importance of forgiveness

Cultivating the spirit of forgiveness

"Forgiveness is its own reward. It is the forgiver rather than the forgiven who receives the greater benefit." - Dada JP Vaswani

Anger ceaseth not by anger; anger ceaseth by forgiveness. No negative emotion is ever appeased by indulgence—it demands more and more until it consumes you. So is it with revenge and retaliation. The more you seek them, the more they will lead to hatred, anger and violence.

Forgiveness is, perhaps, the most powerful antidote to anger. Forgiveness and the willingness to be reconciled to those who, for some reason or the other, are not well-disposed towards us. Willingness to be reconciled is all that is needed.

For, reconciliation is a two-way process into which a person cannot be forced. I can forgive another but cannot compel the other to forgive me in return. Forgiveness has been defined as “a process of ceasing to feel resentment against someone or to pardon someone.” To cling to resentments is to harm oneself, to walk the way of spiritual death. To choose to let go of resentments is to walk the way that leads to a life of freedom and fulfilment. The person who holds on to anger or resentment is, without his knowing it, causing damage to himself from within.

The person who forgives enters a new life of gentle peacefulness. Forgiveness is its own reward. It is the forgiver rather than the forgiven who receives the greater benefit.

It is difficult to imagine what life would be without the spirit of forgiveness. How true it is that, he who has not forgiven an enemy, has never yet tasted one of the most sublime joys of life. Let us forgive one another while there is yet time, for the day cometh when the opportunity to forgive will be taken away from us.

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