152. The Odd Man Out

"The meditation exercise you are going to practice now is the most important exercise in this 'Everyday Yoga' course. 

"In your life, many people could have caused you various types of harms. You have reached your present state, after suffering or overcoming the effects of those harms.

"The anger on the people who caused you harm in the past and the pain and humiliation suffered by you resulting from such a harm will still be residing in your mind, like a piece of burning coal covered by a layer of ash.

"This fire, silently burning in you, has been consuming you and perishing your life little by little, without your being aware of it. It has been keeping your goals and ambitions from getting realized, by scuttling your plans and burning your efforts.

"Therefore, there is an imperative need for you to blow off the ash that has been covering the fire burning inside you, bring out the fire and extinguish it completely, by pouring the water of forgiveness over it. Let us do this process. Please close your eyes."

Obeying the command of the mentor, all the trainees closed their eyes. 

For the next few minutes, the mentor gave the trainees a series of commands for bringing their minds to a state of equanimity and making them delve into deeper levels of their minds. 

"Now, you are completely relaxed. Your mind is serene and blissful. Now, slowly go into your past. 

"Starting from your childhood days, recall the people who cased you various kinds of harm, small and big. Recall the face of each and every one of them and bring them in front of your mind's eye. Now, imagine that they are all standing in an open ground, facing you. 

"I will wait for five minutes. Within that time, bring as many people as possible and parade them before your mind's eye.

"I will speak to you after five minutes. At that time, I will explain to you how to forgive the people who did harm to you in the past and how, through that process, to extinguish the fire glowing deep in your mind and how, through that process attain the power to make your mind perform at its full power."

The mentor glanced at the trainees. He quickly noticed that one person was sitting, with his eyes open. The mentor signaled him to close his eyes. But he shook his head sideways, indicating that he couldn't do so.

The mentor signaled to one of his disciples. The disciple went near that man and led him out of the training hall. 

After the meditation session was over, the mentor spoke to that person, in the privacy of his room. 

"What is your name?" asked the mentor.

"Sanjeevi."

"Why didn't you close your eyes?"

"Initially I closed my eyes. But I opened my eyes, after you asked us to recall people who caused harm to us."

"You should have followed my instruction!"

"No, sir. I didn't want to think of people who harmed me."

"As I explained in detail, if you have to extinguish the hatred and anger you have towards those who harmed you, you should first expose the fire in your mind, hidden under a layer of ash, by blowing off the ash and then extinguish the fire, by pouring water on it."

"Excuse me, sir! I can't do that."

"Why?"

"I have developed a practice. If anyone does any harm to me, I will forget it immediately.

"You can't do it. The anger against the person will remain deeply buried in your mind. This meditation practice is for driving out such hidden anger."

"No, sir. If someone does any harm to me, I will immediately think of the good things they have done. When I do this, the anger against them will subside and eventually fade away.

"Even if that person has not done any good to me, I will think, 'Poor man! He did this thinking that he would get some benefit by doing this. He would not have done this, for the purpose of causing harm to me.' By developing such a thought process, I will ensure that I don't get angry with that person. Thus, the anger I had against them initially would fade away soon.

"If I had followed your advice, the bad things done by others, which I had forgiven and forgotten, would again surface in my mind. Is this good?" asked Sanjivi,

The mentor kept quiet.

"I was not sure whether recalling things I had forgotten already and then making them go away was the wise thing to do. I wanted to get this clarified by you and then do that meditation practice."

'I should learn from this man!' thought the mentor. 

Thirukkural

Section 1
The Path of Virtue

Chapter 16
Forbearance 

Verse 152 (In Tamil)

poRuththal iRappinai enRum adhani
maRaththal adhaninum nanRu.

Meaning:

Bear with the harm done to you by someone. Forgetting is even better.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'ninaiikkath therindha manamE' by the same author)

Verse 153 (Soon)
Verse 151