Forget the Past
There are three tenses: 1) Past - which is the time that has gone by, 2) Present - current time, and 3) Future - upcoming time, which is yet to come.
We cannot do anything about the past - it has already gone by. Whatever good, bad, careless, or sinful deeds we have done are in the past and already written in God's diary. These deeds are of three types -
1) Sanchit Karma - We have had infinite past lifetimes in which we performed infinite good and bad deeds that were binding. This is called sanchit karma.
2) Prarabdh Karma (destiny) - This is limited - God determines how much of the sanchit karma should be set aside for this life. He gives us the fruits of those good and bad deeds and makes us reap them. If we did good deeds in our previous lives, meaning deeds related to God, then God gives us their fruits in two ways: i) By giving birth in the home of a saint, where, right from birth, one gets the atmosphere of devotion. This naturally generates interest in God in us from childhood itself because our parents are interested. ii) We naturally start getting interested in God. We start naturally realising the importance of God. We intrinsically understand the importance and ephemeral nature of the human body.
3) Kriyamaan Karma - These are deeds that we perform in the present.
So, now we have to do two things in the present: fix our past and our future.
How can we fix our past?
For our past, God has a law of grace - sarvadharmān parityajya māmekaṃ śaraṇaṃ vraja -
God says, "If you completely surrender to God and Guru in the present, consider 'only' Them as yours, then I will forgive your 'entire past' (sanchit karma), and for the future as well - yogakṣemaṃ vahāmyaham - I will provide what you lack and protect what you possess."
Therefore, here Shri Maharaj ji is telling the mind: Forget the past - What's done is done; past is past. By pondering over past sins, the mind will become more impure. Surrender your mind to Hari Guru in the present so that your mind becomes purified. Once that happens, the Guru will make it divine, and you will attain your goal. Our past and future karma will all be settled.
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