” God forgives sins in the sense that he does not eternally damn anyone for his sins. He keeps the door of redemption eternally open.

Through repeated sincere prayers, it is possible to effect an exit from the otherwise inexorable working out of the law of karma. The forgiveness asked from God evokes from him his inscrutable grace, which alone can give new direction to the inexorable karmic determination. “

~ Meher Baba   1956, Be p37-38

Each man candidly revealed his weaknesses before Baba which satisfied him. Afterward he remarked, “Now you do not have to repent for anything. You have been open with me and I have forgiven you for every wrongdoing. There are a few among you without any fault, but I have forgiven all the others.”

Baba then explained:

Just as I asked you today to confess openly your weaknesses, Jesus would meet daily with his disciples at a fixed time, and forgive their weaknesses and advise them. From this act of Jesus, the Catholics approach a priest for confession to this day. It is a good practice. But after a confession and pardon, the actions should not be repeated. If they are repeated, where is the benefit? It does no good if you commit seven hundred wrongs in seven days, and go to a priest to confess, only to repeat them later.

The priests, dasturs, mullahs and preachers give long-winded sermons, but they prove ineffective. People listen with one ear and it goes out the other, for they continue committing wrongs. The reason for this is that only a Qutub or Sadguru can deal with the consequences of human offenses, underline their seriousness and influence the offender’s mind. What impression can the words of a priest produce? It is the knowledge of a Qutub that creates a real impression and it’s his knowledge that has influence.

So be alert; do not make mistakes for which you will later repent. The intensity of lust has broken the penance and austerity of even rishis and munis. So, what about you? Your luck has brought you into my companionship and you have been forgiven with your confession. In fact, your hearts should turn to water by my loving forgiveness, and I am not angry at your shortcomings. But I have forgiven you under the condition that you do not indulge in the offenses again. How fortunate you all are that you have received my forgiveness today. It is my nature to forgive; and once I forgive, there is nothing to repent for.

–www.lordmeher.org, p1098
Oct, 1929; Persia

Supremacy over others will never cause a man to find a change in himself; the greater his conquests the stronger is his confirmation of what his mind tells him that there is no God other than his own power. And he remains separated from God, the Absolute Power. 

But when the same mind tells him that there is something which may be called God, and, further, when it prompts him to search for God that he may see Him face to face, he begins to forget himself and to forgive others for whatever he has suffered from them.

And when he has forgiven everyone and has completely forgotten himself, he finds that God has forgiven him everything, and he remembers Who, in reality, he is.

Meher Baba , EnN, Pg 110

” Revenge follows hatred and forgiveness follows love. Without love none can cultivate the noble habit of forgetting and forgiving. You forgive a wrong done to you in the same measure in which you love the wrong-doer.

You can counteract a disease only by its antidote. Love is the only antidote to hatred. When you feel like hating a man try to remind yourself that he is a form of your own Self.

There is greater valour in conquering the heart of a single enemy than in gaining victory over the bodies of thousands of enemies. The mind is capable of turning the bitterest enemy into the sweetest friend by constantly thinking well (charitably) of him.”

~ Meher Baba     THE SAYINGS OF SHRI MEHER BABA, pp. 8-9

” God forgives sins in the sense that he does not eternally damn anyone for his sins. He keeps the door of redemption eternally open.

Through repeated sincere prayers, it is possible to effect an exit from the otherwise inexorable working out of the law of karma. The forgiveness asked from God evokes from him his inscrutable grace, which alone can give new direction to the inexorable karmic determination. ” ~ Meher Baba  1956, Be p37-38

FORGIVE AND FORGET ~ Meher Baba

People ask God for forgiveness. But since God is everything and everyone, who is there for Him to forgive? Forgiveness of the created was already there inHis act of creation. But still people ask God’s forgiveness, and He forgives them. But they, instead of forgetting that for which they asked forgiveness, forget that God has forgiven them, and, instead, remember the things they were forgiven — and so nourish the seed of wrong-doing, and it bears its fruit again. Again and again they plead for forgiveness, and again and again
the Master says, I forgive.

But it is impossible for men to forget their wrong-doings and the wrongs done to them by others. And since they cannot forget, they find it hard to forgive. But forgiveness is the best charity. (It is easy to give the poor money and goods when one has plenty,
but to forgive is hard; but it is the best thing if one can do it.)

Instead of men trying to forgive one another they fight. Once they fought with their hands and with clubs. Then with spears and bows and arrow. Then with guns and cannon. Then they invented bombs and carriers for them. Now they have developed missiles that can destroy millions of other men thousands of miles away, and they are prepared to use them. The weapons used change, but the aggressive pattern of man remains the same.

Now men are planning to go to the moon. And the first to get there will plant his nation’s flag on it, and that nation will say, It is mine. But another nation will dispute the claim and they will fight here on this earth for possession of that moon. And whoever goes there,
what will he find? Nothing but himself. And if people go on to Venus they will still find nothing but themselves. Whether men soar to outer space or dive to the bottom of the deepest ocean they will find themselves as they are, unchanged, because they will not have forgotten themselves nor remembered to exercise the charity of forgiveness.

Supremacy over others will never cause a man to find a change in himself; the greater his conquests the stronger is his confirmation of what his mind tells him— that there is no God other than his own power. And he remains separated from God, the Absolute Power.

But when the same mind tells him that there is _something_ which may be called God, and, further, when it prompts him to search for God that he may see Him face to face, he begins to forget himself and to forgive others for whatever he has suffered from them.

And when he has forgiven everyone and has completely forgotten himself, he finds that God has forgiven him everything, and he remembers Who, in reality, he is.

THE EVERYTHING AND THE NOTHING, pp. 109-110
Copyright 1989 AMBPPCT