REMEMBRANCE OF THE PAST WORLD

The remembrance of the past world is entwined with the activation of Vasanas, or the subtle state of desires carried across lifetimes, so holds Swami Sivananda. Vasanas are subtle desire-based imprints left on the mind from past experiences, objects, and actions. These imprints are considered the root of bondage, as they create desires and attachments that bind Jivatma, or embodied Self, to the phenomenal world and the Samsara Chakra, or cycle of birth and death. These Vasanas influence present actions and create new ones, but they can be purified or weakened through inward movement, or meditative practices. The experienced world, including past lives and after-death experiences, is not a reality but rather a mental construct or projection based on these stored mental impressions carried over several lifetimes. This way our current experiences are shaped not only by present circumstances but also by the unfulfilled Vasanas, or subtle desires, and experiences of our previous existences. Recognising this pattern, one may find ways to transcend his limitations and achieve a greater awareness of Self-knowledge. These Vasanas act as the "seeds" that determine the circumstances, qualities, and general patterns of future births and experiences. Swami Sivananda states that Vasanas are of two kinds, the Subha Vasanas (pure) and the Asubha Vasanas (impure). Pure Vasanas lead to Atma-Jnana, or Self-knowledge and through it to Moksha, or liberation from Samsara Chakra, or birth and death; but impure Vasanas cause the mind to fluctuate and produce agitation in the mind and affinity for objects and keep one in a veil of ignorance, thus cycling into the bondage of Samsara Chakra. Yoga-Vasistha (4.20.1-4.20.3) posits that the mind is the creator of the world experienced by an individual, similar to how dreams are mental projections; it differentiates between the waking world and the dream world as merely differing in scale and duration, not in principle. The mind is the sole creator of the world, and the reality we experience is a product of our thoughts and perceptions. This teaching of Yoga-Vasistha (3.54.14-3.54.33) suggests that the mind's conditioning and desires create both our joys and sufferings. While the pain and shock of death and rebirth generally erase conscious, detailed memories of past lives for most people, the vasanas remain active subconsciously. Unexplained preferences, recurring patterns, or even a sense of déjà vu can be subtle manifestations of these deep-seated impressions. Time itself is described as relative and a creation of the mind. Stories within the text illustrate how a moment in a waking state can be experienced as years in a dream or vice versa, further emphasising that the past, present, and future are not absolute realities but mental constructs.

The world, with all its sentient and insentient beings and relationships, is viewed as a manifestation of this mental creation, similar to a cosmic dream that dissolves upon achieving a state of no-mind or Self-knowledge. Heightened consciousness achieved through intense self-effort and practices like yoga and self-enquiry can access these deeper memories, allowing a sage to perceive a person's or even the cosmos's many past cycles of existence. Moksha, or liberation, is not about remembering past lives but about the extinction of all Vasanas and the dissolution of the illusory "I", or ego, engulfed through psychophysical structures and processes.

 1. Outline 

Remembrance of past life, as described in scriptures, Yoga-Vasistha and Upanishads, emphasises the influence of subtle desires, memories and past experiences on our current lives and desires. It affirms that the past, present, and future are ingrained and amplified in a finite creature with roots in the Samsara Chakra, or birth and death. But Brahman, or Cosmic Self, is not subject to such predisposition. Brahman, according to Yoga-Vasistha (4.3.4), can have no remembrance of the past at the beginning of a new creation, owing to his want of a prior birth or death. Therefore, this aerial reminiscence has no relation to Brahman. Kaivalya Upanishad (Verse-14) asserts this way that the being who sports in the three cities, i.e., the states of wakefulness, dream and deep sleep, from Him has sprung up all diversity.  He is the substratum, the bliss, the indivisible Consciousness, in whom the three cities dissolve themselves. This statement of the Kaivalya Upanishad refers to the experience of rebirth within the consciousness that failed to realise Brahman, or the Supreme Self, or the Non-dual Absolute Existence, before the death of the form (bodily form). It confirms that the being who desires is the being who is reborn into the three cities of Creation (wakefulness, dream and deep sleep). It also confirms that Brahman is the substratum for this dualistic creation of the ignorant.  Upon realisation of the Reality, this realised consciousness attains the Truth and bliss of Absolute Consciousness. In truth all of Existence is the One indivisible Non-Dual Consciousness alone. All divisions or states are Maya, or illusion, causing that experience in the one existence of Consciousness. Within this illusionary (Maya) creation of duality, the "three cities" (the states of wakefulness, dream and deep sleep) are subsumed once more as indivisible Consciousness of Absolute Knowledge Alone.  Yoga-Vasistha (4.3.6–4.3.10) contends that all intelligent beings, including Brahma and all others of the past age that obtain their nirvana or liberation, are of course absorbed in One Existence and have lost their remembrance of everything concerning their past lives. Past remembrances and remembrancers are non-applicable to those who are wholly lost at the final liberation of the rememberers. It is certain that all beings are liberated and become extinct in Brahman at the ultimate dissolution; hence, there cannot be remembrance of anything in the absence of the persons who remember it. The remembrance that impresses itself in the vacuous space of individual intellects is verily the reservoir of the perceptible and imperceptible worlds. This reminiscence is eternally present before the sight of God, as a reflection of His intellect. It shines with the lustre of his self-consciousness, from time without beginning and end, and is identical with this world, which is therefore called to be self-born because it is immanent in the mind of God. However, for the non-liberated one, past experiences can continue to shape one's identity and spirituality. Yoga-Vasistha (3.21.5) lays stress on that remembrance of the past world that makes it known to us because it is impossible to recognise anything without a previous impression of its kind in the mind. Hence, the length of a kalpa age and the shortness of a moment are but erroneous impressions proceeding from the rapidity and slowness of our thoughts. You are what your deep, driving desire is. As you desire, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed is, so is your destiny, so says  Brihadāranyaka Upanishad (4.4.5). It contends that Self is indeed Brahman, as well as identified with the intellect, the Manas and the vital force, with the eyes and ears, with earth, water, air and the ether, with fire, and what is other than fire, with desire and the absence of desire, with anger and the absence of anger, with righteousness and unrighteousness, with everything—identified, as is well known, with this what is perceived and with that what is inferred. As it does and acts, so it becomes; by doing good it becomes good, and by doing evil it becomes evil—it becomes virtuous through good acts and vicious through evil acts. Mind is Vasanamaya and the cause for bondage and freedom of man, asserts Swami Sivananda. According to him, this world is Vasanamaya Jagat. Through Vasanas, the mind clings to sensual objects and constantly thinks of them. If the Vasanas perish, the mind ceases thinking of objects and attains the state of thoughtlessness. He says that the mind that is filled with impure Vasanas tends to bondage, whereas a mind that is destitute of Vasanas tends to freedom. When the Vasanas are destroyed, there is no mind. When one becomes mindless, intuition dawns, and one is endowed with the eye of consciousness, wisdom and peace. By ending these mental conditions, conditioned by Vasanas, one breaks free from the cycle of birth and death, the immortal seat of ineffable splendour, and creates new "worlds" of experience, realising the ultimate, non-dual reality of Brahman, or Cosmic Self. This perceptive realisation fosters a deep sense of unity with all of existence, transcending the illusions of duality and opposites. As individuals embrace this truth, they cultivate compassion and wisdom, contributing to the collective awakening of humanity. But the crux issue is how Vasanas can be subdued to redeem one's Self from the transient phenomenal splendour of duality and opposites to One inseparable essence of Brahman, or Supreme Self. The scriptures state that Vasanas are a primary cause of bondage, perpetuating the Samsara Chakra, or cycle of rebirth, death and suffering. They are described as mental "taints" or "smells" that linger in the mind, influencing thoughts and actions, and being the reason the mind is not pure and clear. To overcome them, the scriptures suggest spiritual disciplines like Karma Yoga (selfless action), Bhakti Yoga (selfless devotion), and Jnana Yoga (self-knowledge). Scriptures emphasise the importance of self-effort to purify the mind and realise one's true nature, as detailed in Yoga-Vasistha and Srimad Bhagavad Gita.

2. Scriptures 

The scriptures emphatically proclaim that desire, or its subtleness, is the root cause of transmigration of Jivatma in the Samsara Chakra, birth and death. The Brihadāranyaka Upanishad (4.4.6) states that 'Being attached, he, together with the work, attains that result to which his subtle body or mind is attached. Exhausting the results of whatever work he did in this life, he returns from that world to this for (fresh) work.’ Thus does the man who desires transmigrate. But the man who does not desire never transmigrates. Of him who is without desires, who is free from desires, the objects of whose desire have been attained, and to whom all objects of desire are but the Self—the organs do not depart. As he is essentially Brahman, he becomes one with Brahman. Regarding this subject there is also the following verse: 'Being attached, i.e., with his desire for it roused, he, the man who transmigrates, together with the work that he did with attachment to its result, attains that result to which his subtle body or mind is firmly attached, i.e., for which it yearns, since he did the work out of a desire for that.'— The mind is called the subtle body, Liṅga, because it is the principal part of the latter, or the word ‘Liṅga' may mean a sign, that which indicates the self. — Therefore, only on account of this attachment of his mind, he attains the result through that action. This proves that desire is the root of transmigratory existence.

When the pulsation of life breath stops, the organic sensations are lost in their remembrance only, states Yoga-Vasistha (3.54.60). It, Yoga-Vasistha (3.54.62-3.54.63), asserts that death will come in destined time, but our consciousness of former knowledge will all be awake at the hour of death. Yoga-Vasistha (3.54.1-3.54.74) teaches the states of relativity of time and reality through stories and anecdotes. It highlights that the lot of living beings and the cause of their death, the duration of human life, are determined by their acts and enjoyments and the merit of their conduct in their lifetime. One such is the story of Queen Lila, Yoga-Vasistha (3.21.1-3.21.79),  which illustrates how a moment in the waking state can be experienced as years in a dream or another reality. Queen Lila, a devout wife of King Padma, was an ardent devotee of the goddess Saraswati, who, out of deep devotion for her husband, prayed the goddess for a boon that in case of any unforeseen event, the Jivatma of her husband would not leave their palace following his death. The queen's wishes were granted by the goddess. King Padma died in due time, and the embodied Atman (Self, or Spirit) reincarnated in a new form in a different reality or universe. Following his reincarnation, he grew up into a new life to become King Padma again with a new queen. All of this happened in a different subtle dimension almost instantly in the original reality within the confines of the same palace. The Queen, distraught by her husband's death, again prayed to goddess Saraswati, who again appeared to demonstrate the nature of reality and time and took Leela on a journey through different planes of existence and parallel universes. They witnessed the new life of her husband as the young king in the other realm, which was running its course over many years. Yet, from their perspective with the Goddess, it had only been a very short time in the original palace. The story in Yoga-Vasistha demonstrates that time and space are not absolute realities but are creations of the mind or Maya (illusion). The experiences in the "dream" life are as real to the dreamer as the "waking" life is to the waking person, but both are ultimately transient manifestations within the universal consciousness (Brahman). Yoga-Vasistha uses this and other stories to teach that the entire world of experience is like a long dream from which one must "awaken" through self-realisation. One must mind that the seed of our innate consciousness (Atman, or Self) is never destroyed with our life and body. Consciousness is inward knowledge and imperishable in its nature, pronounces Yoga-Vasistha (3.54.64-3.54.74); therefore, the nature of consciousness is free from birth and death. It is neither born nor dead at any time but witnesses these two states as the passing shadows and apparitions in a dream and vision. It is clear and bright in its form of the pure intellect—chit in some, and polluted with the passions of animal life in its nature of the sentient or Jivatman—chetana in many. Atman is none other than the intellect, which is never destroyed anywhere by anyone. It is Purusha, beside the intellect itself. It is not the body, nor the vital breath, nor perceptions, nor mind; it is not the understanding, nor egoism, nor the heart, nor illusion, all of which are inactive in themselves. According to Yoga-Vasistha (3.54.64-74), consciousness does not cease with the death of any living being, as all Jivatman, or living Atman, persists in the same state after the demise of each body. Jivatman is no more than a principle that is conscious of its various desires, affections, and passions. Men do not attribute the phases of life and death to this principle. Therefore, no one ever dies or is born; only the living principle, or consciousness, continually revolves in the deep eddy of its desires. Since visible things aren't real, no one can genuinely want them; however, the embodied Atman, or Jivatman, is tricked by egoism into thinking these things are real, and when they disappear, it confronts Samsara Chakra, or the cycle of birth and death. This illusion creates an endless cycle of longing and suffering, as the soul grapples with the transient nature of existence. Ultimately, true liberation lies in recognising the illusory nature of these desires and seeking a deeper understanding of oneself beyond mere appearances. The recluse ascetic, flying from the fears of the world as foreign to his Atman and having none of its false desires rising in his breast, becomes liberated in his life and assimilated with the true ONE.

3. Remarks 

The world is a creation of the mind, and the experiences of past lives and different worlds are like long and vivid dreams based on Vasanas, or subtle desires of latent impressions or mental traces, teaches Yoga-Vasistha. True liberation involves the extinction of these impressions and the cessation of the mind's deluded activity, which leads to the end of the cycle of rebirths and related memories. The world is an idea or kalpana within the mind, much like a dream. What the mind strongly believes, it experiences as reality, whether in a waking state, a dream, or an afterlife. Past actions and experiences leave impressions (Vasanas) on the mind. These Vasanas are the "seeds" that sprout forth in future lives, shaping one's personality, circumstances, and experiences. The mind, driven by these vasanas, wanders through endless varieties of births. Even the afterlife (heaven or hell) is a projection of the mind, conditioned by the vasanas cultivated during life. A person who constantly thinks of a specific heaven will project and experience that heaven after death. The ultimate goal is not to remember past lives but to transcend the entire cycle of cause and effect (Karma) and rebirth (Samsara). The sage Vasistha advises Rama to "blot out all your former impressions from your mind as if they were never impressed by it." By annihilating the ego and all vasanas, one achieves liberation (Moksha), a state of pure, non-dual consciousness beyond all worldly appearances and the memory of them. Yoga-Vasistha (3.21.1-3.21.15) treats the remembrance of past worlds as a potential byproduct of heightened awareness, but the true wisdom lies in understanding that all these worlds and lives are ultimately unreal, mind-created illusions, and letting go of the attachment to them is the path to freedom.

-Asutosh Satpathy