1.9 Remembrance of past lives as subjective proof

The first commonly experienced subjective process – remembrance of past lives – is a natural by-product of the advanced meditative techniques taught in this book. This current life is simply one of many incarnations you have experienced. You can prove this, to yourself, by developing the capacity for intuitive recollection of previous lives through advanced meditation.

The process of reincarnation is a natural product of the inherent implicate law of karma. A mind which has not yet realised the absolute and final subjectivity of reality is inexorably and endlessly bound to the process of death and rebirth. Again and again and again, as many times as each consciousness individually requires, the inexorable process of reality creates fresh opportunities, through the life experience of each incarnation, for the individual mind to progress along the path of recognising the illusory nature of mere objectivity.

All that you have experienced, in this and previous lives, remains in your memory. Your intuition, enhanced by the meditative practices taught in this book, can enable you to recollect your past lives. According to what is released into consciousness from your memory, so you can monitor your progress towards enlightenment.

The more details you can recall from a previous life, the further you are from enlightenment. Just as a complete recall of the details of this current life would be of little help in understanding the karmic significance of the events of this life, so, too, an obsession with detailed memories of past lives would be of little help in identifying the necessary actions to take you to enlightenment. A mind which carries an accumulation of facts and figures, chronologies and histories, both individual and general, is a mind ill-equipped to realise the final stage of enlightenment.

The key to measuring progress towards the realisation of that is the extent to which your recall of past lives is based on understanding their significance and meaning in terms of an accumulation of experience. When you grasp your previous lives as a progression of understanding, then you will be better able to identify the karmic direction of this life. A mind which is capable of identifying patterns of meaning from latent impressions deep in memory is a mind well-equipped to realise the unconditioned state.

Do not set out energetically and with determination to recall the traces of past lives. If such confirmatory experiences are to come your way, they will happen spontaneously. Simply listen carefully to the promptings of your intuition.

An association with a place, person or object, or an event witnessed or read about, may stimulate latent traces of past lives to rise to consciousness. The experience is one of recognising or remembering something familiar and long forgotten. Although at first such an experience may seem extraordinary, it is no more remarkable than the common occurrence of remembering a long forgotten incident.

It is very unlikely that you will find any objective confirmation of these traces in your memory. The benefit of the experience is realised by accepting the evidence of your intuition. Only you can decide if such experiences are valid for you. If you accept them on their own terms, you progress along the path through recognising and accepting such experiences as real.