Does the past have any connection with memory or not?

Memory based on attachment-abhorrence

Questioner: Dada, does the past have any connection with memory or not? And do we not say that memory is a natural gift?

Dadashri: No, no. Gift does not mean that someone gives you a prize; its not like that. The intent behind saying it as a ‘natural gift’ is that whatever raag-dwesh (attachment-abhorrence) one has, there is indeed that much memory.  Now, many people will not have raag-dwesh for the scriptures but they will have it for something else, and so no matter how many scriptures they read, they will not remember anything. And so people will call him dunce (Stupid like). He will have limitless memory for other things, but that is of no use, is it? So people will indeed call him a dunce (Stupid like), will they not? Whereas with reference to the scriptures, they will consider him clever. They will say that he has tremendous memory. So people call that a gift. But memory is always of the past, is it not? Memory is indeed considered a thing of the past. We (the Self) have nothing to do with memory; here in Gnan, the memory should be forgotten.  Memory should become forgotten.

Questioner: The past - anytime one takes any step in the present situation, he does indeed need the past [to draw experience from it] to bring about a resolution, doesn’t he?  So it all comes down to memory, does it not?

Dadashri: Yes, but the memory is indeed there.  The whole world functions on such memory. However, it is a relative thing.  We are talking about the Real. All these relative things run on memory. If you enjoy the happiness in the present, then no liability is created in the present. If ‘we’ do not live in the present, then the recollection of past memories do come to us. ‘What wonderful time we had in the yatra (pilgrimage). We had such a leisurely time, and it was like this, etc. If we remember in this way, what happens?

Questioner: Interference.

Dadashri: Therefore remain in the present.

Questioner: How can people forget that? What should I do to keep my past out? It will indeed all go into the memory, right?  Even after becoming a Gnani (Self- realized), one’s past is indeed going to open, is it not? 

Dadashri: In the relative realm, indeed everything goes based on the past, does it not? 

The present is really the balance sheet of the past. And so you don’t even have to remember the past. The marriage of your daughter is the past, which is with you in the form of a balance-sheet in the present, so you don’t have to do anything at all, just live in the present. Whatever bets you had made, whatever agreements you made, that is all indeed there in your present. The past always leaves. The past never remains; it always goes away.