The Way of the Monk by Gaur Gopal Das

Author:Gaur Gopal Das [Gopal Das, Gaur]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473573963
Publisher: Ebury Publishing

This episode is particularly powerful in the context of forgiveness. Sita had pierced and caused injury to Laxman’s heart with the arrows of her harsh words. In our lives, we may find that we are cast as both Sita and Laxman. Sometimes we are the ones stringing the bow, and at other times, we are the ones under fire. But it’s important to note an unbiased perspective.

What Sita said was factually wrong, and it was insensitive of her to have made such accusations against her brother-in-law. However, if we look past the situation, that is, if we look past what was said, we might be able to understand why it was said. Sita was going through a personal turmoil. Her emotions were flying about as she speculated on the kind of pain her beloved husband might have been going through. We have all been in situations where our intellect is clouded by our emotions. At those times, we say anything and everything for our own peace of mind. Although a moment of patience in a moment of anger can save us a thousand moments of regret in the future, usually when we are suffering intensely, we cannot help but let our minds run amok. For our own growth, we should maintain equipoise in testing times. When someone hurts us, we should try to look beyond the situation and think: ‘How are they suffering? What are they feeling, to say such a thing? Is there some deeper chaos that is occurring in their life for them to say these words to me?’ It’s not about supporting the hurtful comments made by others—it is about seeing what they are going through to be making them. This is empathy, an essential component of forgiveness.

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