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without compassion is certainly devoid of right-vision and therefore far from being religious or spiritually or even temporally dutiful'. Anyone who denies acts of compassion under selfcontrived explanations of the canonical literature and quote scriptures to support their misplaced and false views is like devil quoting the scriptures. Acārya Abhayadevasūri, the commentator of as many as nine canonical works, has, while commenting on the 36th aphorism of the 8th section of the fifth primary canon Vyakhyā prajñapti - that the Lords Jina have never proscribed the compassionate charity.24
Right-vision is the very first step towards the final goal of spiritual emancipation and final deliverance. There is no gainsaying the fact that only the rightly inclined and righteous souls proceed in that direction. Thus, compassion is an essential ingredient in the psychic make up and activity profile of any spiritually inclined devotee. A compassionate soul is imbued with the highest and the noblest thoughts of selfless service to not only the humans but to the entire living world at large. Selfless service has been hailed as one of the twelve kinds of penance and makes a potent means of karmic separation from the soul and resultant liberation.
Can Compassion Ever Be Sinful?
No, compassion is the noblest manifestation of humaneness, which has been hailed as one of the four (humanity, rightknowledge, right--faith, and right-endeavour in the direction of self-restraint) rarest of the rare achievements that comes about after a lot of wandering in other species.25 These four have been described, as the liberating quartet and the very crux of humanity
24
25
Vyākhyāprajñapti, Comm. by Acārya Abhayadevasūri, 8.36. "Cattari paramangāni dullahāṇīha jantuņo
Māņusuttam sui-saddhā sañjamammi ya vīriyam (”
- Uttaradhyayanasūtra, 3.1.
AHIMSA (NON-VIOLENCE): 79
