ARANYA TALKS The Spiritual Virtues

Part 3: Forgiveness

The Spiritual Journey

Asato mã sad gamaya

Tamaso mã jyoti gamaya

Mrtyor mã amrtam gamaya

(Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1:3:28)

Lead me from the unreal to the Real.

Lead us from darkness to light.

Lead us from death to immortality.

This famous Sanskrit chant from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad encapsulates the spiritual journey. We are making effort (sadhana) and receptive to grace (kripa), to lead us along the path to Truth.

The meaning of Real in the wisdom of Indian spirituality is that which has no beginning and no end – Spirit; the unreal is that which we perceive through our senses, all of which has a beginning and an end. This phenomena is God's manifestation in time and special and is imbued with the Real. The unreal too is amazing! It is through the unreal that we discover the Real – the Divine Reality as the essence of all things.

The act of forgiveness helps us to move forward on that journey from the unreal to the Real, whereas a lack of forgiveness – and its associated greed, hate and anger – will only hold us back.

To forgive is to let go of the unreal, and live from the Real.

Compassion and forgiveness stem from the True Self/ the Real.

One of the verses of scripture I treasure, is the image and guidance found in these words from the Taittiriya Upanishad: "There is a bridge between time and eternity and that bridge is the Atman, the True Self, the spirit of man."

To forgive is to live from the bridge.

The Pearl

To understand the connection between practicing forgiveness and living from the Truth/ the bridge/ the Atman, we can refer to a common image found across various spiritual traditions, to illustrate the Atman.

We have already referred to the bridge as an image – the connection between these two worlds of time and space, and Brahma Loka, to use the Hindu language – the Realm of the Absolute, which is synonymous with Kingdom of God in Christianity, or sunyata or nirvana (realization of sunyata) in Buddhism, or satori in Zen. To journey to the other side of the bridge, in mystic union, is also to experience tureeya – the highest state of consciousness. Tureeya is the terrain of the Atman.

Another image for the Atman is that which is hidden, such as within a cave – the cave of the heart, or another similar image is that of the pearl (encased in the hard shell), or the jewel resting in the lotus of the heart.

Lord Jesus spoke of the "pearl of great price": "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it" (Matt 13:45-6).

In the Hindu tradition, and particularly in Siddha practice, the Blue Pearl is the term used to describe the divine light of consciousness which dwells within a person. The 'Blue Pearl' is considered the form of the Atman/ the True Self. (See 'Ascended Masters Light the Way', by Joshua David Stone).

The Tibetan Buddhist mantra "Om Mani Padme Hum" refers to the jewel in the lotus of the heart.

There is also the image of the "heaven-cave" in Taoism, indicating that which is precious as hidden or encased.