Acharya Prashant responds to a question about why Shri Krishna smiles at Arjun's grief in the Bhagavad Gita (2.10). The questioner finds this unsettling, as they personally want their problems to be taken seriously. Acharya Prashant begins by questioning the meaning of seriousness, asking if it means looking at a situation in the same deluded way as the person who is suffering. He uses an analogy: if you put your glasses on your head and then search for them, deeply troubled, and someone laughs upon seeing this, what is there to hate? Their laughter comes from seeing a solution or realizing the problem doesn't truly exist. He explains that someone who becomes serious about your condition in the same way you are will be of no use to you. The one who can help is the one who is not serious about the things you are serious about. The speaker explains that the desire for others to take our problems seriously stems from the ego. We feel that if something is serious to us, it must be serious to others, otherwise, our ego is hurt, and it feels like the other person is demonstrating that we are an idiot. Out of compassion, a wise person might pretend to take a problem seriously, even if it can be solved in two seconds. This is because the person suffering is not in a position to appreciate the shallowness of their own problems and takes their petty issues as the most significant thing in the world. The wise person knows that all problems are bad jokes, not even worthy of a sound laugh. Acharya Prashant defines compassion in several ways. He states that compassion is not sympathy. It is knowing that the other person is an idiot and yet applying wisdom to solve their problems. It is knowing that the other's suffering is fake, yet trying hard to relieve it. It is knowing that all sorrow is founded in ignorance, yet treating it as a genuine problem to be addressed. Compassion is being detached and yet experiencing the other's pain. A wise person relates to the suffering person as their own self from a past time, recognizing that they too were once in that state. Therefore, they will not laugh but will help. Shri Krishna does not truly laugh; he might have wanted to but suppressed it. He knows that for Arjun, his problem is real, and therefore, it needs to be addressed.