A New Year's Resolution Worth Remembering
AVATAR MEHER BABA in Jabalpur, India, on January 6, 1939, during the Blue Bus Tours. Photographed by Rano Gayley. (Source: (c) Meher Nazar Publications. Used with permission.)
On New Year’s Day, January 1, 1939, there was an interchange between two of Meher Baba’s followers, Jal Kerawalla and Pappa Jessawala. This exchange led to a memorable insight from Meher Baba.
Jal Kerawalla made a joke at Pappa Jessawala’s expense, and Pappa became very upset, going directly to Meher Baba to complain about Jal’s behavior.
Meher Baba asked the reason for the uproar, and Jal replied, “Forgive me, Baba, I was only joking.”
Pappa countered that Jal should not be forgiven.
Meher Baba spelled out on His alphabet board, “I would not forgive Jal, but to forgive is My nature. If I don’t forgive him, the world will collapse! Only by My forgiveness does the world continue, not otherwise!”
Pappa said, “You should continue forgiving the world — but not Jal Kerawalla! He has troubled me greatly!?
“All right,” Meher Baba gestured, “I won’t forgive Jal, but you forgive him!”
Jal asked for Pappa’s forgiveness. Finally, after hours of fuming, Pappa forgave Jal, saying to Meher Baba, “I have forgiven Jal because you request it, but I tell you, he is the very devil!”
Then Meher Baba explained to Pappa, “This is not forgiveness! The meaning of forgiveness is to forget the insult. When you remember it, how could you have forgiven it? After forgiving, you should not remember the incident or hold anything against him.”
Meher Baba continued, “Today is New Year’s, and you should make a resolution to forgive and forget. Only by forgetting can you truly forgive. Otherwise, what is the use of merely saying the words, ‘I forgive you’? It must be from the heart.”
Source
Bhau Kalchuri, Lord Meher: The Biography of the Avatar of the Age Meher Baba, Online Edition, pp. 1969-1970, accessed December 30, 2021. (c)Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust.