Gems from Young Adult Retreat 2022

By Kanna Pichappan

Last weekend, I had the good fortune of being one of the participants in the Young Adult Retreat, centered around the topic of compassion. We were surrounded by opportunities to learn: the content of readings, the compassion of volunteers, the questions of peers, and the ideas of lectures.

Below, are a few of the gems I learned over the weekend:

•  What is compassion? Compassion is “feeling together.” It is when one body is in a situation, and another body feels for and acts on it. 
  
•  Where is the Oneness that causes us to feel compassion? Our Oneness is seen in how all of us make choices that are driven by the desire to increase happiness and eliminate suffering. For example, we all may choose to have a different type of cream cheese with our bagels in the morning. However, we all choose the cream cheese that we feel will make us the happiest.
•  What is the relationship between all of us and our oneness? The "I" of the eyes, the "I" of the ears, and the "I" of the legs are all the same "I." Similarly, each of us are all the same "I." Another example is how our body parts help each other. Our right hand does not get jealous of the left hand. Similarly, it is human nature to help each other without thinking.
•  Why should we be compassionate? We should exercise our muscle of compassion because this helps us realize our true nature of Oneness.  It is our good fortune when we have the opportunity to help others and do work - because this allows us to better ourselves by exercising our muscle of compassion! Therefore, we should not expect anything when helping others! Consequently, we should never harbor the idea that "I can help the world." Whatever we do in the world is to help us realize our own perfect nature, not to fix the world.
•  Is it possible for us to truly help the world? Every one of our actions does some good, but also some bad. So, let us focus on the opportunity for moral exercise rather than "helping the world."
•  How does practicing compassion help us? When, instead of just working for this body, we start working for other bodies, we are practicing compassion. This helps free us from the body.
•  What is the reason for Sri Ramakrishna’s constant happiness? Sri Ramakrishna had realized and experienced that he was not the body. Let us put on the body when we need it and remove the body when we don't! We are all God. We just must realize this.
  

Swamiji says that rasgulla must soak in sugar syrup for the sugar to really permeate throughout it. The retreat was a wonderful opportunity for us, too, to not only be exposed to inspiring ideas, but soaked in them!