Guilt is socially cultivated emotion, a poison directed towards yourself

“Guilt is socially cultivated emotion, a poison directed towards yourself.” – Sadhguru

Guilt assumes a certain assumption of one’s ownself.  A sense of ego.  “This is how I should be and not that way”.

For a burkha-clad lady, sitting in bikini in front of strangers on a beach will make her full of guilt.  While for another woman, that would make her feel good (if she had kept her body well as well!)

But this guilt is not something that comes from an aberration from within.  It is instigated because there is a certain level of conditioning that your upbringing and living has imparted to you.  Breaking that boundary or going past your conditioning is the real reason for Guilt in a person.

Of course, some would suggest that guilt is also positive because it could be your “conscience” poking you when you do wrong – like kill someone or defraud someone.

Yes, then it seems to be.  But let us look at this in the big picture.  That, you are feeling a “poke” and not being pushed to do the “right” thing is because the lesson of the “right thing” was a social conditioning.  Conditioning is something that you can trample without long term impact.

But if you were Awake to your real self?  And awake to your integration with everything around you.  There would be no reason why you wouldn’t do the “right” thing.  Even if that means killing someone.  In some context, even that may be the right thing to do.

When Angulimal stopped Gautama, the Buddha with his garland of fingers made off of his victims, the Buddha didn’t sit down and give him a Moral lesson or an stone edict.  Nor did he make him feel “guilty” of killing and maiming his victims.  He transformed him by making him aware of himself.  Transforming him into a Sage.

Ditto was true of Valmiki.

In every situation, just do what you have to do, with a sense of awareness and wakefulness.  And what cannot be done or does not yield a “good” result, let that go.  After all, you cannot dictate the results.  Your only prerogative is to the action.  Let that action come out of complete awareness.