[Posted
January 27, 2007]
Propensity
for Amnesia
His Divine Grace A.C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
 CBS
News
- January 26, 2007 - JAMIE STENGLE Associated Press
Writer
Amnesia Victim Wandered for 25 Days
AP)
Joe Bieger walked out his front door with his two dogs one morning last
fall a beloved husband, father, grandfather and assistant high school
athletic director. Minutes later, all of that, indeed, his very
identity, would seemingly be wiped from his brain's hard drive.
For 25 days, he wandered the streets of Dallas and its environs a lost
soul, unable to remember his name, what he did for a living, or where
he lived, until, finally, a contractor who was building a new house for
Bieger and his wife happened to recognize him.
By that point, Bieger had somehow made his way to a suburb about 20
miles from his Dallas home, holes worn in the rubber soles of his
canvas shoes. He had lost 25 pounds, and a full white beard covered the
normally clean-shaven educator's face.
Bieger, 59, says he was diagnosed afterward as suffering from
psychogenic fugue, an extremely rare form of amnesia. go to
story
I'm
not who I think I am
Lecture
on Bhagavad-gita 2.28, London, August 30, 1973
|
Eyes
Wide Open
|
Wake
Up to Your Real State of Consciousness by
Hansadutta das
When
we're sleeping, we are not aware of the fact that we're sleeping. We
think we're awake. And when we are awake, we do not think that there is
any other state. We never remember when we go from the waking state to
the sleeping state. No one remembers. No one can watch out and say,
"Oh, now I'm going to sleep." No. Somehow or other, we pass into the
other state, the sleeping state. Even when the patient is administered
the anesthesia, he passes into that other state, and he doesn't
remember. When he again emerges, then he feels that "Oh yes, some
time", but he is bewildered, there is some bewilderment. So in the
present material state or material condition, we all accept it... it's
accepted that this is our life, this is our normal state. more
|
One
point in this connection is that at night when I am dreaming I forget
this body. This body, in dream, I am seeing that I have gone in a
different place, talking with different men, and my position is
different. But at that time I don't remember that actually my body is
lying on the bed in the apartment where I have come. But we don't
remember this body. It is everyone's experience. Similarly, when you
come again, awakening stage in the morning after getting up from the
bed, I forget all the bodies I created in my dream. So which one is
correct? This is correct? This body's correct, or that body's correct?
Because at night I forget this body, and in daytime I forget the other
dreaming body. So both of them not correct. It is simply hallucination.
But I am correct because I see at night, I see in daytime. So I am
eternal, the body is not eternal. This is the fact. Antavanta
ime deha nityasyoktah sharirinah ["Only
the material body of the indestructible, immeasurable and eternal
living entity is subject to destruction..." Bhagavad-gita
2.18]. Sharirinah, the owner of the body, is eternal,
but not the body. In so many ways, Krishna is explaining about the
material condition of this body. But those who are not very
intelligent, with poor fund of knowledge, it is very difficult for them
to understand. Otherwise, things are very clear. This point is very
clear. That at night I forget this body, and in daytime I forget the
body at night. This is a fact. Similarly, I may forget the body of my
last appearance, last duration of life, or I may not know the future
body. But I will exist, and the body may change, but I'll have to
accept another body which is temporary. But I, as I exist, it means I
have got a body. That is spiritual body.
So spiritual body is existing, and spiritual advancement means first of
all to know spiritual identification of myself. Just like Sanatana
Gosvami went to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu after retiring from his
ministership. So he first of all said that, ke ami, kene amaya
jare tapa-traya: "Actually, I do not know what I am, and why I
am subjected to the miserable condition of life." Therefore the
miserable condition of life is this body. Because I get... In dream
also. When I get another body, sometimes we find that on top of the
very tall bamboo or tall mountain I am just now, I'm falling down. And
I'm afraid, I sometimes cry, "Now, I am now falling down." So this
body, this material body, which body I belong to, which I am...
Actually, I do not belong to any of these bodies. I have got a separate
spiritual body.
So this human life is meant for that realization, that "I am not this
material body; I have a spiritual body." Then next question will be,
"Then what is my function?" In the present body under some material
condition I am thinking, "This is my body," and the body is produced
under certain condition of this country or this family; therefore,
"This is my family, this is my country, this is my nation." Everything
in bodily concept of life. And if I am not this body, then in
relationship with this body, either my family or my country or my
society, or my other relationships, they are also false because the
body is false. Therefore Shankaracharya theorized this: brahma
satyam jagan mithya. Brahman means the soul is actually
the fact, not the material manifestation. Material manifestation, of
course, he says false. We don't say false. We say temporary. So our
main concern is that I am not temporary. My body is temporary. Now I am
working for the body. That is illusion. Aham mameti ["I, me and mine" Srimad-Bhagavatam
5.5.8]. Then what is real fact? Real fact is that I am spiritual
particle, and the whole spirit is Krishna, or God. Therefore, as part
and parcel of God it is my duty to serve God. That is spiritual life, bhakti-yoga,
That is called svarupa. And in another place, the Bhagavad-gita
confirms it that sa gunan samatityaitan brahma-bhuyaya kalpate
[Bg. 14.26]. When I realize that I am not this body, then immediately I
transcend the three modes of material nature: sattva-guna,
rajo-guna, tamo-guna [goodness, passion and
ignorance]. Under the bodily concept of life, I am influenced by
one of the modes of material nature and acting.
In the Bhagavata also it is stated: yaya sammohito
jiva atmanam tri-gunatmakam manute anartham ["Due to this external energy, the living entity,
although transcendental to the three modes of material nature, thinks
of himself as a material product and thus undergoes the reactions of
material miseries. " SB 1.7.5]. So because I have accepted this
body which is made of either of the three modes of material nature, and
identifying, therefore I have created so many anartha. Anartha
means unwanted things. Tat-kritam chabhipadyate. And
after creating in bodily relationships so many unwanted things, I am
absorbed in thought, that "I am, I belong to such and such nation.
Therefore I have got my duty to do this, do that for the nation, or to
the society, or to the family, or to my personal self, or to my wife,
my children." This is, according to Vedic conception, this is illusion.
Aham mameti ["I, me and mine"
SB 5.5.8]. Janasya moho 'yam. Moha means
illusion. I am creating illusory circumstances and becoming entangled.
This is my position. But my real objective is how to get out of this
illusion and come to my original consciousness, Krishna consciousness,
and then I get back. Krishna consciousness means spiritual body. As
soon as I act on the basis of my spiritual body, that is called
liberation. That is wanted. Then I live blissfully in eternal life of
knowledge. That is my problem.
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