June 1, 2011 – The Past: A Stepping-stone

There are times when action is unwise or impossible;
then go into tapasya in some physical solitude
or in the retreats of thy soul and
await whatever divine word or manifestation.

Sri Aurobindo

(Thoughts and Aphorisms 267)

The Past: A Stepping-stone

The more ready you are to leave behind all that you have experienced, in order to able to go towards something better and higher, the faster you will go; the more you drag the heavy weight of all the past which you don’t want to get rid of, the slower is your advance.

All the past should always be simply like a stepping-stone or a ladder, something to lead you farther; it should not have any other use except to push you forward. And if you can feel this and always turn your back on what is past and look at what you want to do, then you go much faster, you don’t waste time on the way. What makes you lost time is always this clinging to what has been, to what is, to what seemed to you beautiful and good in what is past. This must only help you, you must not reject it, but it must help you to go forward, it must simply be something on which you lean to take a step forward.

The Mother

The Great Adventure: page 327