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Kshamapana to have declared a prize for making him feel angry. A man took up the challenge. He went to the place where Saint Tukaram was singing hymns and sat in his lap. Tukaram began to caress him like a small child. That man tried another trick. He jumped and sat on the back of Tukaram's wife in order to anger him. Tukaram said to his wife, "Take care lest he should fall." His trick failed. Thus, only he, who knows the root of anger, can forgive.
Anger is alien to the soul, forgiveness is natural to it. Anger is enmity, forgiveness is friendship. Anger kills, forgiveness saves. When the soul performs ablutions in the nectar of forgiveness, all obstinacy, quarrels, enmity, treachery, etc. melt away. If anger is harboured, it gets transformed into enmity. For births to come, enmity keeps man submerged in anger. “Enmity is fight, Kshama is restraint. Enmity is destructive, Kshama is conducive to progress. Enmity disjoins, Kshana joins. Enmity unfair, Kshama is fair. Enmity argues, Kshama confesses. Enmity is perversity, Kshama is culture. Enmity is whirlpool, Kshama is a lotus. The surest remedy for the poison of enmity is forgiveness."
Three Categories of Men
In view of the pace of life today, forgiveness is more important than ever before. In the cultural context of today, there is a greater need for forgiveness today than ever. In the times of Bhagwan Rishabhdev, men were simple and dull. By nature they were simple, but intellectually they were dull. A disciple went begging. He got 32 vadas. (A vadun is a fried eatable.) He thought, “Out of these sixteen some are to be given to the guru. Let me then eat sixteen fresh vadas."
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