Forgiveness
Grit - The power of perseverance and passion
"Among animals, this activity is very limited. I don’t think they believe in revenge, except for a few animals. They say that, if you hurt a snake, it will take its respite. It will come back on you. That’s what is said. And this one is one quality of the snake. But as we have passed through all these different categories, we might be having some of the qualities of some of these animals within us. We may be even snake animals. If the snake is within us, then anybody who hurts you, you will remember it all your life, “He hurt me, so I’ll put him right one day. I’ll take a revenge!” – if there’s a snake within us.
But now, if there’s a tiger within you: so you will become very ferocious. At the smallest thing, you will get angry, lose temper.
Now, this is not a very good situation: that we are still at the level of animals and our inheritance is still working in us. So we have to keep a watch, we have to be good gurus. And for a good guru, you have to have a very peaceful, compassionate, loving temperament. After all, one has to understand that people have this inheritance and some people have more, some people have this or some people have that. For that, if you get angry with that person it’s not going to help him or help you, but if you are loving and compassionate and you explain [to] that person what the problem is and what you want to do, I tell you, it will improve. He’ll definitely improve and he’ll feel your love.
Of course, sometimes, sometimes it’s necessary to also forgive such a person. Such a person is to be forgiven, absolutely. In that it doesn’t mean that, if he has done wrongs, all kinds of wrongs, you forgive him, and he goes on still with the same. It doesn’t mean that.
‘Forgiven’ means ‘forgotten’. Such and such a person has been misbehaving, so just forget. Forget it. Completely forget it! For a guru it is important, for a Sahaja Yogi guru." - Guru puja, “Assimilating the Absolute Knowledge”, Cabella Ligure (Italy), 1 August 1999.
"All this anger and all these things might have been alright before, but after the advent of Sahaja Yoga, you must know, it is not necessary. It’s not at all necessary to give any physical punishment to your disciples. Now, also the mental punishment to your disciples should not be done. Like people start saying all kinds of things to their disciples. Like, say, there is a leader, and the leader finds something wrong with the disciple, then he goes on saying, “Now, you are like this. Your father was like this, your grandfather was like this, your great-grandfather was like this and you are also like this!” Or some sort of thing that will hurt him. By hurting a person, you are not going to help. Supposing, while walking, you are hurt – you can’t walk. In your spiritual ascent also, if you are hurt, you cannot go ahead. So not to hurt people is very important. Once you go on hurting others then you are not a good guru. You are not a one who is really being kind and understanding of the disciple."
"So when you are dealing with somebody, also, you should be extremely truthful. Of course, you need not say things that will hurt him, but you must use such ways and methods that will not, in any way, hurt the other person [but] which will have an effect on that person." - Guru puja, “Assimilating the Absolute Knowledge”, Cabella Ligure (Italy), 1 August 1999.
"But what you’ve got out of it is the essence of it, one has to know, is a complete freedom, you have achieved your complete freedom. First of all, the freedom has come to you; first of all, most important – is from your Ego, this wall of Ego you have crossed. You have got out of the bondage of this Ego, which was really so much, full of problems for you. So many things this Ego does of which you are not aware. Firstly, a person who is an egoist doesn’t mind hurting anyone. He hurts, but if he’s hurt he doesn’t like it, immediately he’ll start crying. Especially, I have seen people who have too much Ego are very easily hurt, but they don’t understand how many people they have hurt already, and how many are really frightened of such a person.
So, you got rid of your Ego. It is sinful to hurt any other human being, for anything, for whatever may be the reason, that you feel you should hurt another one. The first is the revenge, the idea of revenge is there, that I must take a revenge on the person who has hurt me, or has done some wrong to me, or something of that kind. This idea of revenge comes when you react. Some people react very violently. I have seen some people murdering each other in the name of revenge, killing their own kith and kin, killing their fellow men, their countrymen. All over the world is some sort of a stupid idea of revenge; but if you go to the subtle side of revenge, what is it? What revenge have you taken? Supposing there is somebody who has troubled you, you are angry with that person, and you have killed that person; so you have actually saved him! He won’t have to suffer from guilty conscience, he won’t have to do anything, he’s just finished. What is the revenge is? The revenge should be only by which a person gets out of his idea of killing others. Like a sword never fights a sword, it fights the shield. In the same way, the revenge that we think we can take on another person is not a revenge, because any action you take in the name of revenge comes back to you and hurts you much more. So many things can happen if a person, in the name of revenge, starts acting." - Sahastrara Puja, Cabella Ligure (Italy), 7 May 1995.
"So you see, this kind of an attitude comes in, so that if you have to give to someone then give it to someone who is a Sahaja Yogi to express your love. But normally, people will do, with whatever, is the junk in the house, whatever is rotten, finished you see, that they will give as a present. But when you are a Sahaja Yogi, you want to give something really very special because your whole being has become so beautiful. Just like a flower, I should say, which wants to give fragrance to others all the time, the fragrance of your compassion and love, affection and security. It’s a new age, what they would say, but I would say it’s a new human beings that are before me and all this newness has so many beautiful (assets?), that they really sparkle like diamonds – no doubt. My only blessings to you is that you grow and grow in it and become greater and greater people. Never thinking that you are greater than others. Never thinking that you are more special than others, this will definitely soothe you down completely. Somebody might have hurt you somewhere, doesn’t matter, somebody must have scolded you – doesn’t matter. What is your capacity is to love another person and to be affectionate and kind.
I’m really amazed how these 25 years have passed – with all kinds of stupid problems and nice things – such a mixture and all those things have never disturbed me – I was never disturbed. I used to act sometimes, that I’m angry or sometimes I used to say things which I should not have, normally said because it was needed to be said. But, on the whole – like sitting in a very big ship you can say – we all are elevated into the realm of Divine Love and this is what one has to achieve. One person, if he has that love and compassion and that pure love then that person can emit it to others and the rapport of this compassion is extremely beautiful which cannot be described in words. Like yesterday, I couldn’t speak – with what words I could put my feelings. I thought there are no words that are created on this earth to express my deep feeling that how you people have taken to Sahaja Yoga so well and have understood it." - Sahastrara Puja, Cabella Ligure (Italy), 7 May 1995.
"Those who have ego must learn, if they feel hurt they must say, “forgive.” Then another person hurts them, say, “forgive.” And not only forgive but ask for forgiveness. Both things should be done, more asking for forgiveness. You have to ask for forgiveness if you have too much of ego. It is very important. Because if you have too much of ego means what? That you have pampered it too much. That means you have used it too much. You have dominated people and that’s why you have such a lot of ego. If you have such a lot of ego you must all the time try to humble down in your heart.
Now in the heart resides the Spirit. The ego, too much of ego in a person, always takes you away from that Spirit. That’s why it is said, “Humble down in your heart.” The reason is, in the heart resides that part of yours which gets completely obliterated or forgotten once you start pumping up your ego. But ego has its limits, it ends up into stupidity and foolishness. You take any person who is egoistical and who’s blowing his own trumpet, you will immediately know because he’ll be stupid, without understanding what he’s doing, he’ll be doing such stupid things that you will start wondering, especially children, “What’s the matter with this fellow? Seems quite funny!”And then the stupidity faces the person – then he sees for himself, “Oh God! how did I become so stupid?” - “Agnya chakra”, Caxton Hall, London (UK), 18 December 1978.
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