According
to mundane perception, feeling of others' anguish alone is regarded as compassion. For
instance failure to shed a few tears in a condolence function earns you the title of a
cruel and stone hearted human. Only formal or etiquette oriented sympathy and compassion
are visible in the world. The current convention for the common man is to do good to a
good guy and vice verse. A low level person makes others the target of troubles. The elite
possessing uncommon caliber, however, behave righteously even towards an evil doer. In
this way the former induces the latter towards betterment.
The
seed sown in life breeds in due course of time. Dragging out a sprouting seed from the
soil amounts to intercepting the operation of nature. The seed must come to naught because
it grows according to nature’s dispensation. Agonizing a bad guy on the plea that he
must meet his deserts, cannot be reckoned as a right venture. The reason is that we can
entertain good intentions, undertake external supervision but nothing more. Questions like
the proper stage of punishment, its time and quantum are beyond our wit. Our function is
to do good till the last. In this connection we often hear that a wrong doer must be
punished to save him from rigid maturing of such a habit. True, but the questions the determination of the type of punishment and who should be
entitled to punish. On this point the wise think that the punishment should elevate and
reform the errant, not deprave his psyche. It is relevant to add here that the punishing
authority should be free from evil. The Bible says in this context that some opponents of
Jesus had the grievance that he does not accept the injunctions of scriptures. One day all
of them together presented an elderly lady before Lord Jesus with the charge that she has
committed such a sin. The penalty prescribed in the scriptures for that sin was that every
way-farer should hurl a stone at her. The aforesaid opponents wanted to observe whether
Lord Jesus awards the foregoing punishment to that lady. The Lord heard them and said
serenely that he agreed in principle to the proposed punishment, but the first stone
should be hurled by the person who has never committed sin. This response of Lord Jesus
caused his opponents to bow their heads and return. That elderly lady took a pledge
before the Lord to renounce that vice.
In
the event of physical illness of a person, we express our sympathy towards him. He is
helpless and unable to do even his routine jobs. Likewise, if a person afflicted with
desire, anger, avarice and egoism, does not behave properly, he too is entitled to get
sympathy from us just like ailing guy. In fact the world is a scene of struggle—nay,
a dense jungle of reeds. Vices are flourishing in the world and go on multiplying despite
our endeavours to end them. Fed up with pervasive evils, the common man starts scorning the world. But hatred is hardly a solution of the
problem. Unconsciously, the cynic himself feels attracted to sin, and may be influenced by
the prevailing sins any moment. A compassionate man possessing a psyche of high standard
is, however, well aware of the bitter fruits of vices and sins. He comprehends their
genesis, centre and ultimate end. He never accepts these vices. In brief the world
deserves compassion and not hatred enveloped as it stands in the waste land of vices.
Hence it is noble to love the vilest of humans in order to elevate him to be a good
fellow.
Eradication
from human heart of the element of evil and assist him is an act of compassion. It is
indeed a high state of psyche to put up calmly with the feeling of having been tormented
by someone and to abort vindictive spirit without feeling inferior. Hence our guiding
principle should be to impart solace and peace to all living beings. This quality reflects
a broad vision, a noble trait. It is associated with God’s grace. This is indeed the
essence of super consciousness—of God knowledge.