17 Jul 2019
Shri Anil asked: Why did Judas just not ask Jesus for forgiveness for betraying Him. Apostle Peter too had made a mistake by denying Jesus. But he asked Jesus for forviveness and he was forgiven. Could Judas not have done the same instead of hanging himself?
Swami replied: In the case of a tactful sinner such as Judas, how can you expect that he would be so poor in his logical analysis that he would underestimate the depth of his sin? Knowing the true depth of his sin, how could he ask Jesus for pardon? Some sinners are very quick in acting out of emotion but they are equally quick in analyzing their own sin too. Judas realized his sin completely and hence, he did not have the courage to ask Jesus for pardon. The ignorant sinner, who does not realize his sin completely and deeply enough, feels that his sin is pardonable. So, he requests God for pardon. The person without much analytical knowledge does not realize his own sins, just like an animal. The wise sinner realizes his sin very quickly and he even recognizes the real depth of his sin. Hence, in the case of such sinners, repentance is not possible. Judas was very intelligent, which we can see from his tactics in getting Jesus arrested. He acted very cleverly in order to make Jesus trust him. With the same sharpness of intelligence, he very deeply analyzed his sin and found it to be unpardonable. Had he used all that intelligence a little earlier, he would have avoided committing the gravest sin and instead, would have become the best messenger to propagate spiritual knowledge. He thought that he was fooling Jesus, but he realized in the end that he had fooled himself!
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