Talk:Kshamī: Forgiving and Forbearing
The Bhakta Yogī extends this attitude of peace and gratitude towards others as well. He accepts them for who they are, with all their flaws and positives. He might correct them gently to improve their behavior or actions, but does not feel upset if his wise counsels fall on deaf years. If someone transgresses against him, he forebears it and forgives. He never seeks revenge nor does he bear a grudge.
Rishi Bhrigu: Which is the greatest Form of Bhagavān?
One day, all the Rishis met together to decide which form of Bhagavān is the greatest. Rishi Bhrigu said, “Let me go and meet Brahmā, Vishnu and Shiva. I will test them and find out which of these three is the greatest.”
First, Bhrigu went to see Brahma who was reading scriptures. Brahma was the father of Bhrigu, but Bhrigu did not even say Namaste to his father. Brahma got very angry and said to Bhrigu, “You are a foolish man. You do not even have good manners even though you are my own son.” But Sarasvati, the wife of Brahma, asked her husband to calm down. Then, Bhrigu went to Mountain Kailash to see Bhagavān Shiva. When Shiva saw Bhrigu arrive, He rushed to embrace Bhrigu. But Bhrigu said to Shiva, “Stop, do not hug me. You have ashes on your body and are so dirty. I do not want to embrace you.” Shiva was so annoyed that He lifted his weapon to kill Bhrigu. But Devi Parvati requested Shiva to calm down.
Rishi Bhrigu then went to Vaikuntha, were Bhagavān Vishnu was taking a nap. Bhrigu went close to Vishnu and suddenly kicked His chest, without any reason. Bhagavān Vishnu immediately woke up. But instead of getting angry at Bhrigu, he smiled and said, “Respected Bhrigu, I am sorry for hurting you. My chest is very strong and hard. I hope your foot did not get hurt. Let me give your foot a massage.” Rishi Bhrigu was very impressed with Bhagavān Vishnu’s behavior. He went back and told all the other Rishis that Bhagavān Vishnu is greatest because He does not get angry, and forgives even those who hurt Him.
Note: This story does not really mean that Vishnu is superior to Shiva and Brahmā. The different Forms of Bhagavān merely enact these plays to set up a good example for us and teach us good things. We humans tend to learn faster if an example in the form of a story is given. That is why Brahmā, Vishnu and Shiva enacted this incident to convey the virtue of forgiveness to us.
There is another important message that we learn from Rishi Bhrigu. Most of us give greater importance to people who are powerful, and who scare us by their angry nature. And we often ignore those who are respectful, polite and kind to us. Rishi Bhrigu could have declared Brahmā or Shiva as the greatest Form of Bhagavān out of fear or timidity. Instead, he opted for Bhagavān Vishnu, who was very polite, kind and respectful towards the Rishi. Similarly, we should give more importance to people who truly love us, forgive us, and are kind to us, than to people who threaten us with their power, or scare us with their anger.
The Forgiveness of Jayadeva and Padmāvatī
One of the greatest Saint poets of Hindu Dharma is Jayadeva. He was born to very religious parents in the village of Kenduli Sasan in Odisha. This village is very close to the town of Puri which has the famous Jagannātha Mandir. Jayadeva was a very young when his parents died. Jayadeva’s father owed a little amount of money to a man named Niranjan. Now, Niranjan had no pity on the fact that Jayadeva was just a young boy with no one to support him. He decided to cheat Jayadeva and snatch his home from him as well! He created some fake papers about the money owed by Jayadeva’s father, and took them to Jayadeva saying, “Look at these papers Jayadeva. They clearly say that if the loan is not repaid to me, I can take your home.”
Jayadeva was a very innocent man, and he quietly signed his papers. Just then, Niranjan’s daughter came running to them and said, “Father, our house has caught fire. Please hurry back.” Although Niranjan had been extremely cruel to him, Jayadeva rushed to Niranjan’s home to extinguish the fire. He walked with some water inside the burning house. A miracle then occurred – as soon as Jayadeva entered the house, the fire extinguished on its own. Niranjan realized that Jayadeva was a Sant, and he confessed that he had brought fake papers to snatch his home from him. But, being a kind man, Jayadeva forgave him immediately.
Jayadeva wanted to be closer to the Jagannatha Mandir and therefore moved to Puri. He studied Sanskrit and soon became a fine scholar. Sudeva, a learned Pandit of that area, married his beautiful and noble daughter Padmāvatī to Jayadeva. The married couple returned to Jayadeva’s village. After sometime, Jayadeva decided to go on a pilgrimage. He was already quite famous for his beautiful Sanskrit songs on Krishna and Radha. A king insisted on giving money to Jayadeva while he travelled for his pilgrimage. On his way, a group of dacoits robbed Jayadeva. But even worse, they cut his hands and feet and threw him into a dry well. Although Jayadeva was bleeding and was in great pain, he remembered Krishna and kept chanting Bhagavān’s name. Soon thereafter, the King of Bengal named Lakshman Sena was passing by with his soldiers and servants. When they saw Jayadeva chanting the names of Bhagavān even though he was bleeding to death, they pulled him out. Many physicians attended to Jayadeva and he survived. Lakshmana Sena was deeply impressed by Jayadeva’s character and his bhakti for Krishna. He invited Jayadeva to spend a few days in his palace. There, the king arranged a feast for scholars of his kingdom.
The dacoits heard of the feast. They dressed themselves as noble Pandits and showed up to eat free food and get presents from the king. When they saw Jayadeva, they were shocked. They thought that Jayadeva would get them arrested. Jayadeva saw them too, but he did not believe in revenge. Instead, he asked the king to give some gifts to them. Some soldiers asked the dacoits, “How do you know Jayadeva, who is a very saintly person and is greatly respected by our king?” The dacoits lied and said, “Jayadeva is a crook who merely pretends to be a Saint. He had committed a great crime for which he should have been beheaded. Instead, we had only his hands and feet cut.” But, the moment the dacoits had completed their false story, the ground under them split open. As everyone saw in shock, the dacoits were swallowed alive by the earth. And the very next moment, another miracle happened. Jayadeva’s hands and feet grew back, and he was perfectly healed now! The king bowed to Jayadeva and requested him to explain the miracle. Jayadeva told him how the dacoits had robbed him and had cut his hands and feet. But, Jayadeva said, he was sorry that the dacoits had lost their lives because of him. In fact, he was grateful to the dacoits because they had shown to him how evil money was because it causes people to be greedy and cruel towards each other.