Acharya Prashant addresses the question of whether cruelty and compassion originate from the same source. He firmly refutes this notion, stating that it is not true at all. He clarifies that while cruelty is a product of the mind, so is what we commonly understand as care and concern. True compassion, however, is not of the mind and belongs to an entirely different dimension. The speaker explains that the opposite of cruelty is not compassion. Instead, the opposite of cruelty is often attachment, possessiveness, or a form of care and concern that arises from self-interest. Both cruelty and this self-interested care are part of the mind's domain of duality, which operates from the ego as its center. The mind oscillates between dualistic pairs like hope and hopelessness, or friendship and enmity. An act is considered cruel when it is in one's perceived self-interest to harm someone, whereas an act of care is performed when it benefits those one is related to by blood, interest, or accident. As an example, a butcher slaughters an animal out of cruelty but does so to care for his family; both actions stem from the same egoistic center. True compassion, Acharya Prashant elaborates, exists beyond this dualistic framework. It is the transcendence of the limited, egoistic center and is a relationship free from self-interest. Compassion is what makes us truly human, as the egoistic center of self-interest is something we share with animals. He concludes that the idea of cruelty and compassion being two sides of the same coin is a tactic used by the cruel to justify their actions, effectively pulling compassion down to the level of cruelty. Compassion is not the ego wearing a pleasant face; it is the transcendence of the ego itself.
