Compassion, Tenderness, Dispassion
The Light of the Soul - The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
Some understanding of this will come if the student will compare this sutra with one in the [Page 287] first book (Sutra 33). The union here dealt with marks a step further than the previous attainment. In that, the nature of the aspirant is being trained to harmonious peaceful association with all around him. In this, he is taught to identify himself with all other selves through concentration upon what are sometimes called the "three states of feeling." These are:
a. Compassion, the
antithesis of passion which is selfish and grasping,
b. Tenderness, the
antithesis of self-centredness, which is always hard and self-absorbed,
c. Dispassion, the
antithesis of lust or desire.
These three states of
feeling when understood and entered into, put a man en rapport with the soul of
all men.
Through compassion, he
is no longer occupied with his own selfish interests but enters into and
suffers with his brother; he can adapt his vibration so that it responds to his
brother's need; he is enabled to share in all that is taking place in his
brother's heart. This he does through
the keying up of his own vibration to respond to the love nature of his own
ego, and through that unifying principle all hearts everywhere are open to him.
Through tenderness,
that compassionate understanding works out into practical expression. His activities are no longer in-going and
self-centred but are out-going and inspired by an unselfish heartfelt desire to
serve and aid. This state of feeling is
sometimes called mercy, and characterizes all the servers of the race. It involves active [Page
288] help, unselfish intent, wise judgment and loving activity. It is free from any wish for reward or
recognition. This has been beautifully
covered by H. P. Blavatsky in The Voice of the Silence in the following words:
"Let thy Soul lend its ear to every cry of
pain like as the lotus bares its heart to drink the morning sun.
Let not the fierce sun dry one tear of pain
before thyself hast wiped it from the sufferer's eye.
But let each burning human tear drop on thy
heart and there remain; nor ever brush it off until the pain that caused it is
removed.
These tears, O thou of heart most merciful,
these are the streams that irrigate the fields of charity immortal."
Through dispassion,
the aspirant and server stands free from the karmic results of his activity on
behalf of others. It is, as we know, our
own desire which binds us to the three worlds and to others. "Binding to" is of a different nature
to "union with." One is full
of desire and causes obligation and effects; the other is free from desire,
produces "identification with" and has no binding effects in the
three worlds. Dispassion has more of a
mental quality than the other two. It might
be noted that dispassion brings in the quality of lower mind, tenderness is the
emotional result of dispassionate compassion and involves the kamic or astral
principle, whilst compassion concerns also the physical plane for it is the
working out into physical manifestation of the two other states. It is the practical ability to identify
oneself with another in all the three world conditions.
This union is the
result of the egoic oneness [Page 289] brought
down into full activity in the three worlds through meditation.
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