“O bird of my heart,
Fly on, fly on!
Look not behind.
Whatever the world gives
Is meaningless, useless
And utterly false.”
– Sri Chinmoy
“The past is dust.”
– Sri Chinmoy
What is dust? Useless, meaningless, annoying waste matter, discarded remnants from previously useful, meaningful things and events.
What is dust good for? Nothing.
What do we do with dust? Get rid of it.
What if we don’t get rid of it? It accumulates, takes the shine off everything and smothers its beauty, distracts and bothers us, clutters our lives, and eventually makes us sick. So we constantly clean it up, and get rid of it.
So is the past. Our goal is perfection, liberation, enlightenment. Whatever our past has given, it has not given us our ultimate goal. Our goal lies ahead of us, not behind. It is always time to move on, to march and run forward, to fly upward.
To reach the ocean of enlightenment, our spiritual life has to be a river, always flowing forward by whatever means possible. A river never looks back; if it does, it becomes a stagnant pond and dies.
We have to be grateful to our past for whatever good, positive experiences and lessons it has brought. Take these positive things and expand them, build upon them. Negative experiences from the past are also valuable for they teach us what to avoid, what does not bring us satisfaction. Take these negative things and transform them into something better, helpful and beautiful.
Offer the past gratitude and move on. Especially during meditation, whenever the past arises, immediately discard it as you would dust. Replace these thoughts with images and feelings of the radiant dawn of your fast-approaching transformation-perfection.
The past is gone. Your glorious future awaits, here and now.