Why the Gita Says You’re Not Your Past Mistakes
Manika | Jul 02, 2025, 08:53 IST
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Highlight of the story: I once ghosted someone I loved deeply. Not out of cruelty—but fear. I didn’t know how to explain my chaos, my self-doubt, my sense of not being “good enough.” I just vanished. Years later, I still think about it. That one mistake. That one selfish choice. It haunts me sometimes in the silence between texts, or when someone pulls away without explanation. But then, in a quiet moment of reflection—while reading the Bhagavad Gita—I found a line that felt like it was written just for people like me:“
1. The Gita’s Core Message: You Are Not the Sum of Your Sins
Krishna tells Arjuna, again and again:
“You have a duty, yes. But you also have the right to grow beyond your past.”
Mistakes are inevitable. But they are not your identity.
You are not your impulsive decisions.
You are not your breakups, breakdowns, or burnouts.
You are not your worst day.
You are the soul who learned.
And that evolution, says the Gita, is far more important than perfection.
2. Why We Struggle to Forgive Ourselves
Forgiving
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We’re taught to be accountable, not compassionate.
We’re taught to say “sorry” but not feel forgiven.
So we carry our past like luggage, believing:
“I deserve this punishment.”
“I can’t move on until I fix everything.”
“No one will understand what I did.”
But the Gita gently reminds:
In spiritual terms, it’s not your history—it’s your intention moving forward that counts.
3. Karma Isn’t Just Punishment—It’s Also Your Second Chance
It’s not cosmic revenge. It’s not “what goes around comes around” in a cruel sense.
Karma is simply energy in motion.
When you make a mistake, karma allows you to correct it through conscious action.
That means:
You can grow.
You can repair.
You can evolve.
The Gita doesn’t say, “You made a mistake, so suffer.”
It says, “Use your mistake to become wiser, kinder, freer.”
4. Arjuna’s Paralysis Is All of Us
He says:
But Krishna reminds him that dharma (duty) isn't about being flawless. It's about being conscious. Doing what’s right now—not what you failed to do before.
If Arjuna, standing on a battlefield of personal confusion, can be forgiven and guided—so can we.
5. Your Mistakes Do Not Define Your Worth
It says:
What matters is:
Did you reflect?
Did you grow?
Did you stop repeating that pattern?
If yes, you are no longer that mistake.
You are the person who emerged despite it.
6. Letting Go of Shame Isn’t Ignoring the Past—It’s Transcending It
Letting Go
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Forgiveness isn’t forgetting.
It’s saying: “Yes, this happened. Yes, I was wrong. And yes—I still deserve peace.”
The Gita doesn’t ask you to pretend the mistake didn’t hurt.
It asks you to stop hurting yourself for it.
Because if you stay trapped in shame, you’re not being spiritual.
You’re being self-punishing.
And Krishna didn’t come to make us smaller. He came to set us free.
7. Moving On Without Erasing Accountability
But it says: Your apology means nothing if you don’t also move forward with integrity.
True repentance, as per Krishna, is:
Not wallowing
Not groveling
But transforming
Don’t just say “sorry.”
Live differently. Choose consciously. Love better.
8. A Real-Life Example: When I Let Go
I wrote letters I never sent.
I cried more than I thought I could.
But I also started practicing karma yoga—serving without expectation.
I helped people in silence. I offered compassion where I once withheld it. I healed strangers the way I wished I had healed my past.
And slowly, I felt lighter.
Not because the past was erased.
But because I stopped dragging it into my future.
9. You’re Allowed to Start Over—Right Now
It only asks:
Not tomorrow.
Not when you’ve apologized to everyone.
Not when you’ve punished yourself enough.
Now.
10. For Anyone Who’s Holding Onto a Past Mistake…
Move On
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Here’s what Krishna would tell you:
You are not broken. You are becoming.
You are not your lowest moment. You are your courage to rise.
You don’t have to suffer to prove you’re sorry.
You just have to act with love, now.
So breathe. Forgive. Try again.
You are still worthy of joy, love, and a life filled with meaning.
Your past may explain you.
But it doesn’t have to define you.
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