Sri Bharatamata

Ashtottaram 72

 

 

 

72) OṀ KṢHAMĀ BHŨMYAINAMAH:

            OṀ (AUM) -KṢHA-MAA- BHOO- MYAI- NA-- MA- HA

 

     (Kṣhama: means-enduring, forgiving, proper, competent)

 

 

 

 

Kṣhama is a divine quality. In Sanskrit the word is 'kṣhānti' which means forgiveness and to endure. When you show this quality towards others, they feel less apprehensive and less fearful of you and they feel relief. This quality of Kṣhama occupies the top place in our culture and way of our life. No matter of how cruel the other person is, and how much he tries to harm you, there are quite a few Hindus who forgive them by saying that 'the law of karma (action and result) will take care of that person'. In the world, in any religion, or culture, we don't see this divine quality. In some religions, they hang the criminals, cut their limbs, stone them to death even for simple petty theft. Not only that, they conduct mass killings by suicide bombing for simple disagreement about their religion or saying against their religion. This shows how much our religion and culture is different from others, and gives importance to humanity and human values.

 

Hats off to our culture, and values where we teach our children from infancy to be tolerant and show kṣhama, and kindness toward fellow human beings. You not only see this in our daily lives but all our doctrines, sacred texts are full of incidents highlighting these divine qualities in the form of fables and moral stories. Our scriptures do not teach us to show endurance in the name of religion and for the purpose of proselytization (religious conversion). Our sāstrās procliam that kṣhama is a divine quality, and we should show that toward any living being irrespective of the race, religion, culture or species. To be divine, we have to practice kindness and forgiveness toward fellow beings similar to God does toward every creature in the universe. It's a fact that if we practice to control the six enemies of our mind (shaḍvargās), it is possible to show kṣhama toward others.

 

In the great iṫihāsa Rāmāyaṇa, sage Vālmīki portrayed the sixteen virtues of Lord Sri Rāmachandra as an example to us humans to cultivate those qualities. One of them was 'kṣhama'. When praising that quality in Lord Sri Rāma, sage Vālmīki staes that Rāma's kṣhama was so great that He never remembered anyone has insulted Him, hurt Him or accused Him; but if anyone did any small good deed, Rāma always boasted about that act and that person. This is the poster quality of Sri Rāma. This illustration by our sacred texts is to show us how to be a divine person in cultivating and showing kṣhama toward fellow living beings.

 

The land which shows the divinity in the kṣhama quality is 'Kṣhamā Bhūmi'.