Extra-Cerebral Memory

Human beings can remember and forget many things in their lives.

They study and learn, and what they learn today they forget tomorrow.

Many people, however, remember things from their past lives.

• They can remember a few episodes from them as dreams, though they are unaware that these were episodes from their past lives

Such memories are called non-cerebral memories.

Cerebral memory is stored in your brain through the medium of the nerve cells.

But non-cerebral memory does not use your nerve cells.

• This is because your nerve cells only store cerebral memory.

Nerve cells get burned to ashes after the body dies, like the rest of the body.

When people die, the saḿskáras or reactive momenta of their life accompany their spirit, soul or átmá.*

These reactive momenta are the unfulfilled consequences of one’s karma or actions performed in life.

These are from actions that did not bear any fruit.

The unfulfilled potential of the past actions lay resting along with the mind in the form of a seed of possibilities.

That seed of possibilities or unrealized consequences of unfruitful actions takes shelter in the next life most suitable for materializing these possibilities.

The saḿskáras seek out and get the kind of body and nerve cells which best serves their expression.

These samskaras are from actions with deep personal involvement.

This creates an unexpressed tendency which remains restive as samskara.

This tendency is present from birth.

• This lets the person remember those episodes

In some cases, the tendency remains stored in an unclear form.

For example, while sitting alone, a man might suddenly feel: “I was the owner of that land. I used to cultivate it.”

• His samskaras let him suddently remember the episode.

In some people, a true picture of exactly what had happened in their previous life remains vividly clear in the mind.

This only happens in 3 cases:

1. In people who have a very well-developed personality
2. In those who have commanded their own death or who have died with full consciousness
3. In those who died through accidents.

In these 3 cases, the episodes of the previous life remain visible and clear in the mind.

Generally, such a memory only lasts vividly clear up to 12-13 years old.

If one remembers it all the time, one will develop a dual personality.

Those who do remember their past lives up to 12-13 years old are called játismara in Sanskrit.

If one can concentrate the mind and transform it into a point, then one can recollect everything.

One can remember every word of one’s previous birth in one’s next life provided that one’s reactive momenta remain unfulfilled.

But I will never advise any sádhaka or spiritual aspirant to try to become a játismara.

What is the use of recollecting the history of your past life? Try to learn only about the future.

What is this future?

What should be the future?

You should become one with Parama Puruśa by merging into Him.

Then everything will be known and revealed to you. Unite with Him and enjoy the bliss of spiritual ambrosia.

The meaning of unification with Parama Puruśa is to enjoy Parama Puruśa.

What is the use of knowing the history of your previous births? Such knowledge will never help your spiritual advancement.

9 December 1978, Calcutta