I read an intriguing article recently about scientists that are doing cutting-edge research on how memory works. Their focus is not the typical one on why memory loss occurs, but rather on why memory exists at all. In other words, these researchers are trying to discover what the mechanism is that holds and releases our memories.
We’ve all had the experience of remembering events, names, or faces from our daily life, but usually we take this ability for granted. I often enjoy trying to recall some trivial piece of information that I can’t quite access in my mind. If I sit quietly for a period of time, I sense a spark of energy, a neural impulse, starting to surface and move from the subconscious into the conscious realm. Then, like a light turning on in my brain, the answer presents itself in a calm, joyful manner, as if to say, “Ta-da!”
Sometimes our memories can even predate our present incarnation, and reflect experiences from past lives. Perhaps we meet someone new and feel an instant affinity with them, or we visit a place for the first time and have the feeling that we’ve been there before. There are many documented cases of children clearly remembering from a past incarnation details which, when researched, have proven to be true.
Paramhansa Yogananda writes on the first page of Autobiography of a Yogi, “I find my earliest memories covering the anachronistic features of a previous incarnation. Clear recollections came to me of a distant life, a yogi amidst the Himalayan snows. These glimpses of the past, by some dimensionless link, also afforded me a glimpse of the future.”
The most important use of memory, then, lies not in summoning up trivial facts, but in remembering the inner journey that we’ve traveled thus far to find God. It’s good to meditate on why you were drawn to the spiritual path, and on the associations you recall from the past. Though we may not consciously remember the connection, the guru-disciple relationship is eternal and guides us from lifetime to lifetime. By evoking this connection, we can draw on our past spiritual development to strengthen our future growth.
Though I had had no conscious memory of a connection with my guru, Yoganandaji, once I read his Autobiography I never looked elsewhere for spiritual guidance. Some deeper-than-conscious memory has held me to his teachings for the past fifty-five years, and I am increasingly aware that this has been my ordained path for many lifetimes.
One of the most powerful episodes from the Autobiography is when Lahiri Mahasaya, a householder working as an accountant for the British in India, is transferred to a remote outpost in the foothills of the Himalayas. Wandering in the hills above Ranikhet one day, he hears someone calling his name, and climbs up to a clearing dotted with caves. There he sees a radiant young man standing before him. Lahiri’s narrative continues:
“Lahiri, surely this cave seems familiar to you?”
As I maintained a bewildered silence, the saint approached and struck me gently on the forehead. At his magnetic touch, a wondrous current swept through my brain, releasing the sweet seed-memories of my previous life.
“I remember!” My voice was half-choked with joyous sobs. “You are my guru Babaji, who has belonged to me always! Scenes of the past arise vividly in my mind; here in this cave I spent many years of my last incarnation!” As ineffable recollections overwhelmed me, I tearfully embraced my master’s feet.
Memory can play a vital role in our search for liberation. Patanjali, the ancient authority on yoga, describes spiritual awakening as smriti, “memory.” We need to remove from our mind the obscuring fog of present identities such as being a man, a woman, an American, or an Indian. Swami Kriyananda wrote, “These waves of outward involvement need to be stilled. Once they become calm, one’s eternal reality is remembered at last.”
As we “improve our knowing,” the moment will come when we, too, will exclaim, “I remember!”
It’s strange to think that what we’ve been seeking has always been within us: the memory of who and what we really are. Yogananda described Self-realization as “the knowing in all parts of body, mind, and soul that you are now in possession of the kingdom of God; that you do not have to pray that it come to you; that God’s omnipresence is your omnipresence; and that all that you need to do is improve your knowing.”
As we “improve our knowing,” the moment will come when we, too, will exclaim, “I remember!”
With gratitude for this path to freedom,
Nayaswami Devi
Listen to Devi as she first reads the blog, then expands on its meaning and messages for readers with behind-the-blog commentary. Subscribe to the podcast or download the audio recording by right-clicking here. Or listen to it here (10:55):
23 Comments
I am an alcoholic with 20 years of sobriety. I found Ananda in my 3rd year of recovery and, in the ensuing years, have rediscovered life in service to others. Rediscovered is clearly the right word. Along the path of guiding others into a life of recovery we often talk, not about learning new things, but about remembering what we have long ago forgotten. We have to relearn humility, trust, faith, joy, by doing things that repeatedly put us in touch with those spiritual building blocks. My personal journey goes deeper.
Through layers of self forgetting I often find myself in that timeless place where I remember that God is love, joy is the natural response to a life in love, and the best response to many situations is: “Don’t just do something. Stand there.” This comes out in art I didn’t know I could do, in relationships when I know God is again serving God, in service anonymously given, and in a deep sense of gratitude for the blessing of these eyes that are beginning to see…. again.
In Love and Service,
Jim
Very touching Jim, I too was an alcoholic so I know where you’re coming from, I am now 2 years sober thank God. It has been amazing getting to know who I truly am, I feel like I had wasted many years lost in the delusion of alcohol.
Hmmm Jim,
You are not an alcoholic; you maybe were classified as that by society and psychology, although the whole time you were just a type A soul trying to remember yourSelf and move forward in this life. Many addictive types have great success in meditation and service because they grab on tight and never let go.
Best to you and all you do and will do. Master has been pulling you forward the whole time and now you are on a roll, cracking off the layers like we all need to do.
“With right effort NOW, all things in future will improve” from Yukteswar
Thank you for this inspiring blog. It somehow eases the thought that karma can be a burden. And thank you for the reminder to consciously bring to mind the karma that has and is bringing us to God.
Here is a recent “new” release from Swami Kriyananda’s archive talks:
Karma & Reincarnation 1984
https://www.treasuresalongthepath.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/karma-reincarnation-1984.mp3
Devi, this rings true for me too! As a child I received a copy of Autobiography of a Yogi while on a trip to California from my home in the Bible Belt, back in the 60’s. Ive never looked back, even though I had to keep my “heresy” a secret. I set up a tiny altar in my shower and knew that Yogananda was with Jesus watching over me.
One of the best, Deviji, thanks! 🙏
I too believe this and the more I open myself to this the more I feel.
I too feel so drawn to Paramhansa Yogananda his book and your meditation course has expanded and justified my journey for my endless and relentless and continuing need to expand my spiritual knowledge and knowing.
As we “improve our knowing,” the moment will come when we, too, will exclaim, “I remember!”
Thank you for the course.
This touched me deeply! Very special.
Thank you.
Touching, so true, thank you. Just love hearing the story and seeing Master’s tender smile again.
Thank you Devi ji🙏😇
Thank you very much for this enlighting reading. Truly touched my heartand soul. I will specially cherish “God’s omnipresence is your omnipresence”. May Almighty always make me remember and remind me of this.
Thank you for the wonderful words.
Thank you for this inspiring writing. Thanks! 🙏
When my memory goes back; I find yogananda ‘s Autobiography ad the age of 12 years in my fathers libery. when I looked ad his sweet eyes on the cover of the book; I saw and felt light between us. I left Yogananda for making a family but on the age of 57 He came back into my life by him self and I became his student and devotee. it felt like I always lived my life with Yogananda and in this life I will never leave him. thank you Yotish and Devi.
Thank you dearest Devi Ji for this beautiful blog – the inspiration to improve our knowing and your guidance in the audio answering “so where do we go from here?” – “more and better; lets do everything we can to build on the past, make the present dynamic, and long for the future where there will be no more separation between us and God”. powerful words … thank you Ji.
I don’t write every week but every one of these blogs “sparks some memory” of place of perfect Love and perfect Joy.
Thank you both again and again and again for bringing so much Light and so much Love into our lives and for helping us find that place of Smriti.
What more could we ask of anyone?
In Love and with devotion, Shanti
Thank you! This is so helpful, to remember to remember! Indeed, it seems so strange at times that we forgot who and what we have always been.
When a focused and saintly being like Devarshi says what he said there, it gives us some solace that we are not really perfected until Nirbikalpa Samadhi and we have to keep putting it together over time . That is why these saints are in our lives; to show us , that in our body, we get it done over time and with the blessing of the Masters who got it done and are pulling for us every day…..
Thanks Devi. I had a very strong dejavu experience when I read Swami Kriananda’s biography of Yogananda and told of a drunk man whoapproached Yogananda in a hotel in Minnesota and Yogananda touched his chest. I think I might have been that man.
I heard about Yogananda 15 years ago and have been a daily meditator ever since. I don’t think I could quit meditation now. Thanks for writing!
How wonderful ! Devi ji you have explained it so so simply and clearly.
Regards and gratitude .
Thank you Devi, for always fresh perspectives into the Present, by polishing our lenses !
Dear Nayaswami Devi Ji,
Thank you for sharing this blog. I was really touched and inspired reading this line “Some deeper-than-conscious memory has held me to his teachings” …
How wonderful would it when we are ready to exclaim ‘ I remember’ :) 🙏
Joy,
Prem
Very inspiring message – and good to bring such thoughts to the forefront of our memories.
O Divine Mother
Wearing Red
Little girl of 9 years
Visited my Guru
Thanks again O Mother