Babar's heart of forgiveness

Once, while Babar was away from his capital, his step-grandmother instigated one of his cousins to stand against him. This particular cousin made friends with the chief of the army and a few important figures in the kingdom. When Babar tried to return to the capital, the whole army fought against him. They would not allow Babar to come back. But Babar had quite a few followers outside his kingdom and they helped him to fight against his own people. Babar was so great and powerful that he eventually won the battle.

After he had won, Babar went and knelt down before his step-grandmother. He said to her, with folded hands, "I do not hold anything against you. If a mother likes one son more than another son, what can the less favoured son do? He should not feel miserable. True, a mother should love all her children equally, but if she does not, the ones who are not in favour should not feel sorry. They should still have the same love for their mother as the ones who stand high in her favour. So I do not hold anything against you. You have done the right thing, according to your light. Now let me have peace of mind." Then he placed his head on her lap and fell asleep.

A few hours later, Babar woke up, only to see the main culprit, his cousin, standing in front of him. He had been arrested and brought to Babar by the Emperor's loyal followers. Babar stood up and embraced his cousin. Then he said to him, "You are at perfect liberty either to stay with me or to leave my kingdom. If you want to leave my kingdom and live elsewhere, I will meet with all your expenses. If you want to continue staying here, you are free to do so. I feel no ill will towards you at all."

His cousin said to him, "Babar, I want to stay with you. If I leave you, people will try to kill me — not your favourites, but those who helped me fight against you. They will try to kill me in order to make you feel that they have become very devoted to you. So I want to stay with you. I know that you will never kill me. Not only that, I know that your forgiveness and compassion will be my eternal friends, and that you will eventually give me a high post."

Babar gave his cousin a broad smile of forgiveness and assurance.

From:Sri Chinmoy,The Moghul Emperors, Agni Press, 2001
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/me