The Challenge of Compassion
7/7/2026
As I mentioned in my last post, what is distinctive about the invocation to Vishnu are its four pauses:
there are two on the way up along the human journey,
and two on the way down along the Divine journey.
I think these pauses form, in relation to surrounding chakras, a kind of sound metaphor pointing to the basic challenges of progressing from the human to the divine and back.
Have a look at the following and I’ll explain what I mean by the Challenge of Compassion below.
Most of us human beings, myself included, prioritize and act mainly from the lower three chakras. These are:
The root chakra, focussed on grounding, safety and security.
The sacral chakra, focussed on fertility including sexuality and pleasure but also creativity and emotional balance.
The solar plexus chakra, focussed on self-esteem and power.
The first thing that struck me about the Vishnu invocation is that the 1st pause happens after the first three chakras (1-Sa, 2-Re, 3-Ga), suggesting that what is coming next is different, requiring a leap across a gap, and doesn't just automatically flow. In other words, this first pause suggests that something different is needed to progress beyond the lower three chakras to the next three, which are:
The heart chakra which opens us up to the energies of love, compassion, and connection.
The throat chakra, which is the main pathway for communication, self-expression, and truth.
The third eye chakra which grants us intuition, wisdom, and imagination.
It seems to me the invocation is telling us that the first step for a human being to truly connect with their divine nature is to open their heart fully. And that is the Challenge of Compassion. And beyond the heart, we are challenged to open our voice and understanding to other sentient beings as well. Of course, we do this naturally with friends and family. But compassion is challenging for us human beings precisely because - for most of us, most of the time - our hearts, voice, and minds remain closed to most other sentient beings except those whom we feel somehow belong to us or are extensions of ourselves.
Of course there are very good reasons for this. But it seems to me all these reasons find their logic in the lower three chakras, which kind of reinforces the point.
The next post is about the Challenge of Surrender.