Forgiveness:
an essay-poem

by Gururattan Kaur Khalsa, Ph.D.
Author and Teacher of Kundalini Yoga

My sons and daughters, everyone has their stories to tell.
Everyone has felt used or abused in some way.
Everyone has experienced pain and struggle.

The question now is how do you move out of your fate into your destiny.
No purpose is served by trying to prove
Who is right and who is wrong.
There is no resolution in a win-lose verdict.
What you really want to know is
how can you achieve inner and outer
peace
power and
freedom.

The answer, my children, is FORGIVENESS.
Forgiveness is often born out of the depths of
hopelessness
despair
sorrow
grief
loss
pain.

When there are no other options available
to escape our anguish
to find peace of mind
to reach resolution
to heal our pain
we discover that the only way to find solace is
to move beyond our accusations and judgments
to transcend our opinions and limited perspectives
to transmute our negative emotions
into higher vibrations
to make a quantum shift
into another dimension of being.

Eventually we reach a point where forgiveness is our only choice.
For there is no resolution without forgiveness.
It is only through forgiveness that the illusions of
fear
pain and
separation
are removed.
Unconditional forgiveness is required to open our hearts.
Only when our hearts are open can we
experience the reality of Universal Love.

*** The Illusion of Separation and Fear ***

Why did Jesus say "Forgive them, for they know not what they do."?

In the illusion of separation and fear, we do not know what we do.
Blinded by fear and alone in our minds
we do not perceive
how our anger and rage precipitate wars
we are not aware of
how our negativity creates conflict and oppresses others
we do not perceive
how our judgments poison the consciousness of the planet
we are oblivious of our interconnectedness and
how we affect each other and our environments.

In illusion, we are not conscious of the fact that we create our own chains.
When we are bound by the chains of
fear
anger
greed
remorse
judgment
we are not at choice to experience unconditional love.

*** The Best Action is Forgiveness ***

What is our best course of action? The simple answer is-
If we feel a heavy weight impeding our progress-forgive.
If we have reached a stalemate-forgive.
If we do not know what to do-forgive.
If we feel pain in our hearts-forgive.
If we feel conflicted or confused--forgive
If we desire to heal our wounds-forgive.
If we want to move forward-forgive.
If we want resolution-forgive.
If we long to experience love-forgive.

Forgive yourself.
Forgive others.
Forgive your situation.
Forgive the world.
Forgive God.

Forgive yourself for trying to live a lie.
Forgive yourself for looking to others to save you.
Forgive yourself for searching outside yourself for answers.
Forgive yourself with burdening others with your insecurities.

Forgiveness stops us from adding fuel to the fire of illusion.
Forgiveness connects us to the truth-
we all want to love and be loved
we do not know how to get love
we are enmeshed in strategies that are counterproductive
we are all searching for a way out.

*** Waking Ourselves Up to Love ***

The Catch 22 of the illusion created by fear and separation is we don't know how to get out of it because we do not know we are in it.
That is why quantum shifts in awareness,
through tragedies and miracles, are often
the only things that wake us up.

We choose our life situations to get our attention, to wake ourselves up.
We symbolically nail ourselves to the cross so that we might
see the truth of our situation
wake up to the reality of Love
forgive and release our chains
so that we might truly live.

2000 years ago Jesus opened his heart to Christ consciousness by forgiving his enemies.
The question at each moment is
"Can we forgive and open our hearts to the experience of
Universal Love."
Will we get the message today or
will we need one more wake up call?
Will we rivet our attention on who is wrong and who is right
and shed a million more tears?
Or will we chose to reverse the downward spiral and
begin to spiral upward to the dimension of Spirit?
When will we honor our own path and open our hearts so that
Divine Love can flood through our beings?

*** The Law of Cause and Effect ***

When we live beyond illusion
we are aware of what we are doing
we realize that whatever we create
we have to work it out until we reach resolution
we have to live with the consequences of our actions
until we reach forgiveness.

When we are aware of the reality of the Law of Cause and Effect
we wisely sort things out within ourselves instead of
involving others
creating a mess
having to fix it later
we avoid creating more pain and conflict
in ourselves and with others
we sincerely try to interact with a loving heart.

The laws of karma and forgiveness teach us that all
fights
disputes
arguments
negativity
must be worked out until they are brought back
to the light
to peace
to love.

These are the laws. The choice that is ours is-
How long do we want to take?
How much time to do want to spend
picking up the pieces of our actions?
What do we want to do with our energy and our life?

*** Revisiting Sacrifice ***

When we are having a hard time forgiving, it is useful to revisit the concept of sacrifice.
Many of us were programmed to believe that
we have to make sacrifices.
We have interpreted this to mean that
we have to do what others want us to do, at our own expense
we have to do things that are contrary to our wishes
we get points if we give more than we receive.

The conventional definition of sacrifice makes us feel we have an obligation to save others and the world.
Actually we do not get any points for
trying to rescue others
care-taking others
being a martyr.

Our real obligation is to liberate ourselves.
This often involves serving others.
However, true service is a joy, not a burden.
True service is rewarding because it is part of our destiny path.

We may feel like we are "sacrificing," but we are getting
something out of the situation or we wouldn't be doing it.
The secret is to identify how we are benefiting.
If we are not getting what we really want
the adult thing to do is to make another choice.

Often what we think is sacrifice is co-dependence in disguise.
Co-dependence makes us believe
that we are giving more than we are getting
that we are being wronged, taken advantage of or abused.
We remove ourselves from co-dependent relationships
by owning our responsibility in the situation
taking steps to extricate ourselves
learning our lessons
living our own lives.

Actually, no one really sacrifices for another.
We each do what we need to do
to learn our lessons
to work out our karma
to keep our soul commitments.

Our real relationship is
between ourselves and our Soul
between ourselves and God.
These inner relationships are not about sacrifice.
They are about human growth and soul evolution.
They are about releasing darkness and moving toward the light.

*** You Don't Have to Like It ***

We often have a hard time forgiving because we think that we
have
to like
to condone
to sanction
something that caused us pain.

The reality is that if we liked the situation, we would not
have to forgive it.
We are being challenged to change
because we do not like something.
We are being challenged to change something within in ourselves
because trying to change things outside ourselves
has not yielded the results we want
because our inner reality creates our outer reality.

The idea is not to suppress our feelings and go into denial about unpleasant circumstances.
The idea is to free ourselves from the situation
to release our attachments, so we can move on.

The test is about moving beyond shame and blame into unconditional love and acceptance.
What we accept are our lessons and our roles in
creating our own pain.

It is easier to forgive when we realize that
others "volunteer" to play confrontive roles so that we can
identify the games we are indulging in
others reflect parts of ourselves.

*** How to Win the Game of Life ***

My daughters and sons, it is time to ask yourselves
What do I want in my heart and my mind?
How do I want to live my life?
What do I want to give to the Planet?
How do I want to be remembered?
How do I want to leave?

To live in the consciousness of love you must reprogram your
inner computer- change your defensive programming
identify every belief, thought and behavior that
clouds your vision
distorts your perceptions
obscures the reality of love
choose to stop perpetuating the illusion with negativity
reverse the direction and begin to spiral upward
by honoring yourself and letting go.

To live in the consciousness of love you must forgive
yourself-
forgive yourself for living in illusion
forgive yourself for creating a painful past
forgive yourself for listening to others and not to yourself.

The only way to pass GO is through the gate of love and
forgiveness.
The universe is set up so that we can win, if we play by its rules.
The action that we must take is forgiveness.
The feeling that we must embody is love.
The person we must embrace is ourselves.

Poem 488, Copyright by Gururattan Kaur Khalsa, Ph.D. September 28, 1997

Gururattan received her Doctorate in Political Science from the University of Geneva, Switzerland, and her MA from John Hopkins School of Advanced Studies in Washington, D.C. and Bologna, Italy. She has worked for the United Nations Environment Program. She has taught International Environment and Development Studies at Dartmouth College, MIT and New Hampshire College and Philosophies of Life and History at U.S. International University (San Diego Gururattan is the author of "Inner and Outer Ecology: Transitions to a Sustainable Worldview" (prepared for the Earth Summit) and five kundalini yoga and meditation manuals: "Introduction to Kundalini Yoga", "Transitions to a Heart-Centered World", "Relax and Renew", "Sexuality and Spirituality", and "Your Life Is In Your Chakras". Her publishing company, Yoga Technology, and on-line book, video & CD catalog and shop can be found at http://www.yogatech.com

Currently living in San Diego, California, Gururattan writes, and teaches self-empowerment workshops for men and women, as well as classes in Kundalini yoga & chakras. She is editor of a new Ezine or electronic newsletter - "New Millennium Being". If you are interested in yourself, your inner peace and freedom, the role you can play in creating a sustainable world and are looking for powerful techniques that can help you achieve these goals, this newsletter is for you. For more information about the New Millennium Being newsletter, go to this link - http://www.yogatech.com/nmb/index.html

Gururattan gives regular Kundalini yoga and chakra workshops and classes in San Diego, and occasional ones in Palo Alto, CA.


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