Posted on by Bhagavati (Sharon) Nani

Forgiveness

I was on the road this morning, on my way to meet my father and sister for breakfast, when a random thought entered my mind, then took root and became something more…

I have no idea how or why, but I found myself thinking about some of the horrible things people do to other people and wondering if I ever found myself in such a situation whether I would have enough faith and inner strength to react with compassion and forgiveness rather than fear and anger.

“Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,” popped into my mind.

That, of course, brought the high example of Jesus to mind. And it occurred to me that the truth of the matter is, when someone is hurting another person, there’s always ignorance of what they’re doing.

Most of us are only focused on the here and now, so we think we know what we’re doing. But there are infinite subtle realities beyond the one we can see, and our ignorance of those subtle realities is exactly why we “know not” what we do; to ourselves and to the one “whole” of which we are a part.

I found myself thinking: “Father, forgive them for they knew not what they did”, extending this thought retroactively to anyone and everyone who I felt had ever hurt me.

And then it became: “Father, forgive me for I knew not what I did.”

Wow. Apply compassion and forgiveness to myself? What a concept. But the truth is, as one of my favorite Asha quotes says: “If I could of done better, I would of done better.” Time to let myself off the hook for not being perfect already , eh?

So, what about you?

4 Replies to “Forgiveness”

  2. Love this post Bhagavati! Thoughts are definitely universal, as I have often repeated Jesus’s wisdom, “Father, forgive _____, for they know not what they are doing.” And at the same time, I have marveled at
    the wisdom of those who have forgiven, such as mother who visits and then publicly forgives the person who murdered her child. And, in thinking about self forgiveness, it reminds me of confession in the Catholic Church, “Father (God), forgive me…..”, or, on the more universal level, if we don’t give it to God, we hold onto it. I am listening to Asha’s talks on Swami’s book, Demystifying Patanjali. Two reasons we reincarnate and keep the cycle going: regret and longing. Excellent post!

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