Do we really understand ?

I had the chance today to go out on Sankirtan with Shyama-mohini and it was a very heart warming experience, nothing like association of devotees. She prompted me to go up to this 3 people group so I walked in their direction. All three had their back to me so I didn't know what to expect. To my great surprise as they turned around I could see three faces worn out completely through the use of drugs. The skin was dry and like a towel and the eyes were dark. One of them had something coming from her nose and cuts over their face. Still what can be said about the mercy of Lord Chaitanya? Even in their apparent hallucinogenic state this lady was speaking sweetly. She immediately took Srila Prabhupada's book and agreed that meditation and yoga are really good for them. She said she and her friend were going through too much, even if I tried to explain something they won’t understand as they just did not have memory. I said I understand but she was quick to say - no you don't understand. You can't understand. So I quietly listened to what they had to say and they started to explain the tough things in their lives including the fact that they were dealing with some upcoming deaths in family. It was quiet a scene but two of them wanted a book each on yoga and meditation. Now was the hard part, asking them for laxmi as they were in no state of mind. But I encouraged them to find pennies and they scavenged through their purses to collect every penny they had. I taught them both to chant Gauraga and when i had a few moments with one, she was revealing her difficulties and I asked her to chant Hare Krishna with me and she simply repeated it and said she already feel better. I requested her to chant daily but I do not know if she will.
It made me realise how it is explained that 'para dukha dukhi' - compassion is a real quality of a Vaishnav. One can't just go up and tell people 'I understand'. Real compassion is something completely different and who knows how far we are from developing these qualities. How much is the living entity suffering in the material world and how can one understand?