Bhagavad Gita on Kindness

The trait of kindness is characterized by deeds of generosity, consideration, helping others, or showing concern for them without anticipating praise or reward in return. The study of kindness is relevant to philosophy, religion, and psychology.

Everyone receives kindness from the Lord. But despite His efforts to reach out to us, we still don’t have freedom because we are so undeserving of His kindness. All those who have attained liberation attend to the Supreme One in His abode, but the Lord is dissatisfied because there are many more people on this planet who are still in need of liberation. He, therefore, looks for individuals to whom He can, under some pretext or another, grant liberation.

In addition to those who approach Krishna with pure intentions, Krishna also shows kindness to those who do so but for other reasons.

Let’s explore these two groups. Although there are countless instances of Krishna’s unfathomable kindness towards spirit souls, we will briefly discuss two individuals from spiritual tradition:

• A person who appeared to the Lord with a pure heart, but whose actions suggested otherwise.
• One with personal agendas wrapped in maternal intentions.

Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 12, Verse 13

अद्वेष्टा सर्वभूतानां मैत्र: करुण एव च |

निर्ममो निरहङ्कार: समदु:खसुख: क्षमी

adveṣhṭā sarva-bhūtānāṁ maitraḥ karuṇa eva cha

nirmamo nirahankāraḥ sama-duḥkha-sukhaḥ kṣhamī

Translation

I hold in the highest regard those devotees who are kind and compassionate towards all living things and who are free from ill will. They are unattached to material things and are not egotistical, balanced in joy and sorrow, and constantly forgiving. They remain unified in their devotion to me, always happy, self-controlled, unwavering in their resolve, and committed to Me in mind and intellect.

Shree Krishna states the characteristics of His devoted followers

Friendly and compassionate

Due to the fact that all living things are children of the same God, devotion fosters a sense of unity among them.  The idea that others are foreign to one is eliminated.  As a result, the affability and empathy of the followers grow toward the suffering of others.

The Gita teaches that becoming godly is the surest path to good. The first of the characteristics that distinguish devotees is compassion for all living things, according to the Bhagavad-Gita (12.13). Every single living thing, including people, animals, and plants, is a priceless member of the same divine family. Only when devotion to Krishna includes the people he loves can it be fully expressed.

Therefore, the compassion of followers comes from a spiritual level rather than a social or emotional one; it comes from the very core of who they are and what they were created to be.

And it goes beyond just providing social or emotional support; it also aims to help people connect with Krishna, who is their greatest wish-fulfiller, in order to benefit the whole person. But when compassion is a cornerstone, an essential expression of one’s very existence, it endures forever and has a lasting effect.