Look as the past as it is
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06 January, 2011
When you constantly look at your past with the idea of planning your future based on it, you don't look at the past as it is.
When you project your future onto your past, you cannot remember the past as it happened. You will remember it as per the strategy plan you have for the future. Man always wants his past to be in tune with the way in which he wants to present his future! So you will try to alter or rewrite your history.
For example, you may think that your beloved is the most important person in your life, and you have never loved anyone or anything as much as you love her. But if you look into your past, you will see that when you were a baby, you loved your teddy-bear with the same intensity! You missed your toys or your candy or your nanny with the same intensity. After growing up, you have dropped those attachments because they are no longer useful for your life or future. But when you look back at your past, you measure it with your current desires. You project the future into the past and remember only what you
want, in the way you want to remember
it! So you don't remember the whole
past exactly as it happened.
But I tell you, you can experiment. See a child playing with a toy, or enjoying a candy, or doing something very joyfully? Try to snatch that away and see how he gasps for the breath. He struggles for breath while crying or while he is missing that candy. See the intensity or the length of the breath in that child, and see when somebody is struggling for love in life - you will see the intensity of both will be the same, or the child will have more intensity.
When you project the future into the past, you won't have the clear understanding needed to make the right decision about your future. You are stuck.
Look at the past as it is and see: how much fulfillment did you have after achieving the deep cravings you had? You are not remembering the real cravings you had. You are remembering the superficial cravings you had as the strong cravings in your life. When you understand all the cravings you had and the fulfillment you experienced without projecting the future into the past, you will just know you are ashutosha; easily pleased.
If I can just teach this one science to the kids, I will have millions of enlightened beings. If I can teach this one science to the youth and adults, I will have at least a few million enlightened sannyasis.