Commentary

Compassion can be defined in modern English as a strong feeling of sympathy and sadness for the suffering or bad luck of others and a wish to help them. As per Vedic scripture of the Bhagavad-Gita, practicing compassion in this kaliyuga is an important tool to heal ourselves from the misery of ones karma and every disease we suffer is a karmic effect of our past actions. Lord Krishna states in the Bhagavad-gita (6.32) that a devotee should feel universal empathy. Srila Prabhupada (The founder of ISCKON, India) translates this verse as follows: “He is a perfect yogi who, by comparison to his own self, sees the true equality of all beings, in both their happiness and their distress, O Arjuna!” In other words, a devotee of the Lord always looks to the welfare of all living entities, and in this way he is factually the friend of everyone” [1].

As per biblical scriptures, the word compassion is saturated in the entire bible and it’s a powerful healing free tool that can be practiced easily everywhere and anywhere in this universe at free of cost. The following are the beautiful phrases that show the importance of practicing compassion in every ones life to heal.

Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!

— Isaiah 30:18 [2]

Even I am taking this opportunity to comment on this eve of holy Ramadan month, that the Quran is fully loaded with the word known as self compassion and the importance of having self compassion is mentioned in various 200 phrases of Quran, for eg: “And when other relations and orphans and the poor are present at the division of heritage, give them something therefrom and speak to them words of kindness” (Al Quran 4:9) [3].

"According to Buddhism, compassion is an aspiration, a state of mind, wanting others to be free from suffering. It's not passiveit's not empathy alone-but rather an empathetic altruism that actively strives to free others from suffering. Genuine compassion must have both wisdom and loving kindness. That is to say, one must understand the nature of the suffering from which we wish to free others (this is wisdom), and one must experience deep intimacy and empathy with other sentient beings (this is loving kindness) [4]".

But we, the modern world are forgetting the real purpose of compassion due to many reasons.

As per the research conducted by K G Kearney et al. found that practicing compassion can prevent early onset of breast cancer. In his clinical study of 31 cancer subjects, he found that those who practice self compassion have no early onset of breast cancer and the findings suggest that self-compassion may be a protective factor in relation to hyper-arousal and early onset and progression of disease. He also suggested strongly in his article that practicing self compassion can reduce the health and personal cost for those who are suffering with breast cancer [5].

As per the research conducted by A Linda et al. found that practicing 40 seconds of compassion by breast cancer patients reduced their anxiety levels significantly and concluded the research with their own statement “The enhanced compassion segment was short, simple, and effective in decreasing viewers anxiety’’. Further research is needed to translate these findings to the clinical setting, where reducing patient anxiety is a therapeutic goal [6].

As per the research conducted by A Przezdziecki et al. found a preliminary evidence for a mediating role of self-compassion between body image disturbance and psychological distress, suggesting a potentially protective effect of higher levels of self-compassion for women at risk of experiencing body image disturbance [7].

To conclude, cancer is a disease of imbalance in ones cell environment and this may be happening due to lack of practicing compassion, which we forgot due to stressful lifestyle. Hence practicing compassion in ones life at least for a minute in a day can bring the natural balance into the imbalanced cell and makes to behave normal and may heal cancer.

References

1. https://www.krishna.com/enlightened-compassion
2. https://www.compassion.com/poverty/what-does-the-bible-say-about-compassion.htm
3. https://themuslimtimes.info/2013/10/29/three-hundred-verses-about-compassionate-living-in-the-quran/
4. https://www.thoughtco.com/buddhism-and-compassion-449719
5. Kearnery KG, Hicks RE (2017) Self-compassion and breast cancer in 23 cancer respondents: Is the way you relate to yourself a factor in disease onset and progress. Psychology 8: 14-26.
6. A Linda, Curbow BA, Wingard JR, McDonnell K, Somerfield MR et al. (1999) Can 40 Seconds of Compassion Reduce Patient Anxiety? J Clin Oncol 17: 371-79.
7. A Przezdziecki, Sherman KA, Baillie A, Taylor A, Foley E et al. (2013) My changed body: Breast cancer, body image, distress and self‐compassion. Psychooncology  22: 1872-79.