“Repentance is the root of
regeneration.” – L G Akita
The spirit of remorse and
repentance has by far become alien to us. The soaring crime rate, the
veneration of brutality, the increasing availability of drugs and unwarranted consumption
of banned substances, the alarming growth of cults and violence has turned our
hearts cold to the world around us. A sense of apathy and indifference looms
within us, and over a period of time we have become accustomed to turning a
blind eye to our own misdeeds. The human mind has a way of believing that it is
always in the right and has no necessity to repent over its wrong acts. Instead
of introspecting, we choose to blame others and even blame God for placing us
in dire situations, thereby justifying our harsh words and actions.
There is a huge difference
between regret and repentance for the past. Regret is not a proactive feeling.
It is based in dissatisfaction, sadness, and even guilt. Regret aims to
magically undo the past without actually taking the step towards creating a
real difference. But repentance is an admission of wrongdoing, bad behaviour
and thoughts. Repentance offers us a chance to renew our life. It empowers us
to liberate ourselves from all our destructive harmful thoughts and behaviours
with an aim to turn towards the positive. The transforming quality of
repentance enables us to ponder over our past mistakes and motivate ourselves
to never repeat those actions ever again.
Repentance is not so much asking for divine
forgiveness, but a clear understanding of our cruel actions done intentionally
or inadvertently through our thoughts, words and deeds. We are better able to
gauge that the root cause of our misdeeds have arisen from our lack of
compassion and insight, due to our own fears, desires, attachments, aversions
and misconceptions. After recognising this, we are better able to make mindful resolutions
to be as watchful as we can and never repeat these behaviours. In other words, repentance
helps us turn over a new leaf, absolve ourselves of unhealthy shame while restoring
our determination to avoid any further malevolence to our fellow beings.
Practise repentance at the end of each day. Recall
the wrong deeds that you have done through that day. Indulging in this daily
practice will help you reduce recurring mistakes as it increases your
mindfulness in the coming days. Even if your pride tells you that you have
committed no wrong, make it a point to repent as soon as you can later.
The greater our sincerity and desire to walk
down this new path, the more powerful our transformation. While repentance does
not erase our past karma, it can soften its future mal-effects. Repentance practised
daily will help prevent the creation of fresh new damaging karma and future
torment, even as in the current state it offers a peaceful state of mind,
compassion, mercy and higher wisdom.
It is dreadful when we commit wrongs, but
it’s even worse when we fail to feel sorrow and atone for our misdeed. As
Thomas Carlyle sums up, “Of all acts of man repentance is the most divine. The
greatest of all faults is to be conscious of none.”
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