By Niranjana Swami
Much can be said about compassion, and although we’ve covered many of its different facets, there is still much more that can be said, specifically in terms of our relationships with each other as practitioners of Krsna consciousness. This whole theme expands from one line in The Nectar of Devotion—that one should not give unnecessary trouble to any living entity. This is a principle of Krsna consciousness that every Vaisnava should aspire to achieve because, as we say every day, vancha-kalpatarubhyas ca, krpa-sindhubhya eva ca/ patitanam pavanebhyo, vaisnavebhyo namo namah. “We offer obeisances to the Vaisnava devotees of the Lord, who are full of compassion for the fallen, conditioned souls.” It is a very important quality of a Vaisnava to be compassionate with others. And one of the symptoms of this compassion is that a devotee cannot tolerate seeing others suffer. It is extremely important to not criticize others. Criticizing causes unnecessary disturbance, not only to those whom we are criticizing, but also to others who have to hear it. Of course, there may be some who are not disturbed—who actually relish hearing others criticized. In a letter, Srila Prabhupada compares such persons to flies, who like to go into sores. So, some may not be disturbed, but inevitably criticism of other will cause some disturbance.