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Devi Stuti · Sutra 17 of 23

The Power of Memory

ಸ್ಮೃತಿ · Smriti. Guruji on the verse that bows to the Devi as memory.

From the teachings of Siddha Guru Pushkara Purvajna · 4 min read

ಯಾ ದೇವೀ ಸರ್ವಭೂತೇಷು ಸ್ಮೃತಿರೂಪೇಣ ಸಂಸ್ಥಿತಾ
ನಮಸ್ತಸ್ಯೈ ನಮಸ್ತಸ್ಯೈ ನಮಸ್ತಸ್ಯೈ ನಮೋ ನಮಃ

Yā devī sarvabhūteṣu smṛtirūpeṇa saṃsthitā
Namastasyai namastasyai namastasyai namo namaḥ

That Devi who abides in all beings in the form of memory: salutations to Her, again and again.

Watch on YouTubeGuruji’s talk on Sutra 17, in KannadaOpens the video on the Spiritual Conscious channel

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To that Devi Shakti, present in every class of creature in the world in the forms of smriti, recollection and the power of memory, our salutations, salutations, salutations.

When we look at what a human being needs, what we need above all is memory.

It is memory alone, recollection, and in a very practical way it takes the form of memory.

This power fills us in many practical shapes and outlines. It stays as it is, seamless and very widespread.

When we see a person’s identity and recognise them, we recognise them through memory, through the power of recall.

Memory is made by the play of a power. Losing memory, the loss of recall, is also that power’s play.

Whether a memory is good or bad, positive or negative, is not what matters. It may become good, or it may become bad. Good and bad are personal.

All of this is a bundle of memory, a collection of memories.

But if we do not erase such memories now and then, we go mad. We become like a cauliflower, layer upon layer. This makes a person deeply unhappy. When we erase the layers in our memory, it is the Mother, in the form of power, who purifies the shape of what we remember.

Like a mother she nourishes us, gives us a good shape and good samskaras, and so sustains us. At that moment we move forward in life in good order; we walk on and evolve.

Above all, memory is as mysterious as it is physical. Even while living one and the same life, it is impossible to understand what kind of world memory creates inside us.

In one family there may be several children growing up at the same time. When they are grown and you ask them for their childhood memories, each has a different memory of their experience.

Their joys and sorrows, ups and downs, mistakes, studies: each person’s memory patterns are different.

Just as each person has their own patterns, each has a different personality.

Even in the same family, the circumstances and conditions inside each of them are different. The memory held in each mind grows in its own way, collects its own recollections and builds its own very different, mysterious arrangement.

Through modern science we know that when the brain’s memory is injured, a person may lose memory, have short-term or long-term memory loss, or lose their sight.

But what is recorded and stored inside a person works differently in each of us. For example, ten people see the same event, and because of the particular way each one remembers, they describe that one event in many ways.

On news channels we see one event described in many ways. Each describes it differently, from their own kind of memory, their own impression.

Some use memory to create an atmosphere of fear. Some create compassion. Some create within themselves a feeling of accepting life. Some create a very narrow feeling.

The facts of the event are the same (factfulness), but the power in the depths of each memory is different. Memory is very mysterious. We must learn to handle and work with our memory with good naturalness. This is a beautiful part of spiritual practice. When memory is kept very clean within, our inner journey becomes smooth and simple.

When memory is kept in a jumble, in confusion, it is like this.

Example: in a house where things are scattered everywhere, where it is dirty and disordered, clothes are thrown about and heaps of rubbish pile up without cleaning, how would you move around?

But when things are arranged properly and kept in order, you can find calm there and move about at ease.

In the same way, when memory is jumbled, polluted and spoiled, it creates anarchy within you. But when memory is cleaned naturally and kept in order, our life too stays in order.

The cause of memory, of the power of recall, is the play of the inner power within us. But our bonds with the outer world, the assumptions and beliefs of the outside world, work just as strongly. Memory is stored very widely in these two parts, family life and the world.

We cannot work on the inner power; it is as it is. But through samskaras, good assumptions, commitments, values and discipline, we can succeed.

From long ago we have worked very systematically at the level of the dream state, of memory, of the power of recall, transforming and reshaping it. When we change at that base, when we are transformed there, we ourselves are changed and transformed.

Because we are memory.

Take hold of the memory that has been uncovered, and work with it.

Dealing with the inner dimension is not possible, not the main thing. What happens in the outer dimension is very important. Do that work; practise that.

This is the meaning of the sutra smriti rupena.

Translated from Guruji’s Kannada notes on this sutra. The Devi Stuti talks are on the Spiritual Conscious YouTube channel. All 23 sutras are also in a free book, The Devi Within (PDF).

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