He who is not hateful to any being, who is friendly and compassionate, free from attachment and egoism, even-minded in pain and pleasure, and forgiving; ever content, steady in meditation, self-controlled, possessed of firm conviction, with mind and intellect dedicated to Me, he, My devotee, is dear to Me. Friendly and compassionate Not only is he free from hatred towards those who show malice and do harm as described above, but he also practices friendliness, mercy, and compassion towards them. Meaning, he acts for their well-being, and when they are in distress, he helps them in their suffering without any selfish motive. God Himself is the well-wisher of all living beings, therefore, a glimpse of God's nature is also reflected in that devotee. Therefore, devotees also show a tendency to do good even to offenders and to help them in times of distress. In Patanjali's Yoga Darshan Darshan Seeing. To see with admiration and devotion. To see Bhagvãn, a sat-purush, and murtis, with inner or outer vision, with the intention of receiving their grace and blessings. By doing darshan properly a bhakta develops affection for Bhagvãn, and Bhagvãn develops affection for that bhakta. [Sãrangpur – 2]. Tap to open in glossary → To react in kind towards those who harbor malice or do harm to oneself may perhaps be justified from the standpoint of justice, but by doing so, one certainly defiles one's own pure heart. To welcome the Supreme Lord into the heart and to maintain the purity of the heart, the devotee turns back from that path and practices friendliness and compassion on the path of purification. God has included all four practices here within just these two: friendliness and compassion. He maintains a feeling of friendliness towards the happy and virtuous, and a feeling of compassion towards the suffering and sinful. Compassion can easily be felt for those who suffer, but to show compassion towards those who cause suffering is found only in rare individuals. Only one who has God in his heart can display this. It is a quality of the Supreme Lord alone. By the grace of the Supreme Lord, only true devotees, who are His heirs, can practice it. The implication of the word 'eva' in the verse is also the same: that they maintain only friendliness and compassion even towards those who harbor malice and do harm. Free from attachment All of these are byproducts of selfless service (nishkam seva yoga). If selfless service is performed properly and smoothly, then these qualities come. One does not have to force them. And if these have not come, it means that selfless service is not being performed properly. Free from attachment: devoid of attachment towards the body, senses, and their relations. If our heart is a home of jealousy, how can it be connected to God? It cannot be. Therefore, all these virtues come to him automatically if he is truly connected to God with a selfless attitude. If he is connected to God with a selfish motive, they cannot come. That is all. Devoid of attachment towards the body, senses, and their relations. Although the devotee feels friendliness and compassion towards all living beings and is pained by their suffering, he still has no attachment towards anyone. The world suffers because of attachment. It is attachment to living beings and material objects that binds a person to the worldly existence. A devotee is entirely free from such attachment. Free from egoism To be pained by someone's suffering, but that should be out of compassion, not attachment. An attached person also feels pained by someone's suffering, and a compassionate person also feels pained by someone's suffering. But there is a difference between the two. What is the difference between these two types of suffering? What did you understand? He suffers involuntarily. An attached person, even if he does not want to suffer, suffers anyway. It happens as a result of karma karma Action. Deed. Any thought, word, or deed that will sooner or later reap its consequences. Karmas of a person are linked to their rewards (cause and effect). Bhagvãn is the giver of the rewards of the karmas; good deeds reap pleasant rewards, and bad deeds reap painful fruits. Karmas remain with a jeev until it has received its rewards. Tap to open in glossary → And the compassionate person takes it upon himself voluntarily. Therefore, one who voluntarily accepts suffering finds happiness in that suffering. He finds happiness even in that suffering. When we perform penance, if it goes well, are we not pleased? What else have we done otherwise? But we did it voluntarily. If someone had imposed it upon us, saying 'you will not get food today,' then what? Just see how that goes. One would complain until evening. Would they complain only until evening, or would they continue to complain even afterwards? Because someone imposed it on us. So, the suffering of compassion and that of attachment are like that. The suffering of compassion is taken upon oneself voluntarily. It is a sign of one's absolute generosity and greatness. Whereas suffering out of attachment is one's helplessness. So, there is this compassion and friendliness, but also 'free from attachment and egoism' (nirmamo nirahankarah). Moreover, he has no ego and no attachment. He does not have that worldly attachment. AI translation of the Gujarati transcript above, produced in the same pass that transcribed the audio, one English segment per Gujarati segment. Devotional and technical terms with no precise English equivalent (kirtan, satsang, vasana, samskara, and similar) are kept as their plain transliteration rather than force-translated. Not human-proofread., AI-translated, unverified · Source details