Compassion, Dispassion and Tenderness

"Through one-pointed meditation upon three states of awareness -- compassion, tenderness and dispassion -- we gain the ability to unite with other souls. We learn to identify with all other selves through concentration upon these three emotions.

a. Compassion is the antithesis of passion which is selfish and grasping,

b. Tenderness, the opposite of self-centredness, which is always hard and self-absorbed,

c. Dispassion, the exact opposite of desire.

When we enter into these three states of feeling and understand them, we are en rapport with the soul of all..

Through compassion, one is no longer occupied with his own selfish interests; he can enter into and suffer with others. We learn to adapt our vibration so that it responds to our friend's need and thus share all that is taking place in his/her heart. We can do this by keying up our vibration to respond to the love nature of our own soul, and through this to all hearts everywhere.

Through tenderness, our activities are no longer in-going and self-centred but are out-going and inspired by an unselfish heartfelt desire to serve and aid. This state of feeling . . . characterizes all the servers of the race.  It involves active help, unselfish intention, wise judgment and loving activity.  It is free from any wish for reward or recognition. 

Through dispassion, the aspirant and server stands free from the karmic results of his activity on behalf of others.  It is our own desire which binds him to the three worlds and to others.  "Binding to" is of a different nature to "union with."  One is full of desire and causes obligation and effects; the other is free from desire, produces "identification with" and has no binding effects in the three worlds. . . Dispassion brings in the quality of lower mind, tenderness is the emotional result of dispassionate compassion ... . . while compassion concerns also the physical plane for it is the working out into physical manifestation of the two other states. Compassion is the practical ability to identify oneself with another in all the three world conditions. This union is the result of the spiritual oneness brought down into full activity in the three worlds through meditation."
(Adapted from Verse 23 of Pantajali's Yoga Sutras, Book III) 

With compassion life is vastly enriching. Focusing on these three states in meditation, we expand our capacity to "identify" with the souls of others and to use this union in very practical ways.