On the purpose of past!

 

On the purpose of past!

Until one reaches a state of Buddhahood or Enlightenment, one is kind of making flaws, errors, mistakes, or sins along the way. That is understandable.  At every stage in life especially for a sadhak, it is mandatory for him to look back and see and review his journey so far made! When he does this exercise which is compulsory for his journey and growth, he also sees his mistakes and wrongs! That is when his great flip can happen!!? 

Why and how? 

He looks at his wrongs and sits to wallow in guilt or goes on a pity ride. Both are wrong as they impede his growth. 

We can't undo our past. So let's move on! 

But not with arrogance or carelessness. Not even with an 'oh, it happens to all' kind of attitude. NO! Don't overlook the wrongs committed in the past. But don't use them to seek pity for yourself. Don't sit to judge yourself and go on that guilt ride seeking someone to come and cuddle you. Don't justify your actions. Don't use some scapegoat to put the blame on. 

Simply, accept you did it. Accept that you did so but without being proud of that mistake. Then look at the circumstances and your state of mind that made that error in judgment or action. Heal it if need be. Learn from that mistake. See where your weakness is. Know yourself better now. Become aware of your own weakness and then decide to outgrow that - not because of fear of punishment or karma. Not because you need to please someone up there. Don't make these choices out of these flimsy reasons. 

Make up your mind to outgrow your weakness because you have decided to be strong. And strength comes by 'accepting the wrong' we have done. Strength comes when we own up to our mistakes without giving reasons to make them come out as if we didn't have a choice otherwise. Strength comes to a person who accepts his weakness and then thinks and uses his energy to overcome it.

To sum up, we can't change the past. But we can certainly own it up and then learn from it. We can overcome the weakness or wrongs done by knowing them and learning from them. We can't change the past but by revisiting the past and learning from it, we can change the way we move in our future. And therein lies the purpose of the past. Therein lies the power of the future in us.