Cultivate Forgiveness and Love

1 January 1994, New Year, Prasanthi Nilayam

Published English.

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Prema rupambu brahmambu premamayamu Prema premato sandhimpa neemamagunu Kana premanu gattiga kaligiyunna Adviteeyamu pondanga arhudagunu (Telugu Poem)

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Love is the form of . is permeated by LOVE. Only Love can match love. Therefore, when one is firmly established in Love, one becomes eligible to attain the non-dual state.

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Under no circumstance, love gives room for hatred. It is love that brings even a person far away closer and more intimate to you. (Love) is the (Life Force) of man, and the itself is . Living without love is like being a corpse. Love is shown only to persons who are alive. Love and life are, therefore, interrelated and intimately connected. It is love that drives away the feeling of separateness and promotes the feeling of Oneness.

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Divine Love has No Selfish Motives and Self-interest In this worldly life, love manifests in several forms, such as the love between mother and son, between husband and wife, and relatives. This love, based on physical relationships arises out of selfish motives and self-interest. But the love for the Divine is devoid of any traces of self-interest. It is love for the sake of love alone. This is called (devotion) by the ancients. This love has three aspects in the form of a triangle.

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All these three angles of love jointly indicate surrender (). When one revels in this attitude of surrender (), one experiences the bliss of the Divine and experiences the principle of the Spirit (). For this, the prime requisite is (forbearance).

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Forbearance Grows in Times of Difficulties Only a person who has this attitude of forbearance () can be considered to be endowed with sacred love. This cannot be learned from textbooks. Nor can it be acquired from preceptors or from anyone else. It is to be cultivated by oneself in times of difficulties, trials, and tribulations. Only when we face problems and difficulties that cause grief and misery this quality of forbearance and forgiveness has the scope for taking root and grow. When you are confronted with problems and difficulties, you should not get upset and become a victim of depression which is a sign of weakness. In such a situation, you should bring tolerance and an attitude of forgiveness into play and should not get agitated giving rise to anger, hatred, and revenge. You are embodiments of strength and not weakness. Therefore, in times of despair, you should be filled with the feeling of forbearance and be ready to forgive and forget. This quality of is the greatest power for a human being. There is no power in the world that is greater than .

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is , Truth

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is , Right Action

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is , Non-Violence

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is , Sacrifice

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is , Happiness

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is , Compassion

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is everything in all the worlds.

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Human Beings Should Shine with Quality of Forbearance () The moment one gives up this great quality of forbearance, the evil qualities of anger, hatred, and jealousy creep in, making him lose his human nature itself, driving him to indulge in wicked deeds of demonic nature and even to descend to animal nature. Human beings should shine with human qualities. Today we find jealousy and hatred dancing like devils all over the world. People with jealousy and hatred are pursuing the wicked path and bringing ruin to themselves. The best example of this is the in the . The brothers and were the embodiments of the twin evils of hatred and jealousy. told , the eldest of the , that the who were replete with these evil qualities could never become better and imbibe human qualities. , who was an embodiment of ego, joined their company with as the evil adviser adding fuel to the fire. Though and were born into a notable royal family, they gave up human qualities due to jealousy and hatred and brought ruin to the family and death to the clan. added that jealousy is a dangerous canker that eats at the root of the tree of life, while hatred is the pest that attacks the trunk of the tree. Thus, the tree of life is completely destroyed by both these pests. The were victims of these twin pests and sought their own ruin.

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Mind is the Reason for Sorrow and Bliss One may raise the question as to how to get over these dangerous pests of jealousy and hatred. This is possible when you make all the sense organs act in unison. When this happens, forbearance () improves, and one can overcome jealousy and hatred. When there is forbearance, all organs coordinate harmoniously and work in unison.

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In Shakespeare’s drama, one character (King Richard) is always jealous of others. This led to his ruin and eventual death. , the notorious demon, did great penance and secured Lord ’s grace. He prayed for the boon that on whose head he keeps his hand will be burned to ashes. What happened to him? In a divine enacted play, ultimately, he was led to touch his own head and burn himself to ashes.

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Once was traveling. One demoness brandished a sword against Lord . The demoness threatened, “O , in a trice, I will end your life and eat you.” The demoness said I am jealous of your greatness and your growing popularity. smiled in response and said, “O jealous demoness, I love you too.” Listening to this, the demoness felt ashamed. “Does love me too,” she wondered. The demoness felt the large-heartedness of . The demoness felt ashamed and changed into a dove, conveying His message of peace. This is the power of forbearance. We should forgive those that have hatred toward us. We should forgive those that hurt us. This quality of forbearance becomes armor for us.

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Surrender Only to God Time is merely a witness. Time is in the form of God. God is the form of (Constant Integrated Awareness). Is it not foolishness that one would experience sorrow through this principle of God? God is like a mirror. In this mirror, you see a reflection of your own actions but not of God. Devotees pray to God through nine types of devotion. The nine types of devotion are (listening to the glory of the Lord), (singing the glory of the Lord), (remembering the name of the Lord), (worshipping the lotus feet of the Lord), (saluting), (worshipping), (obedient service), (friendship) and (self-surrender). God is accepting the prayers and services rendered through these nine ways. God in return, confers them the sacred fruits of these prayers. People remember what they offered to God but do not remember what they received from God. If God does not give, then there will be no life. Everything is God’s gift. The Lord has said,

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Renouncing all other (duties and beliefs), surrender to Me alone

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As a student has said, each type of these (in this case, duties and beliefs) is like a in a . There are one hundred in one . In one hundred , there are 10,000 . If these 10,000 are to be gathered in a cloth, tied together, and carried, it would be heavy to carry. In addition, safeguarding these 10,000 would be difficult as well. So, God says, “O madcap! Why are you carrying such a heavy weight, and why are you worried about safeguarding these?” God says, “give me those 10,000 . I will give you the equivalent of a one hundred currency note (bill).” Not knowing the equivalency of the 10,000 and the one hundred bill, the foolish person thinks, taking 10,000 , God gives one small paper of one hundred bill? The person wonders, “is this all God gives us?” However, the person does not realize that the 10,000 and the one hundred bill are the same. There is no difference. God provides security to devotees with such an attitude of surrender.

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In whichever way you offer worship, God responds in the same way. Man conveniently forgets what he gets. Without God’s Grace living itself will be impossible for humankind. Even the troubles you may experience are the gifts of the Divine. When you surrender all your actions, you will surely receive His Grace. This is the purport of the

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"."

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Take Whatever is Given by God as Good for You The mother gets the pleasure of seeing her baby after going through severe labor pains. If you sit in an air-conditioned room 24 hours of a day, you cannot enjoy the pleasure of it. Only after being away in the hot Sun will you appreciate and enjoy the coolness of the room. After the war was over, asked , the mother of , what boon she wanted. She requested that she should be blessed with troubles always, for, then alone she would constantly remember God as the did during the exile of 12 years in the forest. She said she was not thinking of God when she was enjoying the palace life as a queen earlier. “While experiencing the comforts of the palace, I did not contemplate on you. When my sons were experiencing difficulties for 12 years, I contemplated on you, , , every moment and prayed to you. So, to contemplate and chant your name, please bestow difficulties on me,” prayed. The sweetness in chanting and contemplating on God during difficulties is not experienced when one is enjoying comforts.

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Joy and Sorrow Go Together Life is a mixture of sorrow and joy, just as day and night. Some people may wonder why there should be night. Why not just daytime all the while? Because, people who toil during the day can rest during the nighttime. If there is only daylight all the time, one cannot take the well-deserved rest after a hard day’s toil, and there will not be value to one’s life. Pleasure is an interval between two pains; we should accept this. There is sweet juice inside the orange fruit. But it is covered by the bitter outer rind. It is the bitter rind that protects the juice inside. So too, we should face difficulties and losses with forbearance and accept them as a gift from God. Life is a challenge, meet it. We should face these challenges using all available means. We need forbearance to face these difficulties and losses. Man is the embodiment of the quality of forbearance (). There is nothing in this world that you cannot achieve with this quality.

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God’s Proximity Bestows Good Results We are now bidding farewell to 1993 and welcoming the New Year, 1994. There is an intimate relationship between the two years. We give a send-off to one while welcoming the new one. In the same way, we should bid farewell to bad qualities and welcome good divine qualities. One should offer all bad qualities to God and receive good qualities from Him. One should improve sacred qualities in oneself. There is nothing wrong in offering bad qualities to God. In reality, what we have to offer to God are our bad qualities. It is only God who can accept and bear them. For example, if you have a hundred- currency note which is soiled, dirty, with streaks of oil, does not look pleasing, and cannot even be touched; no one will accept it. But, if the banknote number is intact, the Reserve Bank will accept it and give a new note of the same value in return. Only Reserve Bank will accept and no one else. Similarly, shortcomings, bad thoughts, and bad feelings will not be accepted and hailed by anyone. Only God will readily accept them and will confer blissful results.

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True Significance of and If people offer all the bad qualities to God, God bestows good in return. This is also called (living in proximity) and (sitting near God) in our customs. People generally believe that means only curtailing usual food and taking some light snack items other than staple food. This is not the proper interpretation of . The true means being in the proximity of God or sitting near God. What is the result of such proximity? You get away from worldly suffering and enjoy the coolness of sitting near an air-conditioner. Likewise, when you sit near God, what will happen? Your bad qualities and bad thoughts will become distant. We acquire God’s good qualities and sacred thoughts. This is the true significance of , which improves the intimate relationship with God. Unfortunately, people interpret it with distorted meanings.

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"" (the One that became many)

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"" (There is only One , not two);

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Keeping God as your guide and savior, whatever work you may do will yield sure success and comfort. God is your only true, eternal, and real friend. All other friends may be with you as long as you have wealth, but the moment you lose everything, the friends will desert you. God is the only friend who will ever be with you. He is always with you, in you, and besides you. He will not leave you at any time. So we must develop friendship with God. That is true friendship (). Therefore, the only way for the prosperity of the nation is to develop a friendship with the Lord.

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Adaviyandunna Akasamuna-nunna Pattanamuna-nunna palle-nunna Gutta-meeda nunna Natteta padiyunna Dikkuleni-variki devude dikku (Telugu Poem) Even if we are in the forest or in the sky In the city or in a village On the top of a hillock or in the middle of a river God is the only savior for the forlorn.

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