Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 10.10.14
Manvantara· The Manus and right dutyRecognizing Shared Pain Encourages Compassion
“By seeing their faces, one whose body has been pricked by pins can understand the pain of others who are pinpricked. Realizing that this pain is the same for everyone, he does not want others to suffer in this way. But one who has never been pricked by pins cannot understand this pain.”
What the purport teaches
- Someone who has been pricked by pins can recognize the same pain in another. Understanding this shared experience, one does not want others to suffer.
- The purport explains that actual experience helps one understand pain and happiness in the material world.
- The laws of nature bring consequences for killing animals. The purport explains māṁsa as meaning that the animal one eats will have the opportunity to eat one in return.
Try this today
Before one action affecting another living being today, pause and consider how you would feel in that being's position.
Ask yourself
How can a painful experience of my own help me avoid causing pain to another living being?
Carry the question through the day, then answer it in your own words before sleep.
The study points, practice and question are short summaries drawn from Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport. Read the full purport to go deeper.