Unnatural death, and death in a state of bodily attachment, are not only painful, they also obscure memory. Of course, unless one is spiritually advanced, it is not always desirable to remember one's former life. The after-death oblivion of one's previous identity allows him to forget his past consciousness of failure, pain, and attachments, and to begin life anew. The only disadvantage is that if he has not learned from past wrong actions, he may repeat those experiences, ignoring the warning of their consequences-just as the inveterate alcoholic continues to drink the infernal liquid, even with the conscious knowledge of probable death from liver damage.
Though the pure consciousness of the soul maintains a continuity of remembrance from one life to another, the body identified consciousness does not. The fact is, memory after death cannot survive under the following conditions;
(a) if there is attachment to the body;
(b) if there is attachment for past possessions, family, or friends;
(c) if there is a strong entanglement in bad karma, and if one has not risen above the effects of both good and bad actions.
If, as in (a) and (b), the newborn soul remembered and was attached to its previous body, possessions, family, or friends, imagine the agony and frustration the soul would feel in a new incarnation! It would not like to begin a different life amidst a new environment, a new family, and new friends. The soul is a brother to all-to all mankind. Imagine how narrow it would become if it loved only one small circle of human beings. It would not expand, and it wouldn't let those other souls expand, to reach the ultimate goal of unity. We must realize this oneness of our soul with all souls in the unity of the one Spirit, and it is impossible to do so unless the soul expands its sphere of family and friends to include all.
In the case of (c) above, the soul would be extremely discouraged, remembering past bad karma, struggles, and suffering, and wouldn't have the will to make new effort to progress. It would forget its transcendent nature. At the conclusion of each lifetime, death washes away all dark impressions, memories of failures and sins, and prejudiced conceptions, so that the soul can begin afresh to express itself in newer ways and make newer efforts to rise above and free itself from matter.
Sri Paramahansa Yogananda
(Self-Realization Magazine Fall 1982)
