Question: When I feel unworthy, I doubt that God will forgive me. I do not see how I can expect to be forgiven in one short incarnation.

Sri Chinmoy: Ask yourself, is there any way we can defeat God? The answer is no. If God uses His Forgiveness-Power, then this Forgiveness-Power is infinitely stronger than all the misdeeds that you think you have done in this incarnation or even in your previous incarnations.

Think of a room that remains unlit for days or even months. Then you come in and turn on the switch, and in the twinkling of an eye you get back the light. Similarly, you have to feel that your weakness is nothing, nothing, in comparison to God's Compassion-Power or Forgiveness-Power.

Now the question is, you say, why should God forgive you if you repeatedly do the same wrong thing? Today you do the wrong thing and then you pray to God, "O Lord, forgive me, forgive me, forgive me!" Then again tomorrow you may do the same thing. It is like a person who eats chili. Today he says, "My tongue is burning! I will not take chili any more." Then again the next day he takes chili and again he burns his tongue.

I am coming back to your point. God will forgive us no matter how many times we do the wrong thing, if we have a sincere cry. But will He not be more pleased with us if we do not repeat the same wrong thing again and again?

God's Forgiveness is always there, true, but God will be proud of us when we can give up the wrong things altogether. If it is not possible to give them up overnight, then every day try to decrease the number of things that are wrong in your mind or in your outer life. You know how many times you are doing something wrong in your outer life or inner life. Count them. Then next day see if you are able to decrease the number. So like that, little by little, if you can decrease the number, a day will come when you will not make any mistake. At that time, God will not only be pleased; He will be very, very, very proud of you. Always remember that God's Compassion-Power is infinitely stronger than all the blunders you think you have made.