Many people struggle to move on from painful memories. A difficult conversation, a heartbreak, a loss, or a mistake from years ago can continue to affect the present. According to Rahul Rana of Aathman Awareness Centre (Founded by HH Guruji Sundar), letting go does not begin with forcing yourself to forget. Instead, it starts by changing how you understand time, identity, and the mind itself.
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Why does the human mind hold on to memories?
Rahul describes the mind as an internal storage system built from human experiences.
“From childhood, it acts as a database. It acts as a storage system. Everything we do, we listen, we taste, we see… they take the information, they store, and they form the mind.”
According to him, memories, thoughts, and identities are collected over time through daily experiences. Gradually, people begin to believe that these thoughts define who they are.
“We tend to get involved in our minds so much. And we think that we are the mind only.”
From this viewpoint, the pain associated with identity, memory, and fear begins to soften because a person is no longer seeing themselves solely through past experiences.
Living in the present moment for inner peace
For Rahul, spiritual growth is not about escaping life. It is about becoming fully present within it.
“You have to live every moment. You have to enjoy every moment. You have to be in the moment.”
He believes that being deeply present can bring a sense of freedom, love, and aliveness that is often hidden beneath mental noise and emotional baggage.
“The moment you start to live in the moment is the moment you feel God, you feel free, you feel love. And you feel alive.”
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How to let go of the past through spirituality
Rahul explains that one of the first lessons on the spiritual path is learning to look at the ideas of the past, present, and future differently.
“The first understanding that a seeker should have is that there is no past and there is no future,” he says.
While this idea may sound unusual to someone new to spirituality, he believes that deeper spiritual practice can change how people experience time. According to him, life unfolds only in the present moment.
“Everything is happening at this particular moment, which is called now.”
From this perspective, holding tightly to old memories begins to lose its grip. If the mind is no longer constantly returning to what happened before or worrying about what might come next, there is more space to experience life as it is happening.
