Once a man’s whole life becomes conscious, there is nothing more to be achieved. There is no repentance possible because whatever he has done, he has done fully consciously. There is no question of looking back.

Memories are part of the mechanical mind. The mechanical mind accumulates memories the same way the computer accumulates memories, because the computer will have to do those same things again and again; it has to accumulate memories.

As all the habits are transferred back to consciousness, you will be suddenly freed from the past; there is no question of carrying any memories. If you want, you can remember something consciously, but memories cannot float in your mind on their own, without your permission – or even against you.

And this is the intricate relationship: the past memories create the future. No one knows anything about the future; everybody knows about the past. In the past you have experienced things; you would like to experience them even better in the future. That’s how you create the future and future desire.

The more the past is there, the more you have to project into the future – and between the past and the future you miss all that is real.

It is immensely important that you get rid of the bondage of the past. Simultaneously the future also disappears because it was only a projection of past memories – and you are left only with the present.

Consciousness is always of the present.

And because you are not in the present, you have to delegate actions to your robot. And mind is a robot. People go on doing things, and doing perfectly well, and that makes them feel as if everything is going right. But every machine does it. It is better to commit a few errors, a few mistakes, but be conscious.

Humanity begins when you are finished with habits. Even if you have done the same thing many times, you always do it as if it is something new, with the excitement of the new, with the adventure of the new. And the excitement and the adventure fills each of your moments with tremendous blissfulness. Start from a small habit.

There is a Zen story of a master who had a small boy attendant. The master had a continuous way…while speaking there would be moments when he would become silent and point his finger. It was always the old message: the finger is pointing to the moon. Whenever he came to a point where words could not do anything, he would be silent, just pointing his finger. He would not even say, “The finger is pointing to the moon” – he would just make the gesture.

It had become a joke amongst the disciples, not understanding what he was doing. The disciples, discussing in the restaurant or other places, sometimes would stop somebody and point a finger, and they would all laugh about it.