11am Sunday Talk: Father, Forgive Them… with Br. Shankara

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April is a month for study of Jnana Yoga (advaita vedanta). As a jnana yogi, you practice discrimination, reason, detachment, and satyagraha (insistence on Truth). The goal is freedom from limitation (moksha). Our teachers say that all miseries in life are caused by seeing inaccurately. An earnest and persistent jnani may break through this misapprehension (Maya) and see only the Divine Presence everywhere, in everything and everyone.

Should we be surprised when Jesus, dying in agony on the cross, says of his murderers, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”? (Luke 23:24)

Not if we take seriously the testimony of several Roman Catholic saints. These great souls, having become One with Him who is One with the Father, tell us of His nature. Without exception, they say that Christ’s very Being — the reason for His birth, ministry and death — is forgiveness and compassion, born of unconditional love for all Creation.

This thought is surely not unfamiliar to us. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says to Arjuna, “When goodness grows weak, when evil increases, I make myself a body. In every age I come back to deliver the holy, to destroy the sin of the sinner, to establish righteousness.” (Chapter 4)

On Sunday morning we will read and discuss the work of three Catholic saints. And, to flavor what we serve you for Easter, we’ll salt it with a little Hafiz.