Burden of the Past

 

Photo Credit: Pinterest

Burden of the Past

A person describes himself as he perceives himself and the same is true for all people, perception is what matters. We may say – we are good, we are bad, we are naughty and so on, that is because our mind has formed that impression based on our past actions. In other words, this is past accumulation – we are simply living through our past. If the past is taken away, most people are just lost. Everything depends on the past for them. The personality belongs to the past. So, as long as the personality is important, it simply means the previous moment rules everything. The present moment is no longer important.

We can go far in life only when we leave our past behind us. This is like a snake shedding its skin. One moment it is a part of the body, the next moment it is shed and the snake goes on without turning back. If every moment, one is like a snake leaving the skin behind, only then there is growth. When a person does not carry the burden of the past, he is a truly sinless person. Being sinless does not mean that he did not do anything with his life. That would mean being a dead person. He did everything a person could possibly do to know life, but his actions never left any residue, nor did he build a personality out of the actions he performed.

Only that person who does not carry the previous moment to this moment, is free from everything. And that quality will be felt everywhere. Within a few moments of meeting us, people will trust us to the extent that they would not even trust their parents, husbands, or wives, simply because we don’t carry the burden of the past with us.

If we carry the past with us, then we also smell like anybody else. The whole world stinks with personalities. Everybody has his own strong smell or personality. These are the various stenches in the world, and they keep clashing all the time. All our anger, hatred, jealousy, fear – everything is based in the past. The moment we carry the past and future, we become a real donkey, because the burden is such. There is no way anybody can live his life intelligently carrying that burden.

When one does not carry this odour, one can cross over this existence. This person crosses the ocean of samsara without any effort. What looks like a great effort for somebody else will be happening for this person without any effort. One not only passes through this world effortlessly, one will pass through the very process of life and death effortlessly.

Without the burden of the past, we will truly learn to be in the moment, in the here and now – the golden present.