The conversation begins with asking, about suffering, and how One who loves the Master and lives with the Master day by day might help. The Master gives commentary on compassion, suffering and co-feeling.
Master, I want to thank You for the sweet feelings of love that keep coming while I am listening to music. It seems as if from the music, thanks to it and through it, waves of elation and love for You and for everything are arising.
Happiness is the nature of man. Not the happiness coming from a favourable turn of events, which you call satisfaction, but the happiness without the ‘I’ centre, without reason, ubiquitous and all-embracing. Rejecting happiness in favour of sorrows and sufferings means turning away from Divinity.
Different spiritual doctrines teach about the necessity of having compassion for others during their suffering. Some even maintain that compassion is the highest path because it motivates to selfless activities.
Such opinions do exist. Yet love is more important than compassion. More so since compassion, as you understand it, leads to focusing on the outside world instead of the inside. Your compassion sometimes happens to be a pure feeling, but only sometimes. Therefore turn to Love asking that it will teach you to render help to others the right way, selflessly. Only love is able to change your world and really help other people.
Genuine compassion flows from love. It is the understanding of causes of sufferings associated with the work to remove them. To reach this, one should keep turning towards Divinity with love. Divinity will be able to give you the understanding and means necessary for helping others. After all, compassion should be drawing you nearer to Divinity.
Your duty is to help and work for welfare of other beings. You need insight and lots of understanding not to cause damage and not to get seriously entangled in the karma of others.
The compassion that I am now recommending to you consists in listening intently and with feeling to the sweet voice of love in your heart, where Divinity dwells. Let such compassion become your guide in life.
Does this mean that one should not empathise with our fellow-man over their sufferings and misfortunes?
A feeling of empathy is not enough. If you are able to then you should help, and not confine yourself to just having feeling. Co-feel with God and work in the world.
Ask for removal of the causes, not merely the suffering alone. Ask for love for the suffering and seekers. Ask for love and light for those living in darkness.
Direct your feelings upward, not towards human energies.
People suffer for many different reasons. Some are sick, others have lost estates, close ones, or are not able to settle their lives the way they would like to. Some meet with disappointments related to exaggerated desires and insatiable ambitions. Some stick to erroneous beliefs and shut themselves off from spiritual light. There also are those that suffer because of others being better off. You may help them by turning to Divinity and asking Divinity to take care of their problems. God does not deny the requests of people. His heart is very tender but sometimes there is simply no better means for a tough heart than suffering.
Sufferings burn up a lot of the negative tendencies of the ego. Sufferings serve for liberation and spiritual cleansing. In the deeper sense, their source is located in karma, in former acts. The sweetness of spiritual understanding and a step towards the opening of your hearts onto the tender and loving Divinity are their fruits.
Thoughts and inclinations bear fruits in the form of actions, and these meet their consequences. This principle is the expression of Divine compassion for the world. Otherwise you would destroy both the world and yourselves. Keep turning in your hearts to Divinity with the question ‘What can you do?’ in a given situation. You may always ask and pray for joy and happiness of all beings. Suffering is the Divine gift to the world. Without it you would have no inhibition and you would not be able to come back onto the right path of development.
Co-feel with the Divinity present in your hearts and it will shine out from there and will burn up negative tendencies, and in this way annul a lot of bad karma of the people you are dealing with. Love and co-feeling with God will show you the path.
Turn to the loving Divinity in your heart to find the best solution on how to help others in their suffering.