The brilliant imagery used by Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa to describe the birth of Swami Vivekananda and his origins was a very mesmerizing account that I read when I was young. In that account, Ramakrishna describes how a small portion of the memory of a ‘rishi’ (hermit) came down to earth and was born Vivekananda. I was always intrigued about the nature of that memory and especially about how it came from outer space to earth.

I have written before about how our memories go into knowledge space (KS) and influence our actions on this earth. It seemed the description of Ramakrishna about his and Vivekananda’s birth tallied with that though we are still not sure about the nature of knowledge space and where it is located. 

So what happens to our memories after death? Throughout the history of mankind, every civilization and thinkers in those civilizations have grappled with this subject. All life forms are afraid of death. We not only want to preserve our forms, but also our memories and experiences.

So if they are lost after our death, as most people believe, then I feel it is such a waste of effort to live and experience life.  Thus there has to be a better answer than that. The whole basis of Darwinian evolution is the transfer of information from generation to generation and memories are a very important part of that.

Reincarnation and lifetime memories

In several societies, resurrection, reincarnation, rebirth, etc. are frequently mentioned but very little information is available on what happens to lifetime memories and what is reborn. Similarly in all our ancient Indian scriptures (Mahabharat, Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, Brahma Sutra, etc.) death is frequently described and discussed; with reincarnation as an accepted fact, but what is passed and how much has always remained a mystery.

Buddhists very strongly believe in reincarnation but do not say what passes through after death and also what happens to memories. The discussion in all these scriptures generally skirts the subject, with emphasis given on living a good life so that better rebirth can take place.  It seems in the absence of knowledge this is a cop-out!

One of the pioneering works on reincarnation was done in the 1970s by Dr. Ian Stevenson, a US researcher. He interviewed almost 3000 children worldwide regarding reincarnation. Most of them had experienced traumatic and violent death and the recall was only of how they met their untimely end. Interestingly, they recalled very little about the previous birth and with age (by 7-8 years) even that memory waned.

That is the nature of life and probably a good thing since most of the mundane memories are not transferred; otherwise each life would be burdened with all the baggage of previous lives weighing down on it. Every new life should start with as clean a slate as possible. Somehow the traumatic death allowed the information from the previous life to pass to the next one.

Memory transfer

A possible mechanism of this memory transfer could be that a username and password might pass through death and this helps access the memories in KS. When the death is violent, and hence very traumatic, somehow this username and ID get triggered. For most of us even if we do not remember our previous birth events there has always been a sense of déjà vu, sometimes in our life, about places, events, or people. I feel that is because of our memories.

Since all our strong memories, which include emotional and other memories, go into knowledge space each person or life have their unique KS. These memories are a product of deep thought on a single subject and are earth bound and are part of the abode of spirits, ghosts, and other entities.

Then there are memories, the result of even deeper thought, and achieved via Dharmamegha Samadhi, which has the ability to form a soliton which is very stable and can interact with gravitational field and hence can go into deep space.  The formation of such a soliton probably leads to Mahasamadhi – leaving of the body by will as was done by Swami Vivekananda.

Most of the experiences, knowledge, etc. that a person accumulates in his/her lifetime is partially transferred genetically (through children); transferred through writings, speeches, interaction with others - physically or through the internet; or deep thought in KS. Thus the sum and substance of life is not lost but goes in helping the evolution of mankind. So even after death, this aspect of knowledge remains.

Inter-galactic travel

I also strongly believe that one of the major aims of human life is inter-galactic travel.  In the present technological era, it is nearly impossible to do so.  If we get the UFO technology, then it might be possible. We are not sure when that will happen.

 Thus in the present scenario, the best way to travel intergalactically is via the soul route after death.  In Indian scriptures, this is called reaching the abode of gods  - probably the place described by Ramakrishna in his vision of Vivekananda’s birth.

 One of the ways by which a memory remains attached to the earth’s gravitational field is via remembrance.  If a large number of people think about a great soul, then his/her chance of leaving the earth becomes less. Maybe that is the reason why the gods, deities and great souls who may have come from other planets have remained on earth.  So to leave the earth’s gravity a possible way is not to become known and very famous.

 Since our most significant memories remain after death and go in KS, we should all live a full, purposeful, and happy life – a life doing good deeds and karma. And whatever knowledge we have gained should be shared freely with others. This collective knowledge together with our memories will help in the evolution of mankind.

 Suggested Readings

1.   Anil K Rajvanshi (2004), “Death, Karma and Reincarnation”, https://nariphaltan.org/death.pdf(ref. 57)

2.   Anil K Rajvanshi (2004), “Thought in Higher Dimensions”, https://nariphaltan.org/dimensions.pdf

3.   Anil K Rajvanshi (2021), “Why Life is Attached to Form?”, https://nariphaltan.org/form.pdf

4.   Ker Than and Ashley Taylor (2021), “What is Darwin’s Theory of Evolution?” https://www.livescience.com/474-controversy-evolution-works.html

5.   Kevin Williams (2019), “Dr. Stevenson’s Reincarnation Research”,https://near-death.com/ian-stevenson/

6.   Anil K Rajvanshi, “Tunneling of Soul”. https://nariphaltan.org/soul.pdf

 (The writer is Director and Hon. Secretary, Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute, Phaltan, Maharashtra. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at anilrajvanshi50@gmail.com))