Friday, August 14, 2009

On Forgiveness and Forgetfulness

Any idiot can forgive, but forgetting is a conscious act.

Even She that forgets, is Conscious of her forgetfulness.

We understand God as that Witness Consciousness.

There is a prayer amongst the Roman Catholics –

“Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us sinners, now and at the Time of our Death”

Death allows the liberty to fully forget our past.

Hence in Sanskrit it is sometimes also referred to as Kaal, which also means Time.

“Maa kuru dhanajana yauvanagarvam, harati nimaeshaat Kaalaha sarvam”

Time provides a balm of forgiveness to all our sinful acts.

Is it not time for us all to forget the past and forgive one another before we start contributing whole-heartedly in this endeavor that is aptly named Jignyaasaa?

Uma Naresh

5 comments:

  1. Just a few points.

    1. If and when I am able to forget, if I am still conscious of my forgetfullness, what is the big deal?

    2. In our jignyaasaa for answers to ever expanding doubts/queries, if they are genuine, what is there to forget, and more seriously, what is there to forgive?

    3. Hopefully, there is no attempt at oneupmanship, any one is welcome to both attempts at giving probable answers, as well as raise doubts.

    4. Every one to himself; its one's jignyaasaa, how it resolves is his prarabdam. Equally, if one is not too keen or does not share the passion for jignyaasaa, but still keen on being on board, he/she is also welcome without a demur.

    5. In this quest, however, sparks may fly, but that's the nature of this exrcise.

    I do hope u are able to follow my chain of thoughts.

    Love

    Vichu

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  2. Vichu Athan,

    Great Comments. I am very much following your chain of thought and I would like to think I always have. I still wish Jignyaasaa turns out to be the platform we all wished for and to that end why should our effort be wanting?

    Naresh

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  3. On the subject of forgiveness, and its converse, repentence, I like the anecdote about a Hindu whose boy was murdered during the partition in 1947, and who took revenge, then repented it. He is supposed to have said to Gandhi, “I am going to hell”. Gandhi asked him, “Why?”, and he told Gandhi that he had killed a Muslim boy. Gandhi replied, “I know a way out of hell. Find a child with no parents and raise it. Only make sure it is a Muslim child and raise it as a Muslim.”

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  4. Hi Arun

    Powerful anecdote!

    Regards
    Shankar

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  5. The exchanges fill my heart. When there is so much "love" to be shared, within our own limited family members, if this circle is enlarged, would it not be heaven on earth?

    Our lethargy, the providence's will, and the sustained efforts by man, to vitiate everything he comes in contact with, all contribute to our missing out on this "sharing of love".

    A slight dampener to the great anecdote from Arun, if I am permitted, folks; though I love Gandhi, and admire his remarkable courage, and desrving his title of a mahatma, to a large extent, (a) Would he have been able to give a muslim boy in the same situation, exactly similar advice and (b) would a muslim boy have approached him or would he have been allowed to by the boy's elders, for a similar crime.

    I am not too sure is my regret.

    Love

    Vichu

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