A wise man once sat in the audience and cracked a joke. All laughed like crazy.

After a moment he cracked the same joke again and a little less people laughed this time.

He cracked the same joke again and very few people laughed.

He cracked the same joke again and again, when there was no laughter in the crowd, he smiled and said:

“When you can’t laugh on the same joke again and again, then why do you keep crying remembering the same miserable event or experience over and over again?”

How profound it is?

The Teaching:

The mind has a tendency to dwell in the past. It forges a chain to bind itself to the dead past. It should be freed from the past, which exists but as memory. 

Therefore, when an event or an experience is past, especially if it is a miserable, sorrowful or a painful one, do not nurse its memory. Cremate it and forget it. Otherwise it will decompose in the mind and stink. 

Forget the past and move on. Remember only the lessons learnt from the past events and experiences. When we remember the miserable events and experiences forgetting the lessons they taught, we are condemned to repeat them. History repeats itself and historians repeat each other because we never learn from history!

Remember, we can never change a single moment of our past. So why dwell on it, especially if it is a painful one? Don’t spend time brooding over sorrows or mistakes. Don’t be the one who never gets over things. Frame every so called disaster with these words “In five years time will this matter?” Time heals almost everything. Give time time. 

It is harmony and conviction in one’s inner essence that results from Self-knowledge and bestows a poise that remains unaffected by life’s ups and downs.