Propensity for Amnesia

Eyes Wide Open

Wake Up to Your Real State of Consciousness by Hansadutta das

When we're sleeping, we are not aware of the fact that we're sleeping. We think we're awake. And when we are awake, we do not think that there is any other state. We never remember when we go from the waking state to the sleeping state. No one remembers. No one can watch out and say, "Oh, now I'm going to sleep." No. Somehow or other, we pass into the other state, the sleeping state. Even when the patient is administered the anesthesia, he passes into that other state, and he doesn't remember. When he again emerges, then he feels that "Oh yes, some time", but he is bewildered, there is some bewilderment. So in the present material state or material condition, we all accept it... it's accepted that this is our life, this is our normal state. more

One point in this connection is that at night when I am dreaming I forget this body. This body, in dream, I am seeing that I have gone in a different place, talking with different men, and my position is different. But at that time I don't remember that actually my body is lying on the bed in the apartment where I have come. But we don't remember this body. It is everyone's experience. Similarly, when you come again, awakening stage in the morning after getting up from the bed, I forget all the bodies I created in my dream. So which one is correct? This is correct? This body's correct, or that body's correct? Because at night I forget this body, and in daytime I forget the other dreaming body. So both of them not correct. It is simply hallucination. But I am correct because I see at night, I see in daytime. So I am eternal, the body is not eternal. This is the fact. Antavanta ime deha nityasyoktah sharirinah ["Only the material body of the indestructible, immeasurable and eternal living entity is subject to destruction..." Bhagavad-gita 2.18]. Sharirinah, the owner of the body, is eternal, but not the body. In so many ways, Krishna is explaining about the material condition of this body. But those who are not very intelligent, with poor fund of knowledge, it is very difficult for them to understand. Otherwise, things are very clear. This point is very clear. That at night I forget this body, and in daytime I forget the body at night. This is a fact. Similarly, I may forget the body of my last appearance, last duration of life, or I may not know the future body. But I will exist, and the body may change, but I'll have to accept another body which is temporary. But I, as I exist, it means I have got a body. That is spiritual body.

So spiritual body is existing, and spiritual advancement means first of all to know spiritual identification of myself. Just like Sanatana Gosvami went to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu after retiring from his ministership. So he first of all said that, ke ami, kene amaya jare tapa-traya: "Actually, I do not know what I am, and why I am subjected to the miserable condition of life." Therefore the miserable condition of life is this body. Because I get... In dream also. When I get another body, sometimes we find that on top of the very tall bamboo or tall mountain I am just now, I'm falling down. And I'm afraid, I sometimes cry, "Now, I am now falling down." So this body, this material body, which body I belong to, which I am... Actually, I do not belong to any of these bodies. I have got a separate spiritual body.

So this human life is meant for that realization, that "I am not this material body; I have a spiritual body." Then next question will be, "Then what is my function?" In the present body under some material condition I am thinking, "This is my body," and the body is produced under certain condition of this country or this family; therefore, "This is my family, this is my country, this is my nation." Everything in bodily concept of life. And if I am not this body, then in relationship with this body, either my family or my country or my society, or my other relationships, they are also false because the body is false. Therefore Shankaracharya theorized this: brahma satyam jagan mithya. Brahman means the soul is actually the fact, not the material manifestation. Material manifestation, of course, he says false. We don't say false. We say temporary. So our main concern is that I am not temporary. My body is temporary. Now I am working for the body. That is illusion. Aham mameti ["I, me and mine" Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.5.8]. Then what is real fact? Real fact is that I am spiritual particle, and the whole spirit is Krishna, or God. Therefore, as part and parcel of God it is my duty to serve God. That is spiritual life, bhakti-yoga, That is called svarupa. And in another place, the Bhagavad-gita confirms it that sa gunan samatityaitan brahma-bhuyaya kalpate [Bg. 14.26]. When I realize that I am not this body, then immediately I transcend the three modes of material nature: sattva-guna, rajo-guna, tamo-guna [goodness, passion and ignorance]. Under the bodily concept of life, I am influenced by one of the modes of material nature and acting.

In the Bhagavata also it is stated: yaya sammohito jiva atmanam tri-gunatmakam manute anartham ["Due to this external energy, the living entity, although transcendental to the three modes of material nature, thinks of himself as a material product and thus undergoes the reactions of material miseries." SB 1.7.5]. So because I have accepted this body which is made of either of the three modes of material nature, and identifying, therefore I have created so many anartha. Anartha means unwanted things. Tat-kritam chabhipadyate. And after creating in bodily relationships so many unwanted things, I am absorbed in thought, that "I am, I belong to such and such nation. Therefore I have got my duty to do this, do that for the nation, or to the society, or to the family, or to my personal self, or to my wife, my children." This is, according to Vedic conception, this is illusion. Aham mameti ["I, me and mine" SB 5.5.8]. Janasya moho 'yam. Moha means illusion. I am creating illusory circumstances and becoming entangled. This is my position. But my real objective is how to get out of this illusion and come to my original consciousness, Krishna consciousness, and then I get back. Krishna consciousness means spiritual body. As soon as I act on the basis of my spiritual body, that is called liberation. That is wanted. Then I live blissfully in eternal life of knowledge. That is my problem.