Is It Possible To Forgive And Forget?

This is a 1980 recording in the USA of Gururaj Ananda Yogi answering a question about what it is to forgive and forget. He also speaks on the workings of the mind and the connection to divinity underlining the truth of non-duality.

Transcript

The question is,

Shall we forgive and forget?

And should we innocently approach the person who has wronged us?

Good now.

It is so easy to forgive because after a deed has been done and one reflects upon the deed that has been done,

There is something that stirs within us.

For within each and every one of us there is this power of goodness.

Most times this power of goodness could be overshadowed by the experiences,

Especially bitter experiences of life.

It could be overshadowed.

But now,

Why does a person forgive or want to forgive?

Because the act that has been perpetrated upon one could be of such an emotional character that the mind would dwell on the problem.

And when the mind dwells on the problem,

It makes one go into deeper recesses of the mind.

And one comes to the conclusion that,

Why should I keep this in my heart?

What benefit is it giving me or the other person?

The best thing is to just forgive.

Forgive.

Forgive,

That is one of the injunctions laid down by all the theologies of the world.

That is not the trouble.

To forgive is easy.

But the real problem lies in forgetting.

You can forgive,

But it is very difficult to forget.

Now what are the mechanisms as far as forgetting is concerned?

See the human mind has been patterned through all the various experiences of life that the impressions gained through those experiences become strengthened by the present happening.

And when that is strengthened,

It is not only the present act that is playing now,

But all those various experiences that we have had of a similar nature all bunch together.

And when they bunch together in the mind,

It becomes very difficult to forget.

Because it is not Auntie Mary saying a bad word to you that is so important in forgetting.

Because if that was the only thing,

Then forgetting would become easy.

But because Auntie Mary has said something to you,

It automatically associates itself with past experiences of this life or perhaps of previous lives if you believe in that.

And thereby past memories are awakened.

You might not be aware of those past experiences because they are deep down in the various layers of the subconscious mind.

But every happening that has an attachment to which you are attached must have its effect.

And the effect is that it associates itself with previous experiences of like in nature.

So here you put in one ounce and you gather to yourself in that realm 500 pounds in weight.

So now this becomes a burden when one has to forget.

What is the solution?

That is the crux of the question.

How can we forget?

Because this thought that has been now activated has become so powerful that the seed that had been planted so deeply within the mind,

Within the subconscious mind,

Is now coming to the fore.

It's coming to the conscious mind and the conscious mind translate all that which is in the subconscious.

Now the subconscious mind is a storehouse of memories.

All the experiences you have gained in lifetimes are all there alive.

In Sanskrit they are called samskaras and a loose interpretation of the word would be impressions.

All these impressions that are there in the subconscious mind can not be destroyed.

They are there.

But they can be shed off like water on a duck's back.

You can get rid of them but you cannot destroy them.

Once you get rid of those impressions they go back and attach themselves to other conditions that are conducive or of like nature.

Birds of a feather flock together but you become free of those impressions.

Now like that with millions and millions of impressions in your mind,

How are you going to free them all?

Do you want to struggle through that which is called life for millions of years or do you want freedom in this lifetime?

There is only one way,

The royal way and it is this that through the conscious mind,

Through a systematic process of meditation and spiritual practices,

One can form a direct link from the conscious mind through the subconscious mind and then to the super conscious mind.

Now the subconscious mind being the repository of all those impressions,

No amount of analysis could rid one of those impressions because the more you analyze them,

The more you rationalize,

The deeper those memories,

Thoughts,

Be planted more firmly in the subconscious.

So in order to clean the dirt in the subconscious,

One has to go deeper still beyond the subconscious to the super conscious.

Now in these three sectors of the mind,

Especially the super conscious mind is at its most subtlest level.

The conscious mind is at a gross level and the super conscious mind is at the subtlest level,

The subtlest level of relativity and being so subtle,

It is closest to that divinity that is within us and because of its own very subtlety and clarity,

Great force,

More light could shine through the super conscious mind into the subconscious mind.

So through meditation,

A systematic,

Individually designed practice of meditation,

We have the ability to dive deep down to the subtlest forms of relativity and by reaching the edge of the subtlest relative existence of the mind,

One is in direct touch with that which is divine within man.

Now by cleansing this process or by creating this direct channel,

Hot line to the super conscious mind,

You can draw from these universal energies within you and allow it to bypass all the impressions contained in the subconscious to the conscious mind and if done in a systematic focused manner,

You can forget.

That is the only way.

Most of you will remember many instances that has happened in your lives and when that memory comes up,

You even feel as if you are re-experiencing that happening again.

This is because nothing has been done about it,

Yet the tragedy is this,

That the greatest gift given to man by God is forgetfulness.

If you have to remember all the experiences of this lifetime or other lifetimes,

You would become totally insane.

So what a great gift God has given us,

The ability to forget.

The ability to forget that we are not using his gift.

That is our problem.

So through spiritual practices,

As we dive deeper and deeper,

We are causing a certain balance in the mind.

Now the universe is composed of what is known in Sanskrit as the Gunas.

You have Tamas which is inertia,

Rajas which is the activating force and Satva which is light.

Most of us either live Tamasikli,

And Sikli is quite a word that applies to this,

Living in the darkness.

For many of us are so totally activated by the Rajasic force.

Also Sikva,

To that our lives become so fragmented because that very energy,

That very force of Rajas is not controlled or directed.

Then of course we have the Satvik Satva or Satvik force.

There's no Sik in there because it is composed of light.

So the mechanism is this,

That we have to allow the Satvik force to dominate our lives so darkness cannot exist where light is.

And yet paradoxically enough that without the light there would be no darkness.

Under a candle flame in a holder there would be darkness under it.

What causes darkness?

Light causes darkness.

And what causes light?

Darkness does.

So all these forces are so interrelated with each other and they are indestructible.

But for man to find greater harmony within himself,

For man to find integration,

Integration of mind,

Body and spirit so he could function as a whole being.

Instead of fragmentedly he has to bring about a balance in which the satvik or the forces of light could dominate.

Now all these memories we have in seed form in our minds that prevent us from forgetting are overcome by light because all samskaras or impressions are the product,

Products of darkness.

So we cannot willfully,

All with will power as some would say,

Forget,

We cannot.

For the more we try to forget the more we are activating that very force that is causing us misery and not only that as I said before we are diving deeper there and activating like forces because the mind is used to functioning by association of ideas.

So because these memories are indestructible what we have to do is bathe them all in the pool of light.

These memories are like ice blocks,

Throw them in a clear pool of water and they are not noticed.

They become one with the water and gradually you feel them melting away and becoming the water.

So you can't run away.

You can't run away from those memories.

But you can cover the memories with light and thereby eliminating them from your system.

Life is nothing else but a memory.

You are what you are today because of all your past actions and thoughts.

You are a bundle of all those impressions and nothing else.

Even the very shape of your face or bodies or how you function,

Your behavior patterns is governed by all those experiences,

All those impressions.

So the mind functions in a patterned form.

What we have to do is unpatterned.

What is needed in the world today is not so much learning,

But what is needed is unlearning that which we have learned.

God plus mind makes man.

Man minus mind makes God.

So you see,

The greatest stumbling block to spiritual unfoldment is the mind and yet the mind is necessary to exist.

It could be the most cunning animal and yet at the same time it could be used as a wonderful instrument.

It's like giving a knife,

A sharp knife to a hooligan who will go and cause some harm with it.

But if a very sharp knife is given to a surgeon,

He might operate and save someone's life.

So here we have our choice how to use the mind,

But then there is a problem there.

Who chooses?

What chooses how the mind is to be used?

And funny enough,

It is the mind itself that chooses.

Now,

How to make the right choice depends so much on how much we have allowed that light within us to shine through.

And through meditation and spiritual practices,

If we allow that light,

That universal force to shine through more and more through the mind,

Then our decisions and our choices will always be spontaneously right.

And that is how we enter the area of forgetfulness or oblivion.

And the hurts that we have suffered become no hurt.

We become oblivious of it.

Now,

Oblivion here does not mean that you become unconscious of things,

But you develop a new perspective.

Then you are in the world and yet not of the world.

And this is the important lesson man has to learn for his own happiness,

For is that not what man is striving for.

Man is striving for happiness,

Happiness,

Happiness.

But they can only find happiness when they grow up,

They are indulging in nappiness.

So from nappiness we have to grow up and proceed to happiness.

So now how to grow up?

The royal way is through meditation and spiritual practices where the mind could become mature.

What is a mature mind?

What is a mature mind?

The mature mind is that which can have the force and the power not to become emotionally affected for then you make yourself ill.

And doctors have proven it today and as you all would know that all physical or organic diseases stem from the mind,

From wrong thinking.

And that little bit of wrong thinking draws back,

Goes deep within the subconscious and brings with it all its brothers and cousins and uncles and aunties.

Brings with it the whole family of past experiences.

So you cannot try to forget.

Forgetfulness has to be spontaneous.

So more the mind is filled with that light,

Then everything that stems from some form of desire could reach fulfillment.

For is it not said,

And this I would repeat over and over again a million times,

Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven within and all else shall be added unto thee.

You want to forget and that too you will forget.

Because these shadows in the mind,

These shadows that constitute the mind cannot last in that powerful light of divinity.

So as I said,

It is easy to forgive because there is goodness inherent in man.

Man is in reality divine.

Man is divine.

And the scriptures say this all the time.

Man is created in the image of God.

And this is what it means.

Man is the manifestation of the manifesto.

And if the manifesto is that pure consciousness,

Then its manifestation will also be pure.

But because of various combinations of natural factors that the individual soul goes through,

It casts all these shadows.

That is a different subject altogether.

So we won't go into that now.

So that is how the shadows of unreality is created.

And we allow these shadows to dominate our lives instead of the light.

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I gained an understanding of subconscious imprints like nowhere else. I Love this teachers voice and delivery. The message brings powerful awareness 🌈🙏🏽♥️

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This talk offers great insight into our current cultural impasse.