{"id":418,"date":"2020-07-04T11:23:52","date_gmt":"2020-07-04T11:23:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/?p=418"},"modified":"2020-07-04T11:23:52","modified_gmt":"2020-07-04T11:23:52","slug":"compassion-is-the-basis-of-all-morality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/2020\/07\/04\/compassion-is-the-basis-of-all-morality\/","title":{"rendered":"COMPASSION IS THE BASIS OF ALL MORALITY"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cOur prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can\u2019t help them, at least don\u2019t hurt them.\u201d<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Dalai Lama <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It was the deep-rooted love and compassion that\nmade an ordinary British nurse, Florence Nightingale serve the wounded soldiers\nin Crimean War so selflessly that she became immortal in the pages of history\nas the \u2018Lady With The Lamp\u2019. It was the compassion and care of an understanding\nheart that led Raja Rammohun Roy to fight for women\u2019s rights and start a\nmovement to abolish the barbaric custom of Sati Pratha. It is compassion only\nwhich moves us to tears and impels us to help whenever we see a woman or child\nbeing assaulted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compassion is a feeling, an emotion that arises\nwhen we are confronted with another\u2019s sufferings and feel motivated to relieve\nthat suffering. It is the language of God that ultimately guides us in\nfulfilling our duties towards mankind in the best possible manner. The greatest\nexample of compassion is Mother Teresa whose entire life was devoted in helping\nthe destitute, the ailing and the impoverished unfortunates of society. This\nluminous messenger of God\u2019s love once quoted, \u201cYou have never really lived\nuntil you have done something for someone who can never repay you.\u201d Even our\nFather of the Nation\u2019s most powerful weapon \u201cAhimsa\u201d is a by-product of\ncompassion which was instrumental in liberation of India from the clutches of\nBritish slavery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compassion never leads us astray. It is the\nfoundation stone for moral behaviour. A seed of compassion will always bloom\ninto a morally right flower. Morality is the distinction between what is wrong\nand what is right. It is the code of conduct that every human should follow.\nAnd a heart full of compassion and love will never even think of harming others\nor doing something wrong. Even all our religions proclaim the importance of\ncompassion, sympathy and kindness. Renowned as the Jewel of India\u2019s spiritual\nwisdom, Bhagwad Gita says, \u201cWhen a person responds to the joys and sorrows of\nothers as if they were his own, he has attained the highest state of spiritual\nunion.\u201d Buddhism also places great emphasis on compassion or \u2018karuna\u2019. As per\nBuddhist beliefs, Compassion is the very essence of a spiritual life because\nall Buddhas are born from it. A famous story of Bhai Kanhaiya Ji, a disciple of\nShri Guru Teg Bahadur Ji (ninth of ten Gurus of the Sikh religion), throws\nlight on the concept of \u2018sewa\u2019 which is based on compassion has always restored\nour faith in humanity since eternity. During skirmishes between Sikhs and\nMughals, Bhai Kanhaiya Ji served water to anyone who was thirsty,\nquenching the thirst of the dying and wounded soldiers without discriminating\nbetween the enemy and allies. When Guruji received complaints about the benevolent\nactions of Bhai Ji, he summoned him and asked an explanation to which, Bhai\nKanhaiya Ji replied, \u201cYes, my Guru, what they say is true. But Maharaj, I saw\nno
\nMughal or Sikh on the battlefield. I only saw human beings. And, Guru Ji, they\nall have the same God\u2019s Spirit\u2014Guru Ji, have you not taught us to treat all\nGod\u2019s people as the same?\u201d The Guru was very pleased with the reply. He smiled\nand blessed Bhai Kanhaiya and said, \u201cBhai Kanhaiya Ji, you are right, you\nhave understood the true message of Gurbani. From now on, you should also\nput the balm on the wounds of all who need it\u201d. No wonder the news of Sikh\nvolunteers helping thousands of forlorn refugees across the borders keep\nflashing every other day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is absolutely necessary to understand that this\nfeeling of solicitude should not be limited to species of Homo sapiens solely.\nRather we need to spread our good vibes to a larger cosmos of which we are a\npart of. Having compassion and empathy for the furry, feathered and finned\nfriends is vital for preventing cruelty towards animals. Animals in our society\nare treated as non-living, non-feeling objects and yet they are not. They\nsuffer, just as we do. We need to develop a tender attitude towards animals so\nthat we can stop the inhuman way that they are treated every single day. In the\nwords of Mahatma Gandhi, \u201cThe greatness of a nation and its moral progress can\nbe judged by the way its animals are treated.\u201d It would not be wrong to say\nthat people guided by emotions like compassion and love help to create a\nharmonious atmosphere for both humans and animals and hence contribute towards\na progressive nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the major question to ponder upon in this\n21st century is that in our country where moral science is taught from a very\ntender age as a means to inculcate values, principles, ideals and virtues,\nwhere the mythological tales of benevolence and the doctrines of various\nreligions are conscientiously broadcasted to us from time to time and where\nevery antithetical stance is rebuffed by the moral police of the country, why\nare incidents of apathy and indifference shooting up. Almost every day we come\nacross harrowing accounts of people being bashed up, molested or dying and no\none coming forward to help. Why is this mockery of morality in India surging?\nWhy we are becoming so self-centred that we have started to live by the phrase,\n\u2018Apathy for all, Empathy for few\u2019. Has Indian society built up blocks or rings\naround it, where benevolence hardly ever radiates beyond the closed circle of\npeople we know? The honest answer is that the moral values taught in schools\nhardly take a practical form and are left confined to pages of books. The\nhardest task kids face today is learning morality without witnessing any. Lack\nof compassion and love for all is the reason behind negligence of moral duties.\nAs per a famous saying, \u2018Children close their ears to advice,\nbut open their eyes to example\u2019. If we want our society to\nprogress morally, then qualities like compassion, kindness and love should be\nwired deep into the hearts of children. And this can be done by practising and\nnot by preaching. Happiness and harmony can prevail only by practising\ncompassion. Until we do not extend our compassionate hand towards humanity,\npeace and prosperity will not prevail. The appalling condition of Iraq and\nSyria is a contemporary example of this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, it is explicit that good moral values sprout\nin a heart where love and compassion exist. Hence, Arthur Schopenhauer has very\naptly quoted, \u201cCompassion is the basis of all Morality.\u201d           <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cOur prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can\u2019t help them, at least don\u2019t hurt them.\u201d \u2014Dalai Lama It was the deep-rooted love and compassion that made an ordinary British nurse, Florence Nightingale serve the wounded soldiers in Crimean War so selflessly that she became immortal in the pages of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":420,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418\/revisions\/420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}