YESTERDAY OR TODAY?

One day Buddha decided to go away for a little while. he asked his chief disciples like Ananda, shariputra and others to stay back at the monastery while he ventured out on his own. It was most unusual because generally Buddha went, he was accompanied by his devotees and disciples who doted on him and revered him more than their own lives. They always wanted to be around to behold his beautiful form, to listen to his tranquil words, and above all just to serve him. but, this time, budhha instructed them not to follow him until he said otherwise. Exploring new places, as he walked from one village to another, many people did not recognize him.

 They didn't think he was  Gautam Buddha because there was no entourage, there was no crowd. He was wandering like any other monk, discreet and alone. On the way, Buddha approached a man for alms. The man, however, was distraught and livid for his only cow had just died a few minutes ago. In a fit of rage, he began shouting at Buddha and hurled abuses at him. The sage kept quiet and walked away. But, a villager closed by felt the unmistakable presence of Buddha and recognized him. He pacified the abuser and said, "Do you know who he was?" "What do I care?" The man said. "No, you should. He was tathagata, the Buddha himself." "What are you saying?" The man exclaimed. "It's not possible because he always has a large crowd following him. Where are his disciples?"  "That I don't know but I can tell you that he was Buddha. I've heard he's traveling on his own for the next little while." 

The man was guilt-ridden and decided to find the sage so he could beg his pardon. The next day, he traced him and fell at his feet. "Forgive me, O sage!" he said. "I'm really ashamed for calling you names. Please punish me so I may be purified. "Punish you for what?" Buddha spoke calmly. "For swearing at you, my lord." "When did you say that?" "Yesterday". He said. " I don't know yesterday," Buddha replied. 

"I know only today." 

 You see, in life... The hardest of all human emotion is forgiveness. The most difficult human emotion to experience and act upon is forgiveness. It is the pinnacle of spiritual attainment, next to compassion. This story of Buddha has a very important message for all of us. We often hold onto grudges in our lives. When we do this, we are giving strength to our emotions of anger, grief, jealousy and sadness, hence, making them stronger we create a story around why we are experiencing these emotions. Instead, we should understand that life, in itself is constantly Changing. We make it harder by blocking our emotions and letting them get stuck. By practising forgiveness, we're allowing these emotions to move through us. The key to forgiveness is to show compassion and understanding for the other person. Understand that if you were them with their life experience and genetics, you would be doing the same thing. Find the part of urself that you can recognise in the other person. This is most important. And the end of the day, just let go...

                 👉It's time for change😉