example, when a child falls sick, the mother tries to tend to her and make her well once again. That’s love. But if she starts worrying so much that she herself falls sick, it indicates attachment. In love, we remain aware of the good and bad qualities of our beloved and try to help her overcome negative qualities. But in attachment, we refuse to believe that our beloved has any bad qualities. This is usually expressed this way: ‘My child would never do this mischief.’
Love is taking due care; attachment is strong bondage. Love liberates us; attachment binds. Attachment will inevitably lead to restricting the freedom of our beloved. For example: ‘Darling, I love you so much that I can’t live without you even for a day.’ Imagine what kind of bondage this will bring! This is attachment, not love; it is counterproductive. We need to examine all our relationships in life and see who we love and who we are attached to.
Also, compassion can get converted into ‘misplaced compassion’. The term for this is ‘karpanya dosha’. In the Bhagwad Gita, it is used to indicate Arjuna’s state of mind, when he has a sudden bout of compassion for Bhishma, Drona and other relatives arrayed on the opposite side of the battlefield, as they assemble for war. He forgets that these very people were perpetrators of crimes, and so need to be treated as criminals and not as relatives. This is what was expected of Arjuna in his role as warrior.
Compassion for the poor is quite in order. But giving money to a poor person, knowing fully well that he spends all his earnings on intoxicants is misplaced compassion. Pampering a child, and giving in to all his demands, is also misplaced compassion. Forgiving one’s staff for an occasional mistake is compassion. But forgiving repeated misdeeds of an adult son is misplaced compassion. Returning a fishing trawler of an enemy country that has inadvertently entered our territorial waters is compassion, but allowing repeated incursions of enemy at our borders is misplaced compassion.
DISCLAIMER
The views expressed in the Article above are Author’s personal views and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. The article belongs to its respective owner or owners and this site does not claim any right over it. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing."
Courtesy: Times Of India, ST ,May 14 ,2019
Hasmukh Adhia
Love and compassion are divine qualities. They make our world beautiful. Love is expressed when we make our beloved feel special, taking due care of that person, and wishing well of her, always. Expression of love by words or proximity is optional. Love is the lubricant of all relationships – between spouses, parents and children, teachers and students, siblings, friends, co-workers and more. Without love, our world would be a mechanical contraption.
Compassion is expression of kindness through word and action. There are many people who need help. There are others who fail in life. And still others who make mistakes and end up feeling miserable. Not everyone gets the same opportunities. Hence the difference between the rich and poor, educated and the illiterate, boss and employee. Compassion needs to flow from the privileged to the less privileged. Forgiveness is also part of compassion. It comes from understanding that ‘to err is human, but to forgive is divine’. Compassion is a fundamental human urge. But it is less pronounced in some, and more in others.
The trouble is that love can sometimes get converted into intense attachment, a negative quality. For example, when a child falls sick, the mother tries to tend to her and make her well once again. That’s love. But if she starts worrying so much that she herself falls sick, it indicates attachment. In love, we remain aware of the good and bad qualities of our beloved and try to help her overcome negative qualities. But in attachment, we refuse to believe that our beloved has any bad qualities. This is usually expressed this way: ‘My child would never do this mischief.’
Love is taking due care; attachment is strong bondage. Love liberates us; attachment binds. Attachment will inevitably lead to restricting the freedom of our beloved. For example: ‘Darling, I love you so much that I can’t live without you even for a day.’ Imagine what kind of bondage this will bring! This is attachment, not love; it is counterproductive. We need to examine all our relationships in life and see who we love and who we are attached to.
Also, compassion can get converted into ‘misplaced compassion’. The term for this is ‘karpanya dosha’. In the Bhagwad Gita, it is used to indicate Arjuna’s state of mind, when he has a sudden bout of compassion for Bhishma, Drona and other relatives arrayed on the opposite side of the battlefield, as they assemble for war. He forgets that these very people were perpetrators of crimes, and so need to be treated as criminals and not as relatives. This is what was expected of Arjuna in his role as warrior.
Compassion for the poor is quite in order. But giving money to a poor person, knowing fully well that he spends all his earnings on intoxicants is misplaced compassion. Pampering a child, and giving in to all his demands, is also misplaced compassion. Forgiving one’s staff for an occasional mistake is compassion. But forgiving repeated misdeeds of an adult son is misplaced compassion. Returning a fishing trawler of an enemy country that has inadvertently entered our territorial waters is compassion, but allowing repeated incursions of enemy at our borders is misplaced compassion.
DISCLAIMER
The views expressed in the Article above are Author’s personal views and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. The article belongs to its respective owner or owners and this site does not claim any right over it. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing."
Courtesy: Times Of India, ST ,May 14 ,2019