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Encountering the Memory-Self
In the Bhagavadgita Sri Krishna
I am seated in the hearts of all. From Me are memory, knowledge, and their loss. I alone am the object to be known through all the Vedas; I am also the originator of the Vedanta, and I Myself am the knower of the Vedas.
By studying and understanding memory, which is the basis of our physical and mental life, we can go a long way into understanding how human self-consciousness is also the basis of memory and karma. This small book is written not merely from the academic standpoint but from the author s personal enquiry into the intricacies of mind, karma, memory, and so on.
Written as a series of eight articles entitled Memory in the Prabuddha Bharata , the essays have been revised and the technical information updated for this edition.
Swami Satyamayananda is the Assistant Minister of the Vedanta Society of Southern California in Hollywood. He is also the author of Ancient Sages, 8175053569
I am seated in the hearts of all. From Me are memory, knowledge, and their loss. I alone am the object to be known through all the Vedas; I am also the originator of the Vedanta, and I Myself am the knower of the Vedas.
By studying and understanding memory, which is the basis of our physical and mental life, we can go a long way into understanding how human self-consciousness is also the basis of memory and karma. This small book is written not merely from the academic standpoint but from the author s personal enquiry into the intricacies of mind, karma, memory, and so on.
Written as a series of eight articles entitled Memory in the Prabuddha Bharata , the essays have been revised and the technical information updated for this edition.
Swami Satyamayananda is the Assistant Minister of the Vedanta Society of Southern California in Hollywood. He is also the author of Ancient Sages, 8175053569
120 pages, Paperback
Published May 24, 2017
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November 27, 2025
Series of brief essays offering both a scientific and spiritual look into memory, mind, metaphysics, and self. The scientific part was quite new to me and nice to read about connections between science and spirituality. An interesting and quick read that I picked up for just Rs. 70 at Ramakrishna Math in Hyderabad.
Few quotes I found interesting:
1. "Scientific studies also tear apart our complacent conceptions and cosy beliefs of the world: Any one aspect of the visual information provided by your eyes is usually ambiguous. 'It is difficult for many people to accept that what they see is a symbolic interpretation of the world--it all seems so like "the real thing."'"
2. String theorists in Physics now speak of even more than four dimensions to reality and Superstring theorists speak of ten dimensions, which remain undetected! However, this three-dimensional world of ours is symbolically experienced by the brain; it is relative; and what the external world really is is unknown and unknowable, as shown by Emmanuel Kant and Eastern philosophies, because the brain interprets it for us."
3. "Just shutting the eyes and watching thoughts will give you an idea of the power of self-effort. Thoughts can be stopped, slowed, raced, modified, transformed, and ignored. If a person can do this to thoughts, bearing this power of purushakara on actions is easy. Sri Sarada Devi says that japa can lessen the intensity of karma: 'If you were destined to have a wound as wide as a ploughshare, you will get a pin-prick at least.'"
4. "To the wise, the law of karma is essentially the law of freedom; to the ignorant it is a miserable existence of bondage [...] Sri Ramakrishna puts it in his unique style: 'If one eats radish, one belches radish.' It is a vicious circle; thus we spin our own bondage."
Few quotes I found interesting:
1. "Scientific studies also tear apart our complacent conceptions and cosy beliefs of the world: Any one aspect of the visual information provided by your eyes is usually ambiguous. 'It is difficult for many people to accept that what they see is a symbolic interpretation of the world--it all seems so like "the real thing."'"
2. String theorists in Physics now speak of even more than four dimensions to reality and Superstring theorists speak of ten dimensions, which remain undetected! However, this three-dimensional world of ours is symbolically experienced by the brain; it is relative; and what the external world really is is unknown and unknowable, as shown by Emmanuel Kant and Eastern philosophies, because the brain interprets it for us."
3. "Just shutting the eyes and watching thoughts will give you an idea of the power of self-effort. Thoughts can be stopped, slowed, raced, modified, transformed, and ignored. If a person can do this to thoughts, bearing this power of purushakara on actions is easy. Sri Sarada Devi says that japa can lessen the intensity of karma: 'If you were destined to have a wound as wide as a ploughshare, you will get a pin-prick at least.'"
4. "To the wise, the law of karma is essentially the law of freedom; to the ignorant it is a miserable existence of bondage [...] Sri Ramakrishna puts it in his unique style: 'If one eats radish, one belches radish.' It is a vicious circle; thus we spin our own bondage."
Displaying 1 of 1 review