[Advaita-l] Is empathy a function of ahamkara?

[Praveen R. Bhat]

Namaste Somaji,

On Tue, Aug 4, 2020 at 11:10 PM smallpress via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> I suppose you can call it karuna. How do we accomodate this feeling of
> empathy, sadness, karuna for the sufferings of others? And how do we act in
> providing comfort if we see their suffering also as maya.
>

bAdhita ahaMkAra due to jnAna can still lead to compassion towards others.
Bhagavan Shridhara Swamiji used to say that even the comparison of the
jnAni's mind to navnIta (butter) is improper as the former melts without
any heat to itself, even by others' suffering; sarvAtmabhAva. Pujya Swamiji
(Dayananda Sarasvati) used to call compassion as a dynamic form of love, an
expression of AnandasvarUpa.

Of course, every expression needs ahaMkAra preceding, but the kind of
ahaMkAra differs due to the difference in jnAna or ajnAna of the person
expressing.

(PS: apologies to the moderators for more mails within the day)

gurupAdukAbhyAm,
--Praveen R. Bhat
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