Consecration of the Past
by Karmayogi
March 18,1974
Often we come across situations that have a tangled past. Willful neglect, continuous lapses and ignorant handling constitute the history of certain problems presented to us. Such items, too, lend themselves to full and happy solutions when presented to Mother’s consciousness. For instance, a man has been dogged by a strong fear vibration for over 25 years. The industrial problem he faces today has the ‘benefit’ of all his decisions that spring from fear. Another person has been in the habit of violently losing his temper each time he was to meet his boss. The relationship for over ten years has run into a fixed mould of psychological violence. A contractor who has now been offered a lucrative situation discloses that ever since he started life, he has made headway by breaking his promises or twisting the spoken terms of his contract in his favour. There are bosses who, by certain weaknesses of theirs come under the tyranny of a particular subordinate. Then there is the proverbial late comer. Such a man who now founds an institution has a long history of delaying things as long as they could be delayed.
Many such people come to Mother. After becoming a devotee they see a marked improvement in their inner status, mental clarity, peace of mind, etc. These are seen reflected in their external life as success in dealing with situations. A new confidence issues in life out of the new light that is lodged in their hearts. In a short period, the general level of life moves a few planes higher. A subordinate becomes a boss, a volunteer turns into a leader and so on. When he is fairly established at this next higher level of existence, all his old habits begin to assert and things often go wrong. He feels frustrated. Some even talk of "No use depending upon the Divine. The world is too much with us. We have to do what we can." By this they do not mean they must do their honest best. They imply they should exercise their ‘worldly wisdom’.
Such a situation can be presented to Mother’s Consciousness in various ways. The best is to increasingly rely on her and voice deeper prayers needed for the occasion. The strength of prayer that was called for to manage 15 men is certainly no longer enough to manage 150 men. Given this, problems disappear almost instantaneously. The second method is to gain greater knowledge of the situation. Once greater knowledge is gained, Mother’s Force can work through knowledge more effectively than through ignorance. Similarly, greater interest helps Mother’s Force to act swiftly. So also, higher ideals. Narrow aims that did not hurt a local leader will begin to hurt his cause when he rises to national prominence, or national level leadership.
After long periods of association with Mother’s ideals, it is possible to feel that certain defects insist in one’s life. These have their roots in the make-up of one’s personality. Mother’s Force acts in life through the individual mind. It is true that Mother’s Force is infinite and can have beneficial effect in spite of the deficiencies of the person’s mind or character. There are many occasions when we see the expression of it. It is also true that man’s mind is a manifestation of the Divine and its aspects begin to assert themselves as and when man grows. A time comes when man cannot move ahead loaded with his deficiencies. They are to be removed before he goes ahead in his sadhana.
Let us take the situations where an industrialist faces a strike situation. The strike will have a history of many years Settlements arrived at in earlier situations will have a bearing on this strike. Personal relationship between the employer and the strike leaders will have a history of its own. There would have been times when strikers would have had their way in spite of their illegal actions. Management would have yielded. In other cases management would have succeeded in splitting the union and forcing the strike to withdraw. Laws would have been implemented with a vengeance to one’s own advantage. Things would have snowballed and the situation will make one see it is useless to resort to any of the old ways, good or otherwise. Human strength and human resources come to their tether end. In such situations people say, "I have been praying constantly, but nothing stirs." Yes, he has been praying that he must have his way, Mother should lend Her Force to him against the other! Things don’t move and won’t move. In Mother’s kingdom, nobody is against any other. Surely there is a solution acceptable to both at the next higher level of interests. It is here we feel it is in the power of any devotee to move things almost instantaneously. It is in his power to correct all lapses of the past. Man lives in the past, present and future. Mother’s Consciousness is ever present. It includes the past and the future. It is timeless. Man lives in the plane of time, but the Divine lives in eternity. That is why we say things can be corrected instantaneously. Numerous examples can be cited.
All that the devotee has to do is to retire to an isolated place and relax himself physically and mentally, recollect the history of the situation before him. As and when the past events flash before his mind, he must offer them to Mother. Always, each such item will be connected with a mental habit or temperamental behavior of his. He must offer such habits to Mother now. It is best done if it could be done with right feelings. A sense of unburdening will come over him. This can be periodically repeated until the desired momentum is gathered. The problem in hand will begin to thaw in parallel. Things will move swiftly.
These problems exist in many layers. Each time one will be able to undo one layer. One has to continue till the whole past of the situation shows itself before the mind to be offered to Mother. In doing so, it will be helpful to look inside oneself for the same attitudes of mind as those projected on him by others. For instance, if the employer feels that the strikers make unlawful claims, he himself will use unlawful habits in another domain of his life. If he ceases to do so, the strikers will change their mind at once. As we are to Mother inside, so life is to us. Sometimes we will be guilty, not on the same plane but on a different plane. For example, the company may not take initiative to return articles or money of others because no claim is presented. The workers may reflect this attitude in their plane as: we will not work unless we are constantly supervised and checked. To correct the latter situation, it is enough to initiate action to return all that does not belong to the company.
To bring the past before the mind and offer it to The Mother is one of the most effective ways of correcting a tangled situation. It is better done by withdrawing one’s own psychological enjoyment in having done past actions. If you have dismissed an officer on the expiry of his term (instead of normally renewing it) so as to bring in one of your men, you must now regret having done so and deeply resolve not to do so in the future. For a devotee, this might have resulted in the non-renewal of a licence at its expiry. Psychological purification fortifies this reviewing. This is an unfailing way of bringing Mother’s Force to bear upon a situation for its immediate solution.
The same holds good to anticipating the future plans and offering them to The Mother. That may be called Anticipatory Consecration whereas the former is consecration of the past.
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We generally take for granted that past is past and is to be left as such. We apply this principle even to the Divine Capacity. That is a limitation of our faith.
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We live in time, i.e., the past is inaccessible. Mother’s Consciousness is in the plane of timelessness, i.e., the past is accessible for consecration.
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The past of an act is still buried in the present act and that is the lever for us to act upon it.
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The Divine acts on life through the human mind. Hence the mind often acts as a limitation. This limitation is expressed as aspects of temperament.
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Strands of the act and aspects of the temperament dovetail into each other.
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Past reviewed helps dissolve the physical past of the act but leaves a psychological remainder.
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This remainder hangs on aspects of temperament.
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To attempt to shed the aspects of temperament is truly a reversal of consciousness at the plane of behavior.
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Reviewing the history of the act suddenly takes on itself a great velocity and becomes the reliving of it.
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The soul relives the entire life at the time of death. Conscious reliving of an act is psychological rebirth into Mother’s Consciousness.
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These reviews move matters and dissolve the problem gradually, but surely. But reliving instantaneously solves the problem miraculously. Review belongs to the physical part of mind, reliving is psychological.
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There is no human problem that cannot be so solved if only commensurate interest can be evinced.