Sister Mohini shared her vision of karuna (compassion) as the paramount need of the hour .
Karuna is a Hindi word with origins from the Sanskrit Kara meaning “to do”, and it is close to Compassion in English. Karuna is state of being as part of collective human experience and doing something to alleviate suffering. Karuna or Compassion is one of the key elements of Spiritual lifestyle due to the understanding of the connectedness; inter dependence of all living beings in the World.
Karuna is the highest level of compassion and includes six basic virtues latent in every human soul. These virtues of love, kindness, mercy, forgiveness, non-violence and generosity are spread through compassion. These virtues are manifested by the soul in the form of awareness, attitude, vision and action (both speech and physical actions).
Because of the need of current crisis, compassion as a spiritual experiment to help our hearts and souls to a more elevated response, one requiring resilience and flexibility as a call of the current time.
Compassionate Love is true spiritual love involving care and consideration for everyone. It is free of selfish motives or aims and is that feeling of respect, reverence and regard to all. It is a pure intention of compassion to our individual family, community and also entire humanity.
While observing social distancing, maintaining a distance of six feet we can apply the spiritual practice of “being detached and loving”. This true love brings souls closer and at the same time being detached gives us the chance to be fully present. We can share this pure spiritual love with our eyes emitting vibrations of elevated thoughts and pure feelings which is called as “Drishti” – the sharing of soul conscious love. By greeting through Namaste by folded hands we honor the divinity in each other. With a radiant smile we acknowledge each other with peaceful greeting of “OmShanti”.
Compassionate Kindness is the ability to be gentle with self and others to go beyond a judgmental attitude. When we enhance our ability to really see with in then we are able to see and perceive our surroundings too. Compassionate kindness brings stability and satisfaction in relationships. It gives courage and strength to see every though, word and action as an opportunity to be kind in small and big ways.
Observing Cleanliness is vital in preventing spread of this infectious process and we can focus on having inner cleanliness as a path to internal safety of the soul. Every time we wash hands or wipe a surface remember that we are being kind by keeping others safe. Also take this moment to ensure that we keep our mind and heart clean of any negativity and worry. Keeping the intellect clean and clear will enhance our power to discern. Let us choose and observe such kindness.
Compassionate Mercy is a virtue, which motivates benevolence. To be of service to others gives a feeling of gratitude, something to be thankful for. It is spiritual way of understanding the essential in the expansion.
It is a balance of Staying informed and not over reacting. To gain knowledge of something is having mercy on your own self, family and community as we are able to follow the directions and advices with reasoning and understanding. At the same time, to not let yourself be merged in that sea of information by over-reading, listening and speaking about the crisis with the abundant information. Merge the expansion of waste of fear and worry and stay above by creating pure feelings of hope.
Compassionate Forgiveness is an awareness or willingness to let go of guilt and blame, which cause disturbance and distress to the soul. It is deeper state of realization of causes, symptoms and consequences of our actions. Forgiveness gives us freedom.
Be Watchful of symptoms but don’t blame. In the midst of a global crisis and disease fear, understanding that we are embracing a collective settlement for something we contributed to in some way or form. Instead of the usual response of projection, blaming and accusing, we ought to reconcile and forgive. Take this as a checkpoint to take our lifestyle seriously and to change our awareness, attitude and actions towards animals, plants and our planet.
Compassionate Non-Violence is to behave fairly and not to create fear. Our spirit’s deepest nature is to trust what is true and real. True non-violence is only possible with unadulterated fearlessness. The roots of this grow from courage of the soul and not from confusion.
Don’t become confused and perform actions driven by fear. When behaviors are driven by fear, people react in violent ways, create panic and also perform actions with discrimination, resentment, anger and prejudices. It is at such times we need to practice Compassionate Nonviolence by performing benevolent actions from our heart and play our role in coming together as one human family.
Compassionate Generosity is to live from the heart and not from the ego. Collectively as one family we need to accept the many challenges of life and be our best at these tough times. We must rise with humility, calmness and courage by being generous and opening our hearts to our people and our planet. Compassionate generosity is to live from a place of authenticity and abundance and frees us from being greedy, narrow-minded, selfish and bitter. It allows us to accept life as it comes and to not dwell in the past and expectations. Compassionate generosity awakens goodness in the soul and helps us to cultivate heart to heart bonds and to liver pure, unselfish lives.
Stop Hoarding and begin to practice sharing and caring. The stress and panic of lockdown led many people to hoard and stockpile food and other commodities with the mindset of survival of the fittest. Having compassionate generosity and reminding ourselves that “less is more” and that there is enough for everyone’s need will help maintain societal morale.
It is time for us all to rise beyond the corona crisis and respond with a collective spiritual response of Karuna (Compassion). The combined energy of Compassion/Karuna involving Love, Kindness, Mercy, Forgiveness, Non-violence and Generosity is deep with in every human soul and our collective effort in emerging these vibrations will transform the current toxic fearful state of our world.
It is a collective experiment where in we souls/spiritual beings, connect to the “source” of spiritual power – the Supreme Being and from the source radiate these elevated pure vibrations of Karuna (compassion) across the globe. It is in this way/method of Raja yoga meditation we draw the spiritual power from the Supreme Source and also ignite our own inner spiritual power in order to purify and transform the low energy of physical matter.