What is the difference between a pure soul lamenting for someone who is suffering,

and having compassion ?

Answer by  HH Radhantha Swami

You see, the difference is this; in the condition of lamentation you are hopeless. You just see the situation as hopeless and you simply lament. But if you are compassionate, you will see infinite hope in everyone’s life, and you will constructively and positively work with great determination to uplift that person. We are not concerned with lamenting. We are concerned with compassion. We are not just concerned with idly feeling sorry for someone. We are concerned with reaching out and making sacrifices to help that person through our prayers, through our words, through the activities of our life. Compassion is not just a theoretical conceptualization of the mind. Compassion is  a way of life. Compassion is expressed in everything we do, in everything we say, in everything we think.