18th June, 1997

Chapter 1 - The You That You Want To Change

Day 48 - Compassion

There are 2 types of compassion. One is the compassion of the wise,

one is that of the ignorant. An ignorant person’s compassion is towards the fruit of an action to alleviate the sickness or suffering that he witnesses but a wise person’s compassion is toward the lack of knowledge to remedy the underlying reason for sickness or suffering. 

Compassion for suffering shows ignorance. Suffering comes because of karma and if you believe in karma, where is compassion? You reap the fruit of your actions. If a judge has compassion for offenders, then the jails will be empty. But are judges cruel to offenders? No. 

The judge’s compassion is for the lack of knowledge he sees, not for the suffering of the criminals. It is the criminal’s karma. Often people think compassion is an act, an action. Know that compassion is your very nature. Then you will see that karma and compassion are not contradictory but rather complement one another. 

Suppose two people come to a hospital. One is suffering from starvation, the other is ill from overeating. What type of compassion should the doctor have toward each of them? This is a riddle for you to solve.