Made using machines.

Produced with a machine

Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, famously arranged for attendees of his memorial service to be given a copy of Autobiography of a Yogi. As the story goes, he first read the book when he was in his teens. At the age of nineteen, in 1974, he took Autobiography along with him as he embarked on a seven month spiritual retreat in India. While the short-term expectations of the trip - meeting a guru, quick enlightenment - did not come to bear, the long-term personal and creative growth made it one of the most important periods in his life. Many biographers and Jobs himself framed it as essential to who he became. The appreciation he developed there for the intuitive faculty, as well as a boundless possibility mindset, would later become foundational to Apple’s philosophy.

I did eventually read Autobiography, perhaps in the last two or three years. The back cover blurb of my copy reads: “Named one of the 100 best spiritual books of the 20th century, Paramahansa Yogananda’s remarkable life story takes you on an unforgettable exploration of the world of saints and yogis, science and miracles, death and resurrection.” Let’s briefly put the work in its religious and cultural context. Autobiography of a Yogi sits within the Hindu religious framework, more specifically within a modern yogic devotional tradition that draws on core philosophical teachings of ancient Hindu scriptures (the Vedas and Upanishads) which explore the nature of reality, the self, and the divine, especially the insight that our deepest self is not separate from the ultimate reality or God (Advaita Vedanta, non-dualism.) In terms of practice, it belongs to the Kriya Yoga lineage of Mahavatar Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya, and Swami Sri Yukteswar. At the same time, it weaves in strong bhakti (devotional) elements and simplified Tantric subtle-body practices focused on energy and inner awareness. The book also reflects a distinctly 20th-century cultural synthesis: a globalized reinterpretation of Hindu spirituality that harmonizes Indian traditions with Western (including Christian mystical) sensibilities, emphasizes direct experience over doctrine, and presents yoga as a scientific method of God-realization. Paramahansa Yogananda founded the Self-Realization Fellowship, best described as a modern universalist devotional yoga movement, in Los Angeles in 1920. He published his autobiography in 1946 under its auspices.

What I found most striking about Autobiography of a Yogi was its genius as a tool of persuasion crafted for the western mind. In Hinduism and Buddhism exists the concept of siddhis, supernatural abilities said to develop as a byproduct of disciplined spiritual practice. These include levitation, bilocation, materialization of objects, clairvoyance, telepathy, and the like. Hinduism generally considers siddhis incidental byproducts of spiritual practice, possible but not the goal, while Buddhism views them as phenomena that may arise within awareness but are ultimately irrelevant to true awakening. Each tradition strongly warns against seeking siddhis or becoming attached to them, viewing them as potential obstacles to enlightenment and even sources of spiritual downfall if misused. While Yogananda consistently emphasizes that such powers are secondary to god-realization, his book is filled with them. Indeed, despite repeated warnings against fascination with the supernatural, the “remarkable life story” promised on the back cover delivers exactly that: an unforgettable exploration of saints, yogis, science, and miracles. Chapter 30, “The Law of Miracles,” offers a philosophical and quasi-scientific explanation for how such powers operate. Drawing on Vedanta, yoga, and even Einstein’s relativity, Yogananda frames miracles as the result of mastering higher laws of consciousness and the subtle “light of creation.” He explains them as natural side effects of divine realization, always subordinate to the true goal of god-union. Enchanting and much more appealing to a novice than a dense philosophical treatise, tales of the extraordinary sit at the heart of the book’s appeal. It is easy to see how a starry-eyed young man hungry “for something more” might be inclined to go searching for its evidence in supernatural phenomena, especially if those are presented not merely as religious belief but practical science. All the more so if he wishes to be “something more” himself.

The common consensus among scholars is that Autobiography of a Yogi is best understood as a gateway text rather than a rigorous philosophical or scholarly one, functioning primarily as an initiatory work that sparks curiosity and reorients the reader toward direct spiritual experience. I would call it masterful marketing for the Self-Realization Fellowship, and Kriya Yoga: come for the wonders, stay for the inner reckoning. The book’s publication in 1946 dramatically expanded the organization’s reach, drawing in a wide audience that might never have encountered Yogananda’s yogic teachings otherwise. The 26 years between the organization’s founding in America and the release of Autobiography presented ample opportunity for Yogananda to grasp the western culture and mentality. The book’s vivid miracles read like scenes from a Hollywood film, its reverent treatment of Christ alongside Indian masters bridges the familiar with the foreign, and even its recurring motif of the automobile as a symbol of freedom and journey all combine to make ancient yogic wisdom feel exciting, approachable, and spiritually compatible with a Western, often Christian-raised sensibility.

It is said that Steve Jobs read Autobiography of a Yogi every year. Still, after returning from India, he went on to become a dedicated practitioner of Zen meditation. A decades-long Zen study and meditation practice like his suggest the sincerity of someone who was ultimately more interested in the moon than in the finger pointing at it. Though one might argue that all roads lead to Rome, Zen’s minimalist, austere, non-theistic nature stands in clear contrast to the highly structured, energetic, devotional approach of Yogananda’s Kriya Yoga. Its influence is evident in Apple’s signature simplicity and elegant design. But what, I wonder, compelled Jobs to reread Yogananda year after year? As a memorial gift, the book makes sense in terms of the weight of its influence on the young Jobs as well as its accessibility even to those who are not spiritually or philosophically inclined. Perhaps in his annual rereading of the text, Jobs sought to stay in touch with the young version of himself, to always remember those early transformative years? I have mentioned already that India and Yogananda inspired Jobs to adopt what would become his famous emphasis on intuition and trusting one’s own perception as well as a mindset of “staying hungry, staying foolish,” open to possibility. But there is also this: an iPhone is full of siddhis. The bilocation of the video call. All the world’s knowledge. Global navigation. Photographic memory. The ability to map constellations with the bare eye. The clairvoyance of seeing what someone halfway around the world ate for lunch that day. Musical ability to play any song. And so on. It is possible to purchase these without training the mind for the skillful means to negotiate any of them. We have dopamine addiction, thought outsourcing, and outright vices like online betting and worse. I suppose what I’m getting at is the commonly held view that this type of technology came at humanity much faster than our ability to integrate it psychologically, socially, spiritually in a healthy manner.

The Yogananda/Jobs/product design connection points to a broader defining dynamic wherein spiritual concepts, like the non-dualism Jobs found in Autobiography, or the Zen emphasis on no-mind (mushin), direct non-dual awareness, are being externalized into products and platforms, yet frequently detached from the rigorous ethical and inner development that once accompanied them. There are echoes in product metaphors: “frictionless” experiences, “seamless” interfaces, “flow states,” AI as extended mind, VR/AR dissolving physical boundaries, and rhetoric around “expanding consciousness” or “connecting everything.” Much of tech culture adopts the language and/or attempts experiential simulation of spiritual development while prioritizing growth, engagement, speed, and profit, and often comes with well-documented ethical shortfalls (addiction-by-design, surveillance, polarization, mental health impacts, etc.). This move toward an artificial simulation of the spiritual seems to me at once a reflection of a collective spiritual hunger and the product of a mindset more interested in becoming god-like than having a genuine orientation toward god-realization. In the face of this hunger and hubris, the counterweight remains what it has always been: sincere, embodied practice.

Let us, then, cultivate humility and finish today with a quote from Yogananda, as well as the opening passage of the Metta Sutta, often used in traditional Zen practice.

Yogananda said: “I gave the powers back to God, and I never use them unless He tells me to. My mission is to awaken love for God in the soul of man. I prefer a soul to a crowd, and I love crowds of souls.”

The Metta Sutta says:

This is what should be done

By one who is skilled in goodness,

And who knows the path of peace:

Let them be able and upright,

Straightforward and gentle in speech,

Humble and not conceited,

Contented and easily satisfied,

Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways.

Peaceful and calm and wise and skillful,

Not proud or demanding in nature.

Let them not do the slightest thing

That the wise would later reprove.

Suggested reading:

Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda

Metta Sutta: Loving-Kindness in Plain English - Bhante Henepola Gunaratana

You likely know what a mandala is, but I will tell you a little about it anyway.

A mandala is a structured geometric design composed of symbolic elements, often featuring a circle surrounding a square. Found in spiritual traditions such as Hinduism and Buddhism, mandalas serve as representations of the cosmos, frameworks for organizing deities, and tools for meditation and contemplation. The term derives from Sanskrit and is commonly translated as “circle” or “center.” In the twentieth century, psychologist Carl Jung introduced the concept to many Western audiences. He interpreted mandalas as universal symbols that reflect psychological wholeness and the process of integrating different aspects of the self.

The nature mandala we are making today is relatively modest in its objective: to make a pleasing circular design using natural elements in order to calm and steady ourselves.

If I were to offer instructions, I would tell you the following:

When you are making your mandala, it is important that you start with the outermost circle first, and move gradually toward the center.

Give yourself more time than you think you need. Gather more of each element than you think you need. Get into it. Take time to explore and see what strike your fancy. Some items are obvious, like bright woodland flowers, but if you look closely, you may also find tiny little pinecones hiding on the forest floor.

You may make a mandala spontaneously, but I like to be equipped. Useful items include a small tote bag for foraged items, a little pair of scissors in case you need to cut a few branches, and a water bottle with a mist spray nozzle if you plan on working with flowers. Delicate blooms wilt quite quickly, and a little spray helps to keep them perky. And of course, I always carry an essential oil spray to help repel bugs. I have included my recipe below.

Now that you know what you need and what to do, you are ready to create. I wish you a beautiful mandala, and a day that brings you peace.

Atmanjeet’s Forest Bathing Spray

In a 2oz spray bottle made of blue or amber glass or metal combine:

1 tablespoon of witch hazel

½ teaspoon of jojoba or almond oil

20 drops of cedarwood essential oil

5 drops lemon teatree essential oil

15 drops lavender or geranium essential oil

Top off the rest of the bottle with distilled water, shake, and enjoy!

Forest Bathing Equipment

1. Ideal Light Pruner / Pocket Secateur

2. Mesh Foraging Bags that go over the shoulder or cross-body

3. Travel Size All Natural Mosquito Repellent with organic essential oils

4. Travel-sized spray bottle with mist nozzle

Let’s Explore Land Art

1. Land Art by Michael Lailach provides an overview of major artists and historical timeline of Land Art. A good starting place to explore the genre. Published by Taschen.

2. Groundswell: Women of Land Art by Leigh Arnold shines the spotlight on the vast number of earthworks by women artists to shed new light on land art. Published with Nasher Sculpture Center.

While the essays will continue to be available on Substack through a paid subscription, I have also collected them in a single PDF volume. Because the writing is conceptually dense and deliberately restrained, I have supplemented the essays with a Reading Companion and a set of visual schemas designed to orient attention and support immersion in the material, as well as audio voiceovers of each essay.

Readers engaged in reflective or relational work, including therapists, counsellors, teachers, and those with established meditative practices may find these essays useful. Those drawn to philosophical or psychological inquiry who are willing to follow the development of ideas across multiple domains may also find them interesting. This work does not aim to provide immediate guidance or resolution. It is written for those who are comfortable working through conceptual difficulty, remaining with unresolved questions, and examining forgiveness from moral, spiritual, psychological, and relational perspectives at once.

I offer these essays with belief in the power of forgiveness, and in the hope that they may be of some use when forgiveness is difficult. Forgiving is one of the soul’s great victories, and being forgiven one of its great graces.

- Atmanjeet

The essays, audios, Reading Companion, and visual schemas are available for $29 at https://www.victoryofthesoul.life/forgiveness

At the bottom of this post you will find a Library of Forgiveness, a reading list of major works that informed this series.

Library of Forgiveness

Classical Foundations

1. David Konstan — Before Forgiveness

2. Aristotle — Nicomachean Ethics

3. Seneca — On Anger & On Clemency

Abrahamic Traditions

4. Maimonides — Laws of Repentance

5. The New Testament (ESV)

6. Thomas Aquinas — Summa Theologiae (selected)

7. Al-Ghazali — The Revival of the Religious Sciences

Dharmic Traditions

8. Bhagavad Gita

9. Shantideva — The Way of the Bodhisattva

Modern Philosophy

10. Hannah Arendt — The Human Condition

11. P. F. Strawson — “Freedom and Resentment”

12. Jeffrie Murphy & Jean Hampton — Forgiveness and Mercy

13. Charles Griswold - Forgiveness: A Philosophical Exploration

14. Martha C Nussbaum - Anger and Forgiveness

15. Paul Ricoeur - Memory, History, Forgetting

Psychology

16. Robert Enright — Forgiveness Is a Choice

17. Everett Worthington — Forgiveness and Reconciliation

18. Michael McCullough — Beyond Revenge

19. Margaret Urban Walker - Moral Repair

Trauma and Moral Injury

20. Judith Herman — Trauma and Recovery

21. Jonathan Shay — Achilles in Vietnam

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“i thank You God for most this amazing”

i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any—lifted from the no
of all nothing—human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

-e. e. cummings

Let’s Get Comfortable

An organic linen eye pillow for relaxation. With lavender and flaxseed, and a microwavable heating pad and cool compress.

A thick handwoven yoga blanket for Yoga Nidra, Restorative Yoga, and Meditation. It’s just the right kind of little blanket.

Under ordinary conditions, forgiveness is most reliably recognized not through cognitive declaration or moral reasoning, but through a quiet, tangible shift in the body. If forgiveness is understood in psychology as a reorganization of the self in relation to injury, it must also be understood as an embodied event. Focusing on forgiveness under the ordinary conditions of everyday interpersonal injuries, relational slights, accumulated grudges, or minor betrayals in non-traumatic, non-grief contexts, we see it is most reliably recognized through its somatic markers. A weight long carried in the chest lightens. Shoulders that held unspoken tension ease. Breath, once constrained by background vigilance, deepens into fuller presence. The grievance, formerly a low hum of muscular holding or constriction, loses its physiological charge. What follows is a subtle softening: muscles release, the ribcage opens, attention expands beyond the narrow orbit of injury. People frequently realize they have forgiven only retrospectively, when a persistent somatic burden has already begun to lift.

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Psychomagic is a healing art developed by Jodorowsky that draws on the power of dreams, theatre, and poetry to heal unresolved mental, emotional and even physical issues. It consists of performing carefully prescribed symbolic or poetic acts in daily life that speak directly to the unconscious mind, creating transformation through concrete gestures rather than analysis or words. Normally, these acts are carefully tailored to a person’s unique story and often involve the participation of others. What I’m offering today is a non-personalized but deeply individual act, a city walk that invites the unconscious to reveal itself through the living poetry of the streets.

For this psychomagic act, you will need to be in a city that is made for walking. The weather and your footwear should be such that you may stroll comfortably for a minimum of one hour, and possibly an entire afternoon. You will not need a destination or an itinerary. You may enter a shop or two, or get a little snack, but know that this is not a shopping or sightseeing or errand running expedition. You will walk without objective, without hurry, with no fixed route. Somewhere along your travels is an object that is meant for you. You are not on a quest to find it, yet you will know it when it presents itself. Simply begin walking slowly, with no goal and no agenda. Stay open and present to the streets, the atmospheres, the sounds, and the small details around you. There is nothing to seek or hunt for. The object will appear when it appears, you only need to recognize it when the city offers it to you.

Once you encounter the object, pick it up. No need to analyze or understand it. Continue walking as before, carrying the object, perhaps for another twenty minutes or more. Let yourself feel its presence as you move through the streets and notice how it subtly changes the experience of the city around you.

Just as the object appeared on its own, so will come the place where you will leave it, or possibly offer it to someone. If it is a place, leave it there without concealment or display. If it is a person, allow the transfer to occur in a way that remains ordinary and unremarked. Do not explain the gesture. Trust the instinctive knowing of where and how. You will know intuitively when the moment is right. Once you have released the object, the psychomagic act may feel complete. You may continue to drift through the city, or choose to make your way home.

Trauma fundamentally alters the psychological conditions under which forgiveness can be meaningfully considered. Defined by overwhelming threat, powerlessness, and nervous-system reorganization around survival rather than meaning or coherence, trauma disrupts safety, agency, reflective distance, and affect tolerance, the very capacities that contemporary models of forgiveness presume. The term trauma here encompasses both acute trauma (discrete, time-limited events such as assaults or accidents) and complex trauma (prolonged, repeated harm often within dependency relationships marked by power imbalance or coercion). The distinction is critical: acute trauma typically leaves a recoverable pre-trauma baseline of relative safety and self-continuity, whereas complex trauma developmentally compromises those very foundations. In both forms, however, forgiveness cannot be assumed to function as it does in ordinary relational injury or grief and is neither an expected outcome of recovery nor a universal therapeutic aim. In the context of trauma, the question is less a matter of how forgiveness is done than it is about whether, when, and under what conditions it might arise without undermining safety, agency, or truth.

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The imagery starts at the 1:25 mark of the audio.

Once you have done the audio a few times, you will be able to do the Lighthouse on your own in about 30 seconds. Here are written instructions for the mental imagery:

Sit upright with your feet flat on the ground. Rest your arms either on your chair’s armrests or on top of your thighs. The palms may face up or down, as you prefer.

Close your eyes and state mentally: “The intention is discernment.”

Let the breath settle. Allow the exhale to become longer than the inhale.

In your mind’s eye, notice the darkness all around you.

Breathe out three times, counting back from 3…2…1.

See the lighthouse.

See your way.

Breathe out one last time, and open your eyes.

Grief arises from any profound loss that disrupts attachment, meaning, or identity, whether through death, estrangement, chronic illness, relational rupture, or irreversible change. In contexts of finality, as in bereavement, or ongoing ambiguity, as in nonfinite loss, forgiveness may emerge as one mode of intrapsychic integration, reshaping how the lost object, self, or circumstances are held internally. Across these varied forms of grief, forgiveness is neither a moral obligation nor a required step toward healing. It appears under specific conditions, shaped by timing, regulatory capacity, relational history, and belief systems, and may arise early, late, intermittently, or not at all.

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For much of its early history, psychology had little conceptual space for forgiveness as a distinct object of study. Classical psychoanalytic theory, centred on intrapsychic conflict, repression, guilt, and repetition compulsion, typically interpreted forgiveness as a moralized defense mechanism, denial of aggression, or premature resolution that bypassed genuine working-through. Forgiveness was thus regarded with suspicion as submission, displacement, or avoidance of insight rather than a true prosocial transformation.

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This type of walk is best practiced in the morning or late afternoon, on a beach that is sparsely populated enough to allow for an even walking pace for at least forty minutes. I prefer warmer temperatures, when it’s possible to walk barefoot along the shoreline where the sand is damp and slightly firmer. In any season, sun protection is worth considering. The particular walk I’m offering today follows a simple to-and-fro, and I often find that sunglasses or a sun hat are useful when walking more toward the sun.

Now, you have two options. One is simply to take a long beach walk, about twenty minutes out and twenty minutes back, and let the environment do the work on its own. The other is to join me in this audio, where I offer minimal guidance designed to support reflection on a relational or ethical matter, something involving how you’re relating to another person, or how you’re holding a situation, without trying to analyze or resolve it.

Dear Everyone,

I have made a little holiday gift for us.

It’s called Expand and it is a single-session interactive chatgpt experience that shifts attention when things feel narrow or stuck. Non-directive, non-advice-giving, intentionally brief (about 5-7 minutes,) it can be useful when focus gets caught on a single concern or a crowded set of demands. Yo…

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Forgiveness presents a profound philosophical paradox: in validating the victim’s resentment, it acknowledges a moral wrong, yet simultaneously relinquishes the perpetrator’s debt, releasing its claim on justice. While previous accounts i…

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Selichah (ברכת הסליחה - Blessing for Forgiveness) from the Amidah

סְלַח לָנוּ אָבִינוּ כִּי חָטָאנוּ,

מְחַל לָנוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ כִּי פָשַׁעְנוּ,

כִּי אֵל טוֹב וְסַלָּח אָתָּה.

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’, חַנּוּן הַמַּרְבֶּה לִסְלֹחַ.

Selach lanu Avinu ki chatanu, mechal lanu Malkeinu ki pasha‘nu, ki El tov ve-sallach Atah. Baruch Atah Adonai, chanun ha-marbeh lisloach.

Forgive us, our Father, for we have sinned; pardon us, our King, for we have transgressed; for You are a good and forgiving God. Blessed are You, Lord, gracious One who abundantly forgives.

Psalm 51 (“Have Mercy on Me, O God”) - A Prayer of Repentance

1-4 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.

10 - 12 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from Your presence or take Your spirit of holiness from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [Amen.]

Prayer of Saint Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. [Amen.]

Sayyid al-Istighfār (سَيِّدُ الْاِسْتِغْفَارِ - The Master Supplication for Forgiveness)

اللَّهُمَّ أَنْتَ رَبِّي لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ، خَلَقْتَنِي وَأَنَا عَبْدُكَ، وَأَنَا عَلَىٰ عَهْدِكَ وَوَعْدِكَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُ، أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ شَرِّ مَا صَنَعْتُ، أَبُوءُ لَكَ بِنِعْمَتِكَ عَلَيَّ، وَأَبُوءُ بِذَنْبِي فَاغْفِرْ لِي فَإِنَّهُ لَا يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ.

Allāhumma anta rabbī, lā ilāha illā anta, khalaqtanī wa ana ʿabduka, wa ana ʿalā ʿahdika wa waʿdika mā istaṭaʿtu. Aʿūdhu bika min sharri mā ṣanaʿtu, abūʾu laka bi-niʿmatika ʿalayya, wa abūʾu bi-dhanbī, fa-ghfir lī, fa-innahu lā yaghfiru al-dhunūba illā anta.

O Allah, You are my Lord; there is no god but You. You created me and I am Your servant, and I uphold Your covenant and [my] promise to You as much as I am able. I seek refuge in You from the evil I have done. I acknowledge Your blessings upon me, and I acknowledge my sin, so forgive me, for there is none who forgives sins except You.

Duʿāʾ al-Maghfirah al-Shāmilah (دُعَاءُ الْمَغْفِرَةِ الشَّامِلَةِ - Dua of Comprehensive Forgiveness)

اللَّهُمَّ اغْفِرْ لِي مَا قَدَّمْتُ وَمَا أَخَّرْتُ وَمَا أَسْرَرْتُ وَمَا أَعْلَنْتُ وَمَا أَنْتَ أَعْلَمُ بِهِ مِنِّي، أَنْتَ الْمُقَدِّمُ وَأَنْتَ الْمُؤَخِّرُ وَأَنْتَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ

Allahumma-ghfir lī mā qaddamtu wa mā akhkhartu wa mā asrartu wa mā aʿlantu wa mā anta aʿlamu bihi minnī, anta l-Muqaddimu wa anta l-Muʾakhkhiru wa anta ʿalā kulli shayʾin qadīr.

O Allah, forgive me for what I have done in the past and what I may do in the future, what I have concealed and what I have disclosed, and whatever You know about me better than I do. You are the One Who brings forward and puts back, and You have power over all things.

Kshama Prarthana (क्षमा प्रार्थना - Prayer Asking Forgiveness)

त्वमेव माता च पिता त्वमेव

त्वमेव बन्धुश्च सखा त्वमेव ।

त्वमेव विद्या द्रविणं त्वमेव

त्वमेव सर्वं मम देवदेव ॥

क्षमस्व मां क्षमस्व मां क्षमस्व मां

ॐ क्षमस्व मां क्षमस्व मां क्षमस्व मां ॥

Tvameva mātā cha pitā tvameva Tvameva bandhuśh cha sakhā tvameva Tvameva vidyā draviṇaṃ tvameva Tvameva sarvaṃ mama devadeva Kṣhamasva māṃ kṣhamasva māṃ kṣhamasva māṃ Oṃ kṣhamasva māṃ kṣhamasva māṃ kṣhamasva māṃ

You alone are my mother and my father, You alone are my relative and my friend, You alone are my knowledge and my wealth, You alone are my everything, O God of gods. Forgive me, forgive me, forgive me. Om, forgive me, forgive me, forgive me.

Kshama Yachana (क्षमायाचना - Prayer for Forgiveness)

ॐ यन्तुनो देवः सविता क्षमेत्

यद् विश्वे देवा जरसे नयन्ति ।

तस्मै विश्वायुर्देवाय नमो नमः ॥

ॐ क्षमस्व माम् ।

ॐ क्षमस्व माम् ।

ॐ क्षमस्व माम् ॥

Oṃ yantuno devaḥ savitā kṣamet yad viśve devā jarase nayanti । tasmai viśvāyur-devāya namo namaḥ ॥ Oṃ kṣamasva mām । Oṃ kṣamasva mām । Oṃ kṣamasva mām ॥

Om, may the Divine Sun-God Savitā forgive us for whatever the gods of the universe lead us into through old age (or error). Salutations again and again to that God who grants universal life. Om, forgive me. Om, forgive me. Om, forgive me.

Threefold Forgiveness Meditation

If I have hurt or harmed anyone, knowingly or unknowingly, through body, speech, or mind, I sincerely ask their forgiveness. May I be forgiven.

If anyone has hurt or harmed me, knowingly or unknowingly, through body, speech, or mind, I freely and fully forgive them. May they be released from guilt and suffering.

For all the ways I have hurt or harmed myself, knowingly or unknowingly, out of fear, pain, or confusion, I now extend forgiveness to myself.

May I be at peace. May all beings be free from harm. May all beings be at peace.

Vajrasattva Purification Mantra (वज्रसत्त्व शोधन मन्त्र )

ॐ वज्रसत्त्व यभ समय मनुपालय

वज्रसत्त्व त्वेनोपतिष्ठ

दृढो मे भव

सुतोष्यो मे भव

सुपोष्यो मे भव

अनुरक्तो मे भव

सर्वसिद्धिं मे प्रयच्छ

सर्वकर्मसु च मे चित्तं श्रेयः कुरु हूँ

ह ह ह ह होः भगवन् सर्वतथागतवज्र मा मे मुञ्च

वज्री भव महासमयसत्त्व आः

Oṃ Vajrasattva samaya manu­pālaya Vajrasattva tvenopatiṣṭha Dṛḍho me bhava Sutoṣyo me bhava Supoṣyo me bhava Anurakto me bhava Sarva-siddhiṃ me prayaccha Sarva-karma-su ca me cittaṃ śreyaḥ kuru hūṃ Ha ha ha ha hoḥ Bhagavan sarva-tathāgata-vajra mā me muñca Vajrī bhava mahā-samaya-sattva āḥ

Om Diamond-Mind Being! Preserve the bond! Keep me steadfast in the commitment. Be pleased with me, be very pleased with me. Nourish and increase my devotion. Grant me all accomplishments. Make my mind virtuous in all actions. Hūṃ Ha ha ha ha hoḥ Blessed One, Indestructible Purity of all Buddhas, do not abandon me. Make me diamond-natured, O Great Being of the sacred bond! I am one with you.

A group of monks, eager for solitude and deep meditation, approached the Buddha and asked where they might practice during the rainy season. The Buddha, sensing their sincerity, directed them to a forest at the foot of the Himalayas, serene and well-suited for meditation. Unbeknownst to them, the grove was home to powerful yakkhas, territorial forest spirits who felt displaced by the monks’ presence. Resentful, the spirits filled the nights with dreadful sounds, smells, and apparitions, until the monks, exhausted and terrified, abandoned their retreat and returned to the Buddha. They explained that they could not stay there due to the constant disturbances. The Buddha listened and replied: “Monks, you should not return empty-handed to the place where you sought refuge. Take with you a safeguard, a protection that no spirit can overcome. I will give you a weapon not of iron or fire, but of loving-kindness. When you abide in mettā, no being, human or non-human, can wish you harm.” Then he taught them the Mettā Sutta, beginning with the words: ‘This is what should be done by one who is skilled in goodness…’ Armed with this radiant mind of kindness, the monks returned to the forest. As they sat in meditation and suffused their environment with feelings of goodwill, the yakkha’s sense of hostility abated. Instead, they felt warmth and peace. The spirits’ anger melted away, and they began to protect and support the monks. Freed from fear and disturbance, the monks’ minds grew tranquil and clear.

I have often heard it said that cultivating a sense of loving kindness toward oneself and others helps to calm the mind and body, and to ease knots of resentment. The story of how the mettā meditation came to be provides insight into the power of loving-kindness to act as a protective shield against fear, anger, and harm, both from within and without. Fear is dissolved by love, and the mind’s radiance transforms the outer circumstance. What is boundless in kindness may make the world itself safer and more peaceful. Mettā meditation is a practice of compassion, and it may also be protective at times when the mind is experiencing disturbances related to fear.

The guided meditation starts at the 3:30 mark of the audio.

Across religious traditions, forgiveness is a moral imperative, a spiritual discipline, and often a divine command that restores relationships with God, others, and oneself. As it engages profound questions of sin, reconcilia…

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