Attaining Peace through Forgiveness

Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj

In these troubled times, humanity is witnessing a growing hunger for peace and human unity. We are realizing that our survival depends upon us recognizing that we are all one family. So how can we attain peace in the world?

Forgive and Forget

The first step toward peace is forgiveness. If we are to realize peace in our world, we must learn to forget the past and forgive those who have wronged us.

We must replace revenge with forgiveness and compassion. We must cleanse ourselves of anger and hatred and replace them with love and forgiveness. How can we achieve this? I offer you a solution that has worked through the ages. Compassion, forgiveness, and peace can be ours through spirituality.

Spirituality is the Way

What is spirituality? Spirituality is the recognition that our true self is our soul. It is recognizing that our soul is one with God. It is realizing that we are not merely our body and mind, but a soul that inhabits the body.

We may think of ourselves as being a body bearing a name or that we are a citizen of a certain country. But spirituality is recognizing that behind these outer names and outer labels we are all souls, a part of the one Creator.

As such, we are all members of one family. When we develop this angle of vision, we start breaking down the barriers that separate one human being from another. We start feeling like we are all connected at the level of the soul. When we experience our unity and connectedness, we start caring about each other. We want to help and serve each other. The hungry cries of our neighbor’s children will cause us as much pain as the cries of our own children. We will see the homeless man on the street as our own homeless grandfather, and we will be moved to help him. Our vision will be broadened and we will have compassion for the suffering of all human beings and will want to help them.

Awaken to Your True Nature

How can we develop this noble vision? We can do so by awakening spiritually. We awaken to our spiritual nature through the simple technique of meditation on the inner Light and Sound of God. This process of inversion helps us wash away hatred and replace it with love and peace.

By sitting in silence and directing our attention within, we connect with our soul, and are able to tap into the love, peace, and bliss that is within us. As we do so, we become loving, kind, peaceful, and giving human beings.

Inner Peace Leads to Outer Peace

Through daily meditation, we come in contact with God and are bathed in divine love and bliss, which cleanses us of the years of habits that caused us to have hatred and anger. In its place, we are imbued with the qualities of love, forgiveness, and compassion. In this state of peace and love, we are then able to develop the qualities of forgiveness and compassion for those who have hurt us.

As we become more peaceful ourselves, we begin to radiate peace to all those with whom we come in contact. Peace begins with us. By transforming ourselves, we can transform others, including our family, community, society, and eventually the whole world. In this way, we will be building a peaceful, safe world for our children, posterity, and ourselves. It all begins with the first step and that is forgiveness. Forgiveness will lead to inner peace, and this inner peace will blossom into outer peace in the world, enriching every heart.