Latest / Sri Aurobindo Studies / Coming Face to Face With, and Overcoming, the Failures, Limitations and Sins of One's Past Life in the Spiritual Quest

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Coming Face to Face With, and Overcoming, the Failures, Limitations and Sins of One's Past Life in the Spiritual Quest · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  When an individual takes up the spiritual quest, he tends to
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  accept certain principles of action which by definition
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  contradict the values, principles and life actions of
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  his past experience. In many cases this causes a
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  considerable amount of doubt and concern as he tries to overlay
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  his present value set on to the past and judge the past based on
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  his present understanding. Of course, in every person's
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  past there are numerous actions which can be called up before
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  the mind's eye which do not meet this test.
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  As long as we remain immersed in the ego consciousness, we can
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  become despondent, fearful and deeply depressed by the results
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  of this review. There are times during the
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  spiritual growth that the force of the higher consciousness
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  opens up embedded memories, particularly when it is the time
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  for hidden movements encapsulated in the
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  subconscious, in the very cells to be raised up and addressed.
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  In some cases, these past memories, embodying instincts,
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  habits, training, and wilful acts, try to recreate themselves
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  in the present, overwhelming the individual with these
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  recrudescences, making the seeker feel unworthy or unfit
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  for the spiritual quest. It is clear that in the long
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  span of the evolution of consciousness from that of
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  matter through the development of life and the expression of
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  mind, each individual soul has undergone innumerable lifetimes
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  of experience, been immersed in lives that were necessary for
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  the formative experience, and aligned with the time and the
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  circumstance when it occurred. It is also true that as the
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  individual takes a new birth, he has to redevelop and undergo
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  countless experiences in childhood and in his youth that
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  are very much influenced by the atmosphere within which he is
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  being raised, the society and its values, and the education
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  and training he receives. For much of this time he is not
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  separated as the conscious witness of the nature and thus
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  more or less becomes what he experiences.
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  Once the spiritual Force awakens in him, he begins to consciously
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  choose his path forward and his values, life, focus, and actions
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  take on this new direction. The past experience then becomes
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  not a hindrance to his development, but a basis for the
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  development of knowledge and wisdom to guide the choices for
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  the future. In this light, there are
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  examples of individuals whose past, if evaluated on the basis
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  of their later spiritual realizations, would be found
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  sorely wanting. Most people do not have active
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  memories in their current lifetime that can equal those
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  that individuals such as Milarepa, who, driven by a
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  desire for revenge, called down a devastating, destructive and
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  lethal hailstorm on the village where he had grown up, and in
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  particular on his aunt and uncle who had stolen his patrimony and
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  driven his mother and sister into desperate straits.
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  Yet Milarepa used the impetus of his remorse, once he awakened to
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  the magnitude of his actions to achieve liberation in one
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  lifetime. The Christian tradition tells of
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  an individual, Saul of Tarsus, who was persecuting Christians.
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  He had an experience on the road to Damascus, where he was going
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  to carry out further persecutions that transformed
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  him into a devotee and believer who went on to change his life
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  entirely into that of a devout Christian.
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  Similarly, we have the contemporary story of Danny and
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  Brinkley, who was declared clinically dead after being
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  struck by lightning, but who returned with an entirely new
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  understanding and focus. His past was that of a hired
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  mercenary killer. His future was one of bringing
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  light and developing compassion in action.
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  A program to train people in providing Hospice care.
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  Fiora Binda describes the path that takes the seeker through
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  all the struggles in his palm. A God's labor quote.
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  I have been digging deep and long.
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  Mid A horror of felth and mire. A bed for the Golden River Song,
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  a home for the deathless fire. End Quote.
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  In Savitri, a legend and a symbol, he recounts quote.
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  But when God's messenger comes to help the world and lead the
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  soul of earth to higher things, he too must carry the yoke he
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  came to unloose. He too must bear the pang that
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  he would heal, exempt and unafflicted by earth's fate.
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  How shall he cure the ills he never felt?
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  He covers the world's agony with his calm, but though to the
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  outward eye no sign appears, and peace is given to our torn human
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  hearts, the struggle is there and paid the unseen price.
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  The fire, the strife, the wrestle are within.
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  He carries the suffering world in his own breast.
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  Its sins weigh on his thoughts. Its grief is his Earth's ancient
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  load lies heavy on his soul knight, and its powers beleaguer
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  his tardy steps. The Titan adversary's clutch he
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  bears. His March is a battle and a
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  pilgrimage. End Quote, the mother observes.
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  Quote. And finally, lest you get
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  discouraged by your own faults, the Damapata gives you this
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  solacing image. The purest Lily can spring out
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  of a heap of rubbish by the wayside.
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  That is to say, there is nothing so rotten that it cannot give
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  birth to the purest realization. Whatever may be the past,
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  whenever may be the fault committed, whatever the
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  ignorance in which one might have lived, one carries deep
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  within oneself the supreme purity which can translate
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  itself into a wonderful realization.
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  The whole point is to think of that, to concentrate on that and
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  not be concerned with all the difficulties and obstacles and
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  hindrances. Concentrate exclusively on what
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  you want to be. Forget as entirely as possible
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  what you do not want to be. End Quote.
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  Reference Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Looking from Within,
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  Chapter 4, Ordeals and Difficulties, pages 89 to 90.