Forgiveness

Question: Last week, Farnaz shared the following about the principle of divinity being love (from an older Sai Center 5.6.18). In that You talked about forgiveness. I would like to have more understanding on forgiveness, thank You.
“It is not important that you get angry or you get disgusted or you get this and that, but if it doesn’t feel good and we are holding onto it too much and it is taking us away from our goal, I want us to know that we have endless possibility and opportunity to turn it around. A lot of people in this world do not know that. That is very important to remember; this is why in the Bible it says to forgive whatever many times that it says. What does that mean? It means that yes, mistakes are done, but what are you going to do to remedy it? That to Me is forgiveness. I don’t think everybody understands what I am saying about forgiveness. It is a very weird approach. Forgiveness is not to ask for forgiveness, forgiveness really happens when there is adjustment and an erasing of what it was to give way to something much more beautiful.”
Sat: Yes, forgiveness normally is referred to in day-to-day life when we feel like we have hurt someone by our words, or if we have made a mistake or if someone tries to tell us that what we did was not acceptable, or if they have done it to us. In any case, forgiveness is just an “I am sorry” and move on, or accept somebody’s apology and move on. Forgiveness is not like this at all, forgiveness has to happen in the heart. In other words, it is not something verbal, it is not even an action of forgiveness. When we erase something, some animosity, some hurt from our heart because it doesn’t feel good and when we correct it if there is a big mistake, if we get it, we understand it! Instead of condemnation we just let it go and we get it. When we get it, the change has already happened!
So, forgiveness is really not for the person that you are forgiving, it is for your own heart to move on. It is so, so precious because so many people hold onto the memory of different hurts, different events, different incidents in their life. Either they can’t forgive themselves or they cannot forgive the situation or the person that was involved. And that really stops us from going Home. More than apologizing, more than wanting to be apologized to, is letting go, totally letting go and letting the memory to be erased.
This is My way of thinking and one of the incidents that some of you have seen in one of the old videos, I was telling this story that helped Me understand real compassion and real forgiveness, was when a Pope that I really liked was shot by a young man. He survived and this is a true story. They put the young man in jail because they caught him right away. After the Pope was healed, he went to the prison and looked at this young man and said to him, “Young man, I have totally forgiven you, as our Father has,” (meaning God), “go and sin no more.”
Now, by having said that they didn’t open the prison door and let the man out. But what happened was that the Pope released himself and released the guy from having any type of karma together. By doing that, there is a beautiful peace that takes place.
This story stayed with Me, it really, really hit Me hard, to understand the real forgiveness. It is not that you forgive and you become friends with someone who is not capable of changing. It is releasing yourself from that tie, in your own heart, in your private inner world. That is something for all of us to remember. I mean it is foolish to forgive someone who constantly does the same thing that is harmful, as far as wanting to associate with them, to be close to them and still continue giving love. But I think when you pull back and have the strength to release it from your heart, you have also released that person.
Another thing that came to My mind is in an ordinary life, when someone comes to you and says, “I am sorry,” you say, “Ok, I forgive you.” But it is not true at all, our heart is still aching, we are still upset, but we have to respond to it, “Ok … you apologized.” And that is so much on the surface. It doesn’t do anybody any good, not the person who apologized and not the person who accepted it. So, even when we want to apologize to someone, it is best to look at ourselves and understand what it was that needed to do an apology for, and then change it. Change it in our own heart- that to Me is worth much more than a verbal apology.
Question 2: I have a follow up question to the forgiveness conversation. When someone’s heart has hardened because they are so angry and can’t let it go, of our tools which do You think are the best to put towards that heart, so it can let it go and soften?
Sat: Kavi, it all depends on the person who you want to help. If they are not spiritually equipped, then you go with logic. What I was explaining to Saranya could be applied here by making it more humanly accepting by saying that holding onto anger is poison. That is what it is and maybe you can talk about the physicality of it, which may be better for them. But in any case, the tool that is best for it is Trust in the form of letting it go, with all of one’s might because it just doesn’t feel good.
For us of course it is much easier, you just Stay while the angry thoughts are going, you just Stay until they are gone.
Question 3: What about the times that we have done something that has hurt somebody in the past and we don’t even see that person, nor can we do anything to make up for it?
Sat: You let it go! When you let it go, you have let go of the body identification, otherwise you would hold onto it. When you don’t have the body identification in that moment, there is no consequence. We just let it go, let go of the memory and the doership.
Gopi: By letting go, do You mean recognize it, look at it to break it?
Sat: No, when it is old you just let it go; you don’t need to analyze it or look at it. When it is old, when it is something you have done in the past, why look back, let it go! Just the fact that you feel bad about it, you have understood that your action wasn’t right! Why stay there?
Now, it is a different story when a correction comes from within Me to you guys. I always say that I don’t want any excuses or I don’t want an apology; I just want you to get it because it’s good for you! So that’s a different story.
Sharing: Sat, what always helps me in these types of situations is asking “Whose fault is it?” Whether it is me who has hurt others or others hurting me. It makes it easier for me to let it go.
Sat: Yes, that’s a beautiful thing to remember, it really is, but if it is not possible, then you decide to let it go because it is not beneficial whatsoever. We are trying to have the original heart that was given to us, that center of our being, therefore we safeguard it!
Sharing: Sat, good evening. About ten years ago, I was in a situation where something happened that really hurt me deeply. It wasn’t one act that would be gone, I had to live with the results of that situation for years. It was something that I had to keep living. However, through Your tools, I can say that I noticed very early on that the feeling of anger or being wronged was really hurting me. It was weighing very heavily on me, through Your practices though I felt as though I was going up that high rise You talk about. I tried to elevate myself to a floor where I didn’t see the small details of the story that had upset me. I can honestly say that for the most part, it is no longer a part of my daily consciousness and does not weigh heavily on me at all.
Sat: Thank you for reminding us of that example, it is so true, it all depends on our view! When you move higher up, it is less visible and you see the whole scenario, not just a part of it to zoom in [on].

US Chat
Forgiveness
July 19, 2022