Advantages of recovered memory: The speed of spiritual evolution is faster after the natural recovery of the memory of past incarnations. Disentanglement from mundane things is facilitated by conscious knowledge of the history of the development of such entanglements. Spiritual evolution, which was mostly unconscious of the limiting past, now becomes conscious of it. The obstacles as well as the facilities created by the past are now within the reach of consciousness and therefore are capable of being intelligently and carefully handled. Inarticulate intuition is supplemented by rationalized data. Therefore action has less possibility of error and becomes more potent in producing desirable results.
Knowledge of past lives: The Masters of wisdom, having become spiritually perfect, have no special interest in past incarnations, which are among the many unimportant facts of mundane existence. If they make any use of their knowledge of the past lives of a person, it is only to help him on toward the eternal Truth. Their knowledge of the past places them in a special position to give an aspirant just the guidance he needs. The details of the aspirant’s spiritual path are often determined by the incidents of the past, the manner in which he has sought the highest Truth in his past lives, and the obstacles or facilities he has created for himself through his past doings. All these things, which are hidden from the aspirant, are open to the unclouded perception of the Perfect Master, who uses his knowledge in order to accelerate the spiritual progress of the seeker of Truth. The Master leads the aspirant from the place in which he has landed himself through the experimentation and search of several lives. In spiritual matters, as in mundane matters, greater and unerring knowledge means economy of energy and time.
-Discourses 7th Ed., p317