Learning is driven by purposefulness, lamenting by pointlessness

We all can and should learn from the past. By reviewing what we did, we can learn what we did right and what we could have done better – and thus grow in our wisdom.

But not all thinking about the past leads to learning. Quite often, our thinking of the past can be centered on lamenting about things that went wrong, things that others did wrong or even things that we ourselves did wrong. Such thinking only makes us feel negative and despondent and helpless.

What determines the difference between learning and lamenting? Primarily, it is a matter of who is in control – Are we in control of our mind, guiding it purposefully to review and learn? Or is the mind in control of us, goading us to pointlessly wallow in self-pity or self-flagellation without letting our thoughts move in any constructive direction.

The Bhagavad-gita (18.35) indicates that such self-defeating contemplation characterizes the mode of ignorance, wherein we obstinately hold on to thought patterns that harm us rather than doing us any good.

By cultivating the mode of goodness before we let ourselves dwell on the past, we can avoid succumbing to bouts of lamenting. When we practice bhakti-yoga diligently and experience our own spiritual essence and further the transcendental shelter of Krishna, we cultivate not just the mode of goodness – but also go beyond it towards transcendence. By such connecting with transcendence, we become rooted in a reality beyond the ups and downs characterize the material level of reality. By such spiritual rooting, we don’t feel threatened by things going wrong and even less by things that have gone wrong in the past. With this self-security, when we think about the past, our thinking can be purposeful and productive, being driven by the aspiration to learn how we can serve Krishna better.