Question: If human beings knew about their former incarnations, wouldn't they be better in this incarnation?

Sri Chinmoy: If you know that in your past incarnation you were very bad, then in this incarnation you will say, "Oh, if I was that kind of person, then how can I expect to be good and divine now?" If you were a cruel military officer who killed many people in your last incarnation, and now those people whom you killed are approaching you as friends, so many bad thoughts will come to mind and you will feel miserable. Again, if you know that you were a saint in your past incarnation, you will say, "If I was so divine and spiritual in my past incarnation, how is it that I am having so many bad thoughts now? How is it that I feel such jealousy and insecurity?" Again you will feel depressed and miserable. So the best thing is to block out past incarnations and open yourself to fresh, new experiences.

If you are in your room and somebody is knocking at your door, you have no idea whether it is a good person or a bad person. So the best thing is not to open the door for some time. If it is a bad person, he will say, "It is beneath my dignity to keep knocking at his door when he does not pay any attention to me," and he will go away. If the person knocking at your door is a friend, he will say, "Perhaps he is doing something very important. Let me wait."

In the same way, many thoughts will come to you when you are praying and meditating. But if you continue to meditate and pay no attention to these thoughts, eventually the bad thoughts will go away and only the good thoughts will remain. They will say, "He is praying and meditating and trying to reach the Highest. Let us wait and be of service to him." Then, when you finally open the door, you will see that only good thoughts will be waiting for you.

Suppose yesterday you prayed for two hours and got tremendous joy. Today you can try to meditate for another two or three hours and keep a direct connection with the previous day. Also, if you did something twenty or thirty years ago that was very good, you can keep your connection with it. But if you try to dig up your ancient past — what you did one hundred or three hundred years ago — it will create so much confusion in your life. Only think about walking toward your goal. Eventually the bad thoughts will stop following you and only good thoughts will remain.