Acharya Mahaprajna
One of the Sanskrit poets has said, 'Show me a thing that can compare with milk. Milk is pure and naturally sweet.'
Even when heated, transformed and churned, it gives sneh (double meaning: oiliness and love).
Only he who is great by nature and who is strong can give love. The reason why one is small and weak is that he is not capable of giving love. (In the Ramayan) Lakshman asked Sugreev for forgiveness of his harsh words:
Lakshman was not weak. He could pour love where it did not exist. That is why he was capable of seeking forgiveness. The chief of Sindhu Sauvir sought the chief of Ujjayini, Chandpradyot's forgiveness. One of them was a captive and another, a captor. One was the vanquished the other was the victor. Udayan said, 'Lord Pradyot, today is Samvatsari, which is a great occasion of friendship. On this occasion, I forgive you heartily. I beg you to forgive me heartily.'
Mahavir believed that friendship is not possible between a great and a small person. Friendship belongs to the realm of equality. If one only forgives but does not seek forgiveness the former becomes great and the latter small. They cannot be friends. Friendship is possible only between those who both give and seek forgiveness.
Pradyot said, 'Can a captive forgive somebody?' Udayan stepped forward and freeing Pradyot from his shackles made him sit close to him. Both hearts developed ties of love.
The thread of love is at one end unending. It has the capability to create the bond of love among countless hearts.
Will you allow me to regard those 'religions' as true religions which make people heartless and hostile towards one another, and which demand, for the sake of their extension or survival, that people of other religions be killed? A religion shorn of spirituality and wedded to racialism or casteism spreads heartlessness instead of love and stresses division in place of unity. Humanity has suffered long and a good deal as a result of such religions. Now it needs only that religion in whose depths there is a perennial spring of love and forgiveness.
