Remembering
Anubhuta Vishaya Asampramoshaha Smritihi
To remember is the fifth quality of the mind. An incident that happened, a song or speech that one heard, the names and faces of people, emotional feelings, concepts and ideas one has read or recollection of any experience through the five sense organs is called Smriti or Memory.
To re-member (hyphen used deliberately to signify that the word means to connect again) means to attach the mind from the present moment, to some name, object, situation, concept or experience. I travel to the Himalayas, see the mountains, rivers, temples, sights, scenes and people. Now sitting in Chicago, I re-member my experience in the Himalayas and connect my mind to it. Depending on the , understanding and my response to the experience, the memory can be good or bad, comfortable or uncomfortable, joyous or sad.
Yoga, the technique of connecting the individual mind with the cosmic mind, uses smriti or memory to re-member the biggest, infinite existence and become that in the present moment.
Every moment spent at the altar in prayer is an exercise in Smriti of Jesus Christ, Allah, Shiva or the Para Brahman - connecting our mind to that person or thing that we are thinking about. Every act of chanting a mantra or repeating an affirmation is to use this faculty of Smriti to re-member oneself with the name and form we think about.
(Photo: Our actions are the results of Smriti or memory. One who thinks of Consciousness has written 'Om' on snow while another who has thought of a greeting has written 'Hi' in the same snow.) - Swahilya Shambhavi.
