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210
THE WAY OF LIFE
that you set fire to my house. They will kill you if they come to know that you are the offender. I am not at all grieved by this occurrence because I never thought that the house belonged to me. If anything untoward happens to you, I will be sad".
If Bhagwan Das wanted to do so, he could have inflicted humiliation and anguish on the offender. He could also have got him killed or he could have handed him over to the police but that was not his nature.
From the Audience: We think that if an offender is not punished, he will continue to commit offences.
WHO CAN PUNISH WHOM?
Maharajashri : Who are you to punish an offender? Please think deeply about it. If you try to punish others, you yourselves will become offenders. Have you at any time studied the circumstances in which a person commits an offence? Why did he become an offender? You have to endeavour to change the heart of an offender. If some five or ten out of a hundred cannot be changed by means of forgiveness, you need not give way to despair. It will be a great achievement if ninety out of a hundred can be changed. We learn from Shakespeare's great play The Tempest that Prospero's forgiveness did not transform the hearts of all the three wicked men of sin. Only Alonso underwent a sea-change under the impact of Prospero's forgiveness. The other two wicked men, Antonio and Sebastian remained wicked.
THE HEART MUST BE TRANSFORMED
Do you mean to say that punishment transforms the hearts of offenders? Do not offenders continue to commit offences even after being punished? There are many who continue to commit offences even after being punished. What is important is the transformation of the heart. Somehow you must try to change the heart of the offender. This cannot be achieved by punishing an offender.
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