Category:God Gives Forgetfulness
Theme Analysis
A central philosophical question is how a pure, eternal soul could possibly forget its relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Śrīla Prabhupāda answers this by citing a pivotal verse from the Bhagavad-gītā (15.15): mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca (from Me come remembrance, knowledge, and forgetfulness). Kṛṣṇa expands Himself as the Paramātmā, the Supersoul situated in the heart of every living entity. From this central position, He engineers the conscious experience of the soul according to its desires.
The primary theme in this category is the origin of this spiritual amnesia. Śrīla Prabhupāda reveals that the first sinful will of the living entity is the desire to become the Lord. Because the soul possesses minute independence, Kṛṣṇa does not force compliance. When a soul persists in its desire to glide down into material nescience, Kṛṣṇa grants them the facility to do so. To make this false enjoyment possible, the Lord covers the soul in the mystery of forgetfulness. Without this divinely induced amnesia, the soul could never tolerate the miseries of the material world or falsely identify the gross body and subtle mind as the true self. The conditioned soul is thus allowed to dream in a material utopia. However, Śrīla Prabhupāda offers profound hope: because this forgetfulness is managed by the Supersoul, it can be entirely subdued and reversed the moment the living entity desires to revive their original Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
- The Central Force: The Supersoul (Paramātmā) within the heart is the generator of all cognitive functions. Both the sharp memory of a genius and the total forgetfulness of a conditioned soul are engineered by the Lord.
- The First Sinful Will: Forgetfulness is not an accident; it is the direct consequence of the living entity's initial, rebellious desire to imitate God and lord it over material nature.
- The Mercy of Illusion: To allow the soul to falsely enjoy the material world, Kṛṣṇa mercifully provides a veil of forgetfulness, enabling the soul to misinterpret the body and mind as its true identity.
- Reviving Original Consciousness: Forgetfulness is a temporary condition. The moment a soul chooses to stop misusing its independence, the Supersoul immediately provides the knowledge and remembrance needed to return to the spiritual world.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: God Gives Forgetfulness - The Illusion of Material Independence.
Subcategories
This category has the following 2 subcategories, out of 2 total.
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Pages in category "God Gives Forgetfulness"
The following 19 pages are in this category, out of 19 total.
A
- All recollections, knowledge, etc., as well as all forgetfulness, are engineered by the Lord, who is sitting within the heart of everyone
- As confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (BG 15.15), sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca. You (the Supreme Personality of Godhead) are situated in everyone's heart, and only from You come remembrance and forgetfulness
- As Paramatma, Supersoul, the Lord is living in everyone's heart, and from Him only does one's power of remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness follow. One person can sharply remember past activities by the grace of the Lord while others cannot
I
- In Bhagavad-gita the Lord says, sarvasya caham hrdi sannivistah: (BG 15.15) "I am sitting in everyone's heart, and because of Me one's remembrance and forgetfulness occur
- In Bhagavad-gita, Fifteenth Chapter, the Lord says, I am sitting in everyone's heart, and from Me come everyone's remembrance and forgetfulness
- In the Bhagavad-gita the Lord says that He is present in everyone's heart, and from Him only all knowledge, remembrance or forgetfulness take place
T
- The complete central force is generated from the heart by the Lord, who is seated there and who helps the conditioned soul in remembering and forgetting
- The first sinful will of the living entity is to become the Lord, and the consequent will of the Lord is that the living entity forget his factual life and thus dream of the land of utopia where he may become one like the Lord
- The Lord Himself confirms in Bhagavad-gita (BG 15.15), I am sitting in everyone's heart and giving directions for remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness
- The Lord says in Bhagavad-gita (15.15), I am seated in everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness
- The Lord says, I am seated in everyone's heart, and by Me are remembrance and forgetfulness made possible
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead in His Paramatma feature is always present within the hearts of all living entities and from Him come memory, knowledge and forgetfulness. This is indicated here (in SB 8.1.11) by the word suparnam, which means "friend"
- The word anidram, meaning "always awake and free from ignorance," is very important in this verse (of SB 8.5.27). As stated in BG 15.15, mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca: it is the Lord who gives intelligence to everyone and who causes everyone to forget
- This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gita. Mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca (BG 15.15). The Lord says, Through Me one gets real knowledge and memory, and one also forgets through Me
- To one who wants to be materially satisfied or who wants to lord it over material nature, the Lord gives the opportunity to forget His service and engage in the so-called happiness of material activities
W
- When the living being desires to be an enjoyer of material energy (illusory phenomena), the Lord covers the living being in the mystery of forgetfulness, and thus the living being misinterprets the gross body and subtle mind to be his own self
- When the living entity prefers to misuse his independence & glide down towards nescience, the all-merciful Lord first of all tries to protect him from the trap, but when he persists in gliding down to hell, the Lord helps him to forget his real position