________________
Being angry, I am not going to convince him that he is lying to me. There is no proof to show him that he has my things. Never mind. I have lost my belongings, but why should I lose my peace along with them? At least let me keep my balance.
In the end, Rup had shaken his friend's hand and told him, “All right, it happened more than a year ago. I must have forgotten."
“Yes," his friend had answered, "you must have forgotten where you put it."
“So,” Rup said before going on his way, “I am glad not to quarrel with you. Khusha Raho – be happy!"
In this way, he had untied himself from the incident and freed himself from the animosity connected with it.
But now in his meditation as a monk, he recalled the incident, and a leftover feeling of shock at having been betrayed by a good friend crept over him. He realized he hadn't completely rid himself of feeling some connection with that past incident after all. So he took care to recite the forgiveness stanza until he felt his whole consciousness to be filled with the soothing vibrations of forgiveness. Then he focused on his friend and said, “I wish you well. I forgive you beyond the shadow of a doubt. May you find your real Self some day.”
A few months later, this same college friend found out where he was and came to the monastery with a few of his belongings and some rupees.
Munishree welcomed him. “You have come here? I was recently thinking of you and sending you vibrations for your peace and happiness."
"I want to give you back your things and some rupees for what I used up. Before you came to claim your belongings, one day I was moving from one house to another when I saw your bag, opened it, and came under the temptation to sell your costly things. A few of them I kept for myself. Now I can't live with myself until I pay you back.”
Munishree told him, “Never mind. I never wanted any of those things for myself. I had only wanted to sell them and use the money for a good cause. Now you can take them and sell them and give the money to some worthwhile place. But
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