Day 2
Forgiveness can never be complete, you know. We struggle, trying to forgive someone else. Do you know why? When you say, "I forgive," you think that the person, you are saying it to, is a culprit, and when you think someone is a culprit, and then try to forgive him (or her)
However you do it, a little bit of it still remains. It's not complete. But, when you see the grand picture - the big picture - you will see that the culprit is also a victim - a victim of his (or her) own mind, ignorance, unawareness, or unconsciousness.
Isn't it? Don't you think so? So compassion arises from within you, when you cannot forgive someone else. There is a story about Buddha. A gentleman found out that all his sons, daughters, daughters-in-law - everybody in his family - were going to Buddha's meditation sessions.
He found out that they were all sitting and meditating, and this was something he didn't like - something he couldn't tolerate. His children wouldn't listen to him, and so this well respected businessman went to Buddha.
There was an assembly of 10,000 people sitting in front of Buddha. The man went up to Buddha and spat on his face. Buddha never said a word. He just smiled back.
There was such compassion radiating out from Buddha's face, from his whole being, that this man just could not stand it and he ran away from that place. He could not sleep the whole night.
This was the first time that someone had not reacted to him. And something happened - the Divine took over him. The next morning, he was a transformed person, and he went and fell at Buddha's feet, asking for forgiveness.
Buddha said, "I cannot forgive you. The person, whom you spat on, is here no more now, and there is no chance that I will ever meet him again. Also, you are not the same person now. The person, who spat on me yesterday, is not the same one, who is bowing down today."
There is no way to forgive. Compassion is a step higher. However, when people cannot understand compassion, then they have to be spoken to in terms of forgiveness. See, knowledge is given to the place - to the people, who need it at that time.
Of course, it contains the eternal Truth - the Truth that is beyond time - but, the outer covering, the outer expression, will be according to the time, the people, the place.
Buddha was addressing a refined society - people of a high intellectual calibre. At that time, the people were all highly intellectual. It was a stress-free society already. However, when Jesus had to talk, he had to talk to people, who were in great suffering.
He had to talk to laymen, people, who were not literate - illiterates. Often Jesus has said that he would say something several times, but the people would not understand, and so he had to repeat it, modify it, or say it in another way.
He had to use 2-3 parables. The time was different. When Jesus gave his teachings, the people were in the darkest period of time, of history. Still, the essence is the same - the essence, whether you call it compassion, or you call it forgiveness, it is the same.
Love is responsible for all our negative emotions. If there were no love on this planet, then there wouldn't have been any problem at all - nobody would ever be jealous, nobody would ever be greedy, no one would ever get angry at anything.
Anger, greed, jealousy - all the negative emotions, we've experienced, are all fruits of love. Isn't this true? How can you be jealous without loving? Impossible. You love perfection, and so you're angry at imperfection you cannot stand imperfection.
But, no one ever wants these "fruits". They want love in its purity, in its perfection and it is the knowledge of one's self, alone, that can do this. As Reverend Michael said earlier, just wake up and see everything is changing.
The whole world around you is changing. When we don't understand that everything is changing, then we get stuck, we feel the whole world is a load on our heads - but, just the awareness that everything is changing, makes you feel lighter.
The illusion in the mind that "the world is going to give me joy," keeps one hooked to the "outside" but, if you have absorbed moments of joy, you always go within. Suppose you smell something very beautiful - a very good fragrance - then, automatically, your eyes shut.
It is the same with the sense of touch, the sense of smell, even with music - when you listen to great music, your eyes shut automatically and you go deep inside, isn't it? So the source of joy is within us, but we hook it to an object outside.
People in California think that going to Vancouver is great because of the snowy mountains there, and people in Vancouver - you know, those who are high up in Whistler - they think, they dream, of coming to California, to L.A.
We think joy is somewhere else. As long as we are not used to a place, we think joy is there, but, once we get used to it, joy is no longer there anymore. For people living in the countryside, Hollywood is their dream and for people in Hollywood -well, they would like to go to the countryside.
We experience joy in-between the objects. When we change from one thing to another, we seem to experience joy, but we associate that joy, which comes from the gap, with the next object, and so there is a rat-race, which goes on with respect to that object.
God is not an object. God is not an object of sight, sound, smell, taste or touch. God is the innermost experience of the heart. Only the heart can know God - not the mind, not the intellect, not reading volumes of books, nor listening to talks - just simple innocence from deep within.
To understand trust, you must know what doubt is. Without knowing doubt, you cannot grow in trust - It's impossible. If you don't have trust - never mind. Do you have doubt? Have you looked at the doubt that you have?
Have you observed the doubt, you have? It's very interesting. You always doubt something that is positive. If someone tells you, "I love you very much" - you ask him (or her), "Really?" If someone tells you, "I hate you" - you never ask, "Really?"
You doubt your capabilities - you never doubt your incapabilities. You are sure of what you cannot do, but you doubt what you can do. Isn't it? You doubt the honesty of someone. You doubt love and happiness.
When you are happy, you doubt - "I'm not sure, is this what I want?" But, when you are depressed, you never doubt - "Am I really depressed?" When you are happy, you're not sure, you're never sure that you are happy - but depression never brings a question of doubt.
So our doubt is always about something that is good, something that is positive. So if you doubt God, I think it's great. Don't struggle. If you're doubting God, that means you trust God. We doubt in the existence of God, we doubt in the people around us and then, we doubt ourselves.
Just knowing this, you transcend doubt, and you get onto that platform of trust, which is unshakeable. Nothing whatsoever can take it out of you. Then, you feel, everyone belongs to you.
All bodies are just like shells in the ocean. We are in an ocean of consciousness, an ocean of life and every human body, or animal body (or whatever it is) is just like a shell floating in the ocean and expressing divinity, holding that water.
