Compassion

Once there was a monk who lived on the top of a beautiful hill. He was practicing meditation for the last twenty years. An old lady took care of all of his needs while he was meditating. Feeding someone for twenty years is a very long duration of time. He was sitting in zazen and doing nothing. One day out of nowhere a thought came to her mind, Is he really transformed? She wanted to take a test on him. She found a very beautiful girl who is full of desire. She was very cute and had attractive eyes.

An old lady sent her to the monk's hut in the middle of the night. She started caressing him after entering the monk's hut. After some time she told him and now what? "An old tree grows on a rock in winter", replied the monk poetically. Nowhere is there any warmth. The young girl told the entire incident to an old lady. The old lady was burning in anger. She told her he needs not have responded to her passion but he must have shown compassion towards her. She realized that she had wasted her precious twenty years on the wrong person. She burnt the monk's hut in anger.

This is a very beautiful story and is full of insights. Before analyzing it, let's understand some fundamentals of life. People mistakenly believe that Pleasure, Happiness, and Bliss are the same thing. Even though all of them point in the same direction but they are quite different.

Pleasure: Pleasure is a psychological phenomenon. Intake of sugar is an example of Pleasure. It gives instant gratification. It is first-order positive but second-order negative. Addiction to instant gratification is very detrimental to long-term growth. Continuous intake of sugar leads to obesity in the future. Some more examples of instant gratification are scrolling on Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, etc. Activities that lead to growth are always first-order negative but second-order positive. Doing regular exercise seems very painful at the moment but you will reap the benefits of a healthy body in the future. Pain is temporary but wisdom attained in the process is perennial.

Happiness: Happiness is a psychological phenomenon. The fulfillment of ego is the reason behind happiness. It is dependent on the fulfillment of a desire. The more the number of desires, the more will be the chances of remaining unhappy. Happiness restricts freedom. It creates bondage. Freedom is our ultimate goal. Unconditional love is an antidote to an Ego. The ego always thinks about oneself and Love always thinks about others. Be more and more loving without asking anything in return.

“Desire is a contract that you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want.” Naval Ravikant

Bliss: Bliss is the feeling of oneness. It's like merging with the whole. It is like throwing a piece of salt into the sea. As it moves deeper and deeper, it loses its identity and becomes one with the sea. Similarly, when you move within yourself(Sea) then the ego(Salt) keeps on losing its grip over you. The dissolution of ego is the beginning of enlightenment. A man of enlightenment is without any desire. He reaches a point where there is no temptation left. He is simply blissful. Bliss is uncaused. It doesn't depend upon any condition. Meditation is the means and bliss is the end.

There is always a reason behind unhappiness. There won't be any reason for blissfulness because joy is your being. Joy is your innermost core. Look at trees, birds, clouds, and stars. If you have eyes then you will find that the whole of existence is joyful. Everything is simply blissful. They are joyful without any reason. They are not going to become Prime ministers and presidents. They don't have any bank balance. Look at flowers it's unbelievable how blissful they are.

People think that concentration is same as the meditation. They are poles apart from each other. Let's explore Ordinary Thinking, Contemplation, Concentration, and Mediation to understand the above story.

Ordinary Thinking: A mind is an associative machine. It jumps from one thought to another as a monkey jumps from one branch to another. Thoughts originate in the mind with respect to some stimulus. For example, you are walking on the street and saw a cute puppy. Dog acts as a reminder that you were bitten by it when you were a kid. Now you leaped to your childhood. In your childhood, you are very fond of vanilla ice cream. From vanilla ice cream your thoughts move to the marriage party where you last ate it.

Thoughts keep coming like this for on and on. A vast amount of energy is wasted unless you become aware of the entire absurdity of the mind. Don't cooperate with the mind when you are stuck in such patterns of thoughts. There are generally three types of thoughts: Positive thoughts, Negative thoughts, and Neutral thoughts. Depressed people are the victim of negative thoughts. The basic understanding of the workings of the human mind is the first step in moving beyond the mind.

Ordinary Mind

Contemplation: Contemplation is an act of directed thinking. Scientists and logicians are pros in contemplative thinking. While solving a particular problem, Scientists screen out the rest of the thoughts and put a laser-like focus on the problem. The mind is not allowed to move in all directions. In contemplation, it is moving in a particular direction.

Scientist's Mind

Concentration: The mind is focused at a particular point in concentration. It is not even allowed to move in any direction. It is like staring at a dot. The mind becomes tense if concentrated for a long duration of time. Concentration is an act of effort. The mind needs some rest after concentration. Never mistake the concentration as same as meditation.

Concentrated Mind

Meditation: Meditation is the art of doing nothing. It is a state of no thoughts. You simply are to enjoy your existence. It is a sheer delight. It comes from nowhere or everywhere. It is uncaused because existence is made of stuff called joy. Controlling your thoughts is not going to help you in any way. This is not the right way to destroy the tree of desire. The way is to cut its roots and roots can be only cut if you have reached the roots of desire. On the surface, there are only branches - jealousy, anger, envy, hatred, and lust.

“Meditation is a way for nourishing and blossoming the divinity within you.” Amit Ray

The deeper you move, the more you will understand that they are coming from one root named unawareness. Meditation means awareness that cuts the root. The whole tree will disperse on its own accord and the passion becomes compassion. In meditation, there is no need to exert any effort. Observe your thoughts in your free time and become aware of the observer who is observing the thoughts. The observer within you is immortal, eternal, and beyond time.

Meditative Mind

The foundation is built and the time has come to analyze the story.

Once there was a monk who lived on the top of a beautiful hill. He was practicing meditation for the last twenty years. An old lady took care of all of his needs while he was meditating. Feeding someone for twenty years is a very long duration of time. He was sitting in zazen and doing nothing.

In the East, people understand the value of an enlightened person. He is overflowing with tremendous energy and his energy will be shared by all. It is more than enough that he is meditating. He is very silent and blissful. All his care will be taken by other people because people know the power of meditation. Buddha moved with the thousands of monks and people were very happy to share food with them. Those values have disappeared with the passage of time. The values have not disappeared in the old lady. That is why she is taking care of the monk while he is in meditation.

One day out of nowhere a thought came to her mind, Is he really transformed? She wanted to take a test on him.

The old lady became very old. She is almost on the verge of death. Twenty years is a very long time. She wanted to test, Is he really transformed. The monk is in meditation and doing nothing. She wants to see the fruits of her actions. Hence, she decided to take a test on him.

She found a very beautiful girl who is full of desire. She was very cute and had attractive eyes. An old lady sent her to the monk's hut in the middle of the night. She started caressing him after entering the monk's hut. After some time she told him and now what?

In Russia, a scientist named Pavlov performed an experiment on a dog that is widely known as the Pavlovian experiment. He wanted to prove that a mind is an associative machine that works on the principle of positive and negative conditioning. In his experiment, he rang a bell before the food was given to a dog. Repeating this behavior for a long period of time creates conditioning in the mind of a dog.

The tongue of the dog starts dripping after hearing the bell. Even though there won't exist any correlation between the bell and the intestine of the dog. This is an example of positive conditioning. Some people start punishing themselves whenever any intimate thought came to their mind. Repeatedly doing this will create a negative association in the mind. The brain starts repressing these thoughts due to the fear of punishment. It is an act of conditioning that has nothing to do with transformation.

An old lady is a woman of great understanding. The old lady knows the tricks of the brain. Therefore, she sent a beautiful girl to a monk's hut in the middle of the night. The monk has renounced society for a very long time. As the girl starts caressing him, one of the three possibilities arises:

First: The monk has renounced society and hadn't seen any beautiful girl for the last twenty years. On seeing such a tremendous beauty, he might be attracted by her and start making love to her.

Second: He has conditioned his mind as Pavlov did with a dog. Twenty years is a very long time. He might have developed negative associations with such thoughts. If that was the case then transformation has not happened yet. He will simply become cold towards others.

Third: He has attained what leads to the dissolution of the ego. All of his energies are transformed into compassion. He becomes a man of warmth that is reflected in his eyes. He becomes very loving and caring towards others.

"An old tree grows on a rock in winter", replied the monk poetically. Nowhere is there any warmth.

The monk has developed a negative association with attraction. He becomes very cold and egoistic. Love always thinks about the other. We are the means and other is the end. The ego always thinks about himself. We are the end and the other becomes the mean. All of his energies become dead. He becomes like a stone. No transformation has happened to him.

The young girl told the entire incident to an old lady. The old lady was burning in anger. She told her he needs not have responded to her passion but he must have shown compassion towards her.

According to the old lady, he needs not have responded to your passion but he must have shown some compassion. Passion is very hot and feverish. It is always in search of happiness. Those who have attained will become very compassionate towards others. Compassion is very warm. You will feel compassion when you go near your mother because her love is unconditional towards you. Compassion is unaddressed and is not in search of any gratification. Compassion is an expression of blissfulness.

If the monk has attained then he must have looked into your eyes with unconditional love. He will say, why do you come here in the middle of the night? What do you want? No one will come here in the middle of the night. Why have you chosen me out of so many? His warmth is enough to turn your passion into compassion.

She realized that she had wasted her precious twenty years on the wrong person. She burnt the monk's hut in anger.

It is just a metaphor to show that the old lady has wasted her precious twenty years.

Compassion and love is the ultimate outcome of meditation. There are two ways to attain them. One is the path of devotion and another is the path of meditation. In devotion, one becomes drunk for God. He becomes so receptive that he allows the divine to enter in you. Surrender is the path of devotion. In meditation, one forgets about the other and becomes crystallized. One takes all his energies within himself. Devotion and Meditation are the two ways to traverse the inner world.

If meditation is making you cold then beware and if it is making you warmer, more loving, and more flowing then you are on the right path. If you are becoming less loving, compassion is disappearing, and apathy is setting inside then change the direction. Otherwise, you will become like a wall.

Whatsoever you are towards yourself, you will be towards others. If you love yourself then you will love others. If you are flowing within your being, you will be flowing in relationships also. If you are frozen inside, you will become frozen outside also. Inner tends to become the outer, the inner goes on manifesting itself in the outer. Sacrifice the outer to preserve the divine inner.

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Photo by Egor Myznik on Unsplash