Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD.PhD.
Published on www.academy-advaita.com
The Netherlands
26 June 2019
Learn From
“Past mistakes”
Learn from your past mistakes in life is the advice given by parents, elders, friends, colleagues, teachers and everyone to each other due to knowledge. Knowledge also informs that mistakes are made in life in the present.
Knowledge, therefore, implies that mistakes that are made in the present moment in life become the past. Knowledge further informs that humans do make mistakes in life in the present and this strengthens the advice given by knowledge which is: learn from your past mistakes.
Knowledge informs that those who learn from their past mistakes in the present are not free from mistakes in the present moment. The mistakes are not free from unwanted emotions in the present moment in life.
Knowledge also informs that the past is available in the present moment in life. Knowledge informs that the past is not available in the past. Knowledge also informs that mistakes cannot be learnt in the past, but can only be learnt about the mistakes of the past in the present moment.
Knowledge informs that those who learn from the mistakes of the past in the present are not free from mistakes in the present and the unwanted emotions that accompany mistakes.
Man and woman with wisdom, however, are free from unwanted emotions in any moment. So what is the wisdom of the advice given by knowledge, which is: learn from the past mistakes?
The wisdom is that neither man nor woman makes any moment in life because the moment in life was in life much before man and woman were in life. Wisdom informs that neither man nor woman makes either the present moment in life or the past moment in life.
Wisdom also informs that neither man nor woman can make a moment in life because he or she needs to be in the moment in order to make a moment. But they cannot be in the moment without a moment being there.
Wisdom informs that neither man nor woman makes a moment and that the present moment renews itself every moment continuously, uncontrollably and unpredictably by the intelligence in life.
Wisdom informs that every moment, which is the present in life, is a gift to man by the intelligence in life. Man cannot give this gift either to himself or to another human being because neither man nor woman can make the present moment in life or the past moment in life.
Wisdom informs that the content of every moment, which is the present in life, is a gift to man by the intelligence in life. Man cannot give this gift either to himself or to another human being because neither man nor woman makes the present moment in life.
Wisdom informs that the content of every moment is what man and woman are meant to learn in the present moment in life. What man and woman are meant to learn in the moment is a gift to man by the intelligence in life. Man cannot give this gift either to himself or to another human being because neither man nor woman makes the present or the past moment in life.
Wisdom informs that what man and woman are meant to learn in the moment appears as the learnt in the present moment. This too is a gift to man by the intelligence in life. Man cannot give this gift either to himself or to another human being because neither man nor woman makes the present or the past moment in life.
Wisdom informs that man and woman believe that they learn from the past, but learning has actually happened in the present moment in their life. This is a gift to man and woman by the intelligence in life. Man can neither give this gift to himself nor to anyone because neither man nor woman makes the present or the past moment in life.
The enlightened accept what man and woman have learnt in the present and do not expect them to learn from the mistakes of the past.
Author: Dr. Vijai S. Shankar
© Copyright V. S. Shankar 2019
Editor’s Note:
Whatever is known or experienced by a man or woman in their daily life is believed to be the result of their own actions or thoughts or those of others. The burden of the responsibility that accompanies this, be it praise or blame, may be considerable and emotional. Wise are those who understand that whatever happens in daily life is the gift of the intelligence of life, like it not. In wisdom, in truth, man has never been, is not and will never be either the knower or the doer. In understanding this, he will become enlightened, if he is meant to be.
Julian Capper, UK.
German Translator’s Note:
Dr. Shankar presents here an insight into the process of learning that would be accessible to anyone on the basis of a simple conclusion: If man could learn from past mistakes, he would never make the same mistake twice. But even with repeated attempts to avoid past mistakes, they often happen again. This is attributed to the inability of the individual, and there is a drama of anger, reproach, and conflict at school, at home, and at work. None of this happens when this article has been deeply understood. What a liberation! The repeated incomprehension, when it happens, is not a mistake of man and life – understanding, if it happens, is spontaneous, unpredictable and uncontrollable learning in the timeless now.
Marcus Stegmaier, Germany.
Dutch translator’s note:
Making a mistake involves unwanted emotions because of which we dislike making mistakes so much. We expect therefore that we or others will not make that mistake again. Yet we sometimes fall into the same mistake and experience the same unwanted emotions.
Dr. Shankar shows that learning is not dependent on the past, but learning happens when it is meant to happen.
Paula Smit, The Netherlands.