How News Media Triggers Curiosity, But Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Awakens Compassion
This is not just an air crash story. It’s a wake-up call about what we’re feeding our minds—and who we’re trusting to guide our hearts.
Recently, while praying for the victims of the Air India crash, I was struck by a sobering realization: news channels and the media are not our friends. When my prayers are driven by what I’ve seen or read in the news, they often feel shallow, almost theatrical. There’s some emotion, but it’s mostly on the surface. It’s like being moved to tears by a well-edited movie trailer—it touches, but it doesn’t transform.
News media feed sugar to the brain. They give you a high, a kick—like a cheap dopamine rush. When I read or watch a tragic story and then pray, I find that the compassion I feel is often curiosity-driven. It’s reactive and compulsive, not meditative or transformative. I realized I wasn’t being led to Krishna. I was being pulled into the noise. Then I remembered this line – “The devil’s greatest triumph is not temptation, but distraction.”
But something completely different happens when I pray after hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In that sacred space—when I’m connected to Krishna through His names and His stories—my heart opens in a different way. My prayers feel fuller, deeper, and more rooted in spiritual identity. I’m not reacting to a headline; I’m responding from the soul.
Curiosity-driven compassion arises when the world entertains me into feeling something.
Connection-driven compassion arises when Krishna awakens the heart to see others as His.
The former is sentimental. The latter is sacred.
“śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ
hṛdy antaḥ-stho hy abhadrāṇi vidhunoti suhṛt satām”
“To those who hear about Krishna with sincerity, He enters the heart and removes all inauspiciousness.” (Bhāgavatam 1.2.17)
When we hear and chant Krishna’s names and glories, we start to see the world through His eyes. We realize how nasty and entangling this material world really is, just as the Bhāgavatam says. It’s not meant to entertain; it’s meant to awaken us. That awakening is what leads to genuine compassion—not the noisy pity triggered by news but the soul-born longing that everyone come back to Krishna.
So, in that space of hearing and chanting, when I pray, I don’t just feel sorry. I feel connected. I pray for the souls who’ve left their bodies. I pray for their families. I pray for my own deliverance. I remember that we all belong to Krishna. We are not tourists in this tragedy – who keep jumping to different news for entertainment; rather we are servants of those who suffering.
And that’s the crucial shift:
News channels entertain. They titillate. They don’t invoke compassion—they exploit our attention. They are designed to keep us scrolling, shocked, moved, and addicted. But Krishna consciousness leads us inward—to shelter, surrender, and real service.
News should be just that—news. Brief. Informative. But then we should immediately take shelter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, take up our beads, and serve prasad, give care, etc, and let our compassion be kindled by divine connection. In the age of Kali, two things are common – false propaganda is more powerful than truth, and those who exploit the suffering of others for profit are celebrated as heroes.
Radhanath Swami writes in The Journey Home about his time at Vishaka Sharan Baba’s ashram, where the residents, upon hearing of the India-Pakistan war, didn’t just react with political opinions or fear. They cried, and then chanted and danced in kīrtan, connecting deeply with Krishna and praying for peace and liberation for all.
That’s the real path. Without that, we risk becoming like those who binge-watch news as if it were Netflix—except instead of fictional tragedies, we’re emotionally consuming real ones. We aren’t empathizing; we’re being entertained by suffering.
I remember a quote I head long ago: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” But mourning becomes sacred only when it leads us to God—not when it leads to sensationalism.
If we allow our day to be shaped more by the news cycle than by the Holy Names and scriptures, we’ll lose our sensitivity to real suffering and our connection to the real solution—Krishna.
Therefore, I’m clear now:
I want my compassion to be driven by connection, not by curiosity or dopamine kicks.
I want to feel the pain of the world, but only in a way that drives me deeper into Krishna’s arms—not further into the claws of distraction.
As Bhagavad-gītā (2.70) reminds us:
“apūryamāṇam acala-pratiṣṭhaṁ samudram āpaḥ praviśanti yadvat
tadvat kāmā yaṁ praviśanti sarve sa śāntim āpnoti na kāma-kāmī”
“A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires—that enter like rivers into the ocean—can alone achieve peace.”
Scripture is not information—it is transformation. News tells you what happened. Bhāgavatam tells you why it matters.”
In this age, the Bhāgavatam stands as the light in darkness, the friend in betrayal, the truth amidst noise.
Let the river of news flow, but let my heart remain fixed like the ocean, steady and undistracted—anchored in the hearing of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and the chanting of Krishna’s holy name. That is the soil in which real compassion grows. Everything else is just noise.
