A devotee of the Lord does not want to see another person suffer. He feels he has no right to judge or inflict pain on anyone. When this humility mixes with compassion, forgiveness arises.
Humility, forgiveness and compassion are inherent within bhakti. When we come to a higher stage of spiritual awareness, forgiveness will be an automatic and natural response to hurt and abuse.
When we look for justification for our resentment, it is helpful to look at how willing we are to get back at another. When we judge another it says more about us and our need to judge than it does about the person we are judging. Similarly, our need for revenge says more about us and our need to get back for what was done to us than it says about what the person did to us.
This understanding can help us reflect upon our current level of spiritual consciousness. We should not only evaluate our spiritual standing by external criteria, i.e. how well or how often we perform specific practices, but we must also look at our attitudes and our responses to challenges to better understand how we are progressing spiritually.
Prabhuji,
ReplyDeleteHare Krsna.
Could you please comment on the relationship between forgiveness and anger, anger both toward ourselves and others.
How to deal with anger when it is actually happening, for I find no way to mollify anger even with japa or the so-called New Age remedies of 'thinking pleasant thoughts and calling on your higher power" especially when life turns into a nightmare and all the horrors of samsara come down on you like the Yamadhutas attacking in dream...I have violent rages and shake with anger at times...is it possible to forgive myself for my offenses? Is this what is causing my frustration and anger? HAre Krsna. Bruce