In the Good of Others (Facets of Forgiveness in the Life of Pramukh Swami Maharaj)

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This book comprises four parts.
Part 1 overviews the lofty legacy of forgiveness in Sanatan Dharma in the lives of avatars, mystics and sadhus from ancient times. This is followed by citing examples of forgiveness in the lives of Bhagwan Swaminarayan in the early 19th century and his subsequent Gunatit successors until the fourth, Brahmaswarup Yogiji Maharaj, who passed away in January 1971.
Part 2 discusses facets of forgiveness in the life of the fifth Gunatit Satpurush, Brahmaswarup Pramukh Swami Maharaj.
This section in turn considers two sides of forgiveness in his life; his personal and that of BAPS Sanstha, the organisation that he led. The personal side discusses the insults and slanders hurled upon him and his response. The second considers forgiveness for those who may have criticised or condemned the Sanstha's various principles and activities.
Part 3 discusses how Swami shri taught and inspired the virtue of forgiveness in followers of BAPS as well as admirers, to live in peace.
Part 4 briefly examines several cases of societal forgiveness in which Swami shri strived at great lengths to mediate between two feuding factions, inspiring them to forgive, forget and live in permanent harmony. The final case and perhaps the acme of his life, was his appeal to the people of Gujarat and India, after the terrorist attack on Swaminarayan Akshardham on 25 September 2001, to pray for peace and forgiveness.
Finally, the appendix cites references of forgiveness in the shastras of Sanatan Dharma.

Over the past 40 years medical research has made great strides in the science of forgiveness. Researchers have discovered numerous potential benefits of forgiveness on physical, mental, relational and spiritual health, which are worth citing here briefly. This will help us to understand Pramukh Swami Maharaj's efforts in inspiring forgiveness in people.
Various positive effects of forgiveness have been described. A comprehensive review of 128 studies between 1984 to 2018 concluded that forgiveness is associated with better physical health'. Forgiveness is also deemed to be a coping method that removes unforgiving and stress-related emotions, promoting better mental health among both victims and perpetrators². Conversely, unwillingness to forgive is associated with anxiety, depression, hostility and heart disease, as well as abnormal blood markers similar to those seen in people who experience. chronic stress.
Forgiveness is the key factor for marital success and fosters wellbeing within the family. Parents who have a greater tendency to forgive their children and adolescents who are more willing to forgive their parents both contribute to stronger intra-family relationships. Some studies suggest a link between forgiveness and happiness or general well-being'. Research also indicates that forgiveness based on spiritual or religious beliefs helps a victim to view the perpetrator with compassion and love.
Psychiatrists globally, including myself, also come across clients who get angry with God for a negative life event, which lessens belief in God's existence, termed as emotional atheism For believers, negative life events induce them to communicate with God by praying for relief from suffering and pain. Research on prayer is ongoing and has at least indicated its importance as a method of coping with stress or stressful contexts.
This brief overview of the medical research on forgiveness hopes to set a stage from which to study Pramukh Swami Maharaj's sublime paradigm on forgiveness in practice cited in this publication. Psychiatrists, including myself, have come across the whole range of problems counselled and faced by Swami shri. We treat people who feel wronged, who experience hurt, anger and injustice at best by textbook advice and chemicals. Yet we wonder about the long-term efficacy of this approach. For victims who entertain the Lex Talionis or law of an eye for an eye and a tooth for tooth' seen in most cultures as the only way to address injustice, we have only theoretical advice. In contrast, I am immensely humbled and awed by Swamishri's peaceful solutions which quashed this law head on. His advice healed people holistically and permanently, without any lingering feelings of revenge, remorse or animosity. His solutions transcended conventional wisdom and withstood the test of time. The acme of his forgiveness was his national appeal on radio to maintain and offer prayers in the aftermath of the heartrending terrorist attack in the Swaminarayan Akshardham Mahamandir in Gandhinagar, in Gujarat, on 22 September 2001.

In the shastras of Sanatan Dharma, the 18th Purana is the Shrimad Bhagvatam by Bhagwan Veda Vyas. In this text, Vyasji cites the 39 divine attributes of Bhagwan and the Sadhu who has realised Bhagwan. Brahmaswarup Pramukh Swami Maharaj was such a sadhu, the fifth Gunatit successor of Bhagwan Swaminarayan. Of these 39 attributes, forgiveness - kshanti in Sanskrit - forms the central theme of this book. Yet forgiveness is also intertwined with all the other 38 virtues. For the purposes of this book, to aid to easily grasp the mechanism of forgiveness a conceptual model is proposed based on thirteen of these virtues. These are depicted in the flow chart on the opposite page.
As cited in the Preface, this book cites true stories of forgiveness in Pramukh Swami Maharaj's life. In each case story, several of the 13 virtues can be seen to be equally functioning with forgiveness. For example, in one story Swami shri's' virtues of anahamkruti - humility, dhairyam - patience and titiksha tolerance manifest to boost forgiveness. In another, they may be prashrayaha-love of all life, daya - compassion, mardavam -kind heartedness and shamaha-mental control. Hence, each story exhibits various facets of forgiveness simultaneously aided by one or more of the 13 virtues.