Compassion and mercy

“I will cause all My goodness to pass before you,” the LORD replied, “and I will proclaim My name—the LORD—in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

For the LORD will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants when He sees that their strength is gone and no one remains, slave or free.

May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother along with Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.”

For the LORD will vindicate His people and will have compassion on His servants.

As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.

To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, even though we have rebelled against Him

For He says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

For judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

See how blessed we consider those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen the outcome from the Lord. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

It is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Yosei, said: All acts of charity and kindness that Jews perform in this world make great peace and are great intercessors between the Jewish people and their Father in Heaven, as it is stated: “So said the Lord, enter not into a house of mourning, neither go to lament nor bemoan them, for I have taken away My peace from this people, says the Lord, both kindness and mercy” (Jeremiah 16:5). “Kindness”; this is referring to acts of kindness. “Mercy”; this is referring to acts of charity. This indicates that when there is kindness and mercy, God is at peace with His people.

The Sages taught in a baraita: One who enters to visit a sick person on Shabbat does not address him in the manner customary during the week; rather, he says: It is on Shabbat that it is prohibited to cry out and ask for compassion, and healing is soon to come. And Rabbi Meir says that it is appropriate to add: The merit of Shabbat is capable of engendering compassion.

Rabbi Yehuda says that it is appropriate to say: May the Omnipresent have compassion upon you and upon all the sick people of Israel. Rabbi Yosei says that it is appropriate to say: May the Omnipresent have compassion upon you among the sick people of Israel, thereby including this sick person within the community of Israel. When Shevna of Jerusalem would visit a sick person on Shabbat, upon entering, he would say shalom. And when he exited he would say: It is Shabbat when one is prohibited to cry out, and healing is soon to come, and His compassion is abundant, and rest on Shabbat in peace. The Gemara asks: In accordance with whose opinion is the halakha that Rabbi Ḥanina said: One who has a sick person in his house must include him among the sick people of Israel in his prayer? In accordance with whose opinion? In accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yosei.

Lo! those who believe, and those who emigrate (to escape the persecution) and strive in the way of Allah, these have hope of Allah's mercy. Allah is Forgiving, Merciful

A guidance and a mercy for the good

Allah hath turned in mercy to the Prophet, and to the Muhajirin and the Ansar who followed him in the hour of hardship. After the hearts of a party of them had almost swerved aside, then turned He unto them in mercy. Lo! He is Full of Pity, Merciful for them

Narrated ʿAisha: I asked Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) about the plague. He said, "That was a means of torture which Allah used to send upon whom-so-ever He wished, but He made it a source of mercy for the believers, for anyone who is residing in a town in which this disease is present, and remains there and does not leave that town, but has patience and hopes for Allah's reward, and knows that nothing will befall him except what Allah has written for him, then he will get such reward as that of a martyr

Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) stood up for the prayer and we too stood up along with him. Then a bedouin shouted while offering prayer. "O Allah! Bestow Your Mercy on me and Muhammad only and do not bestow it on anybody else along with us." When the Prophet (ﷺ) had finished his prayer with Taslim, he said to the Bedouin, "You have limited (narrowed) a very vast (thing)," meaning Allah's Mercy

Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "There will be afflictions (in the near future) during which a sitting person will be better than a standing one, and the standing one will be better than the walking one, and the walking one will be better than the running one, and whoever will expose himself to these afflictions, they will destroy him. So whoever can find a place of protection or refuge from them, should take shelter in it Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "There will be afflictions (in the near future) during which a sitting person will be better than a standing one, and the standing one will be better than a walking one, and the walking one will be better than a running one, and whoever will expose himself to these afflictions, they will destroy him. So whoever can find a place of protection or refuge from them, should take shelter in it

This inner severance from the affliction of misery is spirituality. It should be practiced with determination and with a heart that refuses to be depressed.

The joys that spring from external associations bring pain; they have their beginnings and their endings. The wise person does not rejoice in them.

He who is incapable of hatred towards any being, who is kind and compassionate, free from selfishness, without pride, equable in pleasure and pain, and forgiving—

Nachiketas said: In the realm of heaven there is no fear, thou (Death) art not there; nor is there fear of old age. Having crossed beyond both hunger and thirst and being above grief, (they) rejoice in heaven. Thou knowest, O Death, the fire-sacrifice that leads to heaven. Tell this to me, who am full of Shraddha (faith and yearning). They who live in the realm of heaven enjoy freedom from death. This I beg as my second boon.

The Self is subtler than the subtle, greater than the great; It dwells in the heart of each living being. He who is free from desire and free from grief, with mind and senses tranquil, beholds the glory of the Atman.

May my life-breath go to the all-pervading and immortal Prana, and let this body be burned to ashes. Om! O mind, remember thy deeds! O mind, remember, remember thy deeds! Remember! O Agni (Bright Being)! Lead us to blessedness by the good path. O Lord! Thou knowest all our deeds, remove all evil and delusion from us. To Thee we offer our prostrations and supplications again and again.

A friend in need is a blessing; it’s a blessing to be content with whatever; good deeds are a blessing at the end of life, and giving up all suffering is a blessing. In this world it’s a blessing to serve one’s mother and one’s father. And it’s a blessing also to serve ascetics and brahmins.

suffering, suffering’s origin, suffering’s transcendence, and the noble eightfold path that leads to the stilling of suffering. Such refuge is a sanctuary, it is the supreme refuge. By going to that refuge, you’re released from all suffering.

Give up anger, get rid of conceit, and escape every fetter. Sufferings don’t befall one who has nothing, not clinging to name and form.

compassion …

“Mendicants, those who you have sympathy for, and those worth listening to—friends and colleagues, relatives and family—should be encouraged, supported, and established by you in the true comprehension of the four noble truths. What four? The noble truths of suffering, the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the practice that leads to the cessation of suffering. Those who you have sympathy for, and those worth listening to—friends and colleagues, relatives and family—should be encouraged, supported, and established by you in the true comprehension of these four noble truths.

“… suffering …”

The kings of the earth are eating up the blessings of the good karma of their past lives. Those cruel-minded rulers who oppress the people, O Nanak, shall suffer in pain for a very long time. ||24|| Those who meditate in remembrance on the Lord in their hearts, look upon even pain as God's Grace. The healthy person is very sick, if he does not remember the Lord, the Embodiment of Mercy. ||25||

People try all sorts of things, but the Lord is only met when He shows His Mercy. God is Kind and Compassionate, the Treasure of Mercy; servant Nanak is the dust of the feet of the Saints. ||2||2||47||

Kaydaaraa, Fifth Mehl: I take only the Support of the Name of the Lord. Suffering and conflict do not afflict me; I deal only with the Society of the Saints. ||Pause|| Showering His Mercy on me, the Lord Himself has saved me, and no evil thoughts arise within me. Whoever receives this Grace, contemplates Him in meditation; he is not burned by the fire of the world. ||1||

The people suffer from famine because of the multitude of taxes consumed by their superiors. It is through this that they suffer famine. The people are difficult to govern because of the (excessive) agency of their superiors (in governing them). It is through this that they are difficult to govern. The people make light of dying because of the greatness of their labours in seeking for the means of living. It is this which makes them think light of dying. Thus it is that to leave the subject of living altogether out of view is better than to set a high value on it.

Favour and disgrace would seem equally to be feared; honour and great calamity, to be regarded as personal conditions (of the same kind). What is meant by speaking thus of favour and disgrace? Disgrace is being in a low position (after the enjoyment of favour). The getting that (favour) leads to the apprehension (of losing it), and the losing it leads to the fear of (still greater calamity):—this is what is meant by saying that favour and disgrace would seem equally to be feared. And what is meant by saying that honour and great calamity are to be (similarly) regarded as personal conditions? What makes me liable to great calamity is my having the body (which I call myself); if I had not the body, what great calamity could come to me? Therefore he who would administer the kingdom, honouring it as he honours his own person, may be employed to govern it, and he who would administer it with the love which he bears to his own person may be entrusted with it.

Heaven and earth do not act from (the impulse of) any wish to be benevolent; they deal with all things as the dogs of grass are dealt with. The sages do not act from (any wish to be) benevolent; they deal with the people as the dogs of grass are dealt with. May not the space between heaven and earth be compared to a bellows? ’Tis emptied, yet it loses not its power; / ’Tis moved again, and sends forth air the more. / Much speech to swift exhaustion lead we see; / Your inner being guard, and keep it free.