Asking for forgiveness...and remembering not to repeat the mistake

We all know about asking for forgiveness after we have done something wrong. We truly feel remorse when we realise that we have hurt those who love us. We feel guilty and upset when something goes wrong as a result of a bad decision we made. When that happens we ask for forgiveness from the person who has been wronged and from Kanha. However, we have to remember that although there is a saying that we should 'forgive and forget' that the forgetfulness does not come easily to most person. even if they do forgive us, they are not likely to forget. We also should not forget our mistakes. We should remember that when we ask for forgiveness, the other person and Kanha are expecting us to never repeat the same mistake. So, those of us who ask for forgiveness are expected to never repeat the mistake again. When we ask for forgiveness we should learn from the mistake we made and when we forgive we should forget the mistake the other person made. However, as I mentioned before, forgetting may not be as easy as it sounds. In reality if we cannot forget the mistake the other has made or whatever they have done to hurt us, we should try to learn from the other person's mistake. We should try to alter our behaviour so that we never commit that mistake and so never hurt others in that way. So in summary, the lessons to be learned are: 1. Admit when you are wrong and ask for forgiveness - many times we are too proud to admit that we were in fact wrong and we damage relationships further by failing to admit that. 2. Ask for forgiveness and learn from the mistake so that we never commit it again. 3. Forgive and learn and do not bring up the other person's mistake to hurt them. Again, sometimes we forgive and then we remind the person of what they did. This is hurtful and in itself is wrong since it displays that we did not really forgive the person. I chose the picture showing Kanha offering us some of His butter because to me this is the ultimate act of forgiveness to us, that He still wants us to partake of His prasad. Overall we should remember that Kanha forgives us but He expects better of us in the future. He expects us to do what is right and to be good people and to want to be good people above all else. Let us change our attitudes a little today so that we do not have to ask for forgiveness as much. Jai Shri Krishna!

Trusting Kanha at all times

There are times in our lives when things do not go as we would have liked. As human beings we tend to look for someone to blame for things going badly for us. However, doing this is wrong. We should not blame anyone and we definitely should not blame Kanha and accuse Him of not helping us or taking care of us. Many times people blame their parents, spouses, those closest to them. This is hurtful to those people who love us and care for us the most. Think about how you would feel if they start blaming you for things over which you have no control but that have affected them negatively. We should always try to treat others the way we ourselves would like to be treated. We should remember that Kanha is our friend, guide, protector. He is not a distant being far-removed from us. Instead He is always with us in every thing we do, all the time. He should be our dearest friend and our most trusted confidante. When we begin to fully trust in His plan, His power and His will then things will begin to work out for us and, even if they do not go the way we planned, we will begin to see that His plan is better than ours. The picture I have included is of Srimati Radharani - she was the ultimate devotee to Kanha, she trusted Him above all else and lived her life devoted to Him only. Let us learn from her devotion and trust Kanha always. I want to end with this quote: "When one's intelligence, mind, faith and refuge are all fixed in the Supreme, then one becomes fully cleansed of misgivings through complete knowledge and thus proceeds straight on the path of liberation." Srimad Bhagavad Gita Chapter 5 Shloka 17. Jai Shri Krishna!

Remembering to tell Kanha 'thank you'...

'Thank you' is such an important phrase. It illustrates that we appreciate what someone has done for us. We tend to forget to say it to those who mean the most to us and in some cases, we have actually said that we should not say 'thank you' to those closest to us because it illustrates distance in a relationship. Those closest to us do things for us out of love and duty not for thanks. However, I still believe that we should thank them to let them know that we appreciate all that they have done for us and will continue to do for us. And who does the most for us? Kanha of course. He is ALWAYS with us and this is something that we should remember. He sees everything that we do - good and bad. We have to remember that and when we do we will start doing right instead of wrong. We will follow His path naturally and we will accomplish and achieve what He meant us to achieve. Let us all join in saying 'thank you' to Kanha today. Jai Shri Krishna!