Embodying compassion and forgiveness does not mean that we never feel pain again, never feel the anguish of suffering, never have any wayward energies come to us. It is part of our lot as humans and part of our mission of learning and helping that we are called upon to not only witness, but to feel. What learning the spiritual, inner yogic art of embodying divine forces does is give us a wider context for those feelings. We are not feeling them alone, and it makes all the difference between despair and hope. We are part of a great circle of compassion and forgiveness, and our prayer for comfort and awakening of the suffering ones, even for ourselves when we are in their ranks, is part of a great prayer.

Jonathan Goldman