Question: Why do we have to forgive and forget. Is forgiveness by itself not enough?
Sri Chinmoy: If I really forgive someone, why do I have to allow what he did to return to my mind and destroy my inner joy? If I allow it, that means my forgiveness was not a lasting forgiveness; it was waiting only for the individual to make the same mistake again. So, after a few days, when that person does the same thing wrong, he will be at my mercy. Our human life is so clever in that respect.Without forgetfulness, forgiveness is no forgiveness. If we forgive someone, then we have to absolutely obliterate the incident from the tablet of our heart, as though it had never existed.
Sri Chinmoy, Sri Chinmoy answers, part 36, Agni Press, 2004