Padma Shri and Dr B C Roy National Awardee
President, Heart Care Foundation of India
Confession is one of the ways of detoxification of the mind. It has its roots in Hindu mythology but today it is mainly practiced in Christian religion as a hardcore ritual. Among Christians one usually goes to a Church and confesses to the Bishop without disclosing his or her identity.In Hindu mythology, confession is a routine spiritual practice. People can confess to their Guru, to their God in the temple or their mentor. Confession can also be done to a plant (Peepal tree), an animal (dog or a cat) or the birds. It is a common saying that taking a dip in Yamuna orGangaremoves all your sins. The dip in water involves a ritual of confessing a guilt every time we make a dip.
Giving food to birds is also a way of confession where with each offering one does a confession. The easiest way to confess is three minutes of free writing which can be done every night. One can tear off the paper after writing. The free writing involves writing from the heart and not giving time for the mind to think.
Earlier people used to confess and de-stress their emotions by writing in a diary or making a folder in the computer and writing. However, the best confession is to meditate which is equivalent to reformatting the hard disk and removing viruses and corrupt files from our body computer. Meditating with intent to get rid of guilt washes them over a period of time.
Confession involves the process of forgiving and forgetting. Forgiving is at the level of mind and forgetting is at the level of heart.