In the East we have been aware that the conscious mind is not the only mind. Below it, there is the unconscious mind; then below that is the collective unconscious mind, then below that is the cosmic unconscious mind. Above it, there is the superconscious mind; above that there is the collective superconscious mind, above that there is the cosmic superconscious mind. And when I say mind I mean this whole range; they are one entity, one rainbow.

Ignore them all. There is no need to remember. Many people are in madhouses because by some accident their collective unconscious has broken up and released its memories. Now their conscious mind is not capable of holding those memories, the weight is too much; that’s what is driving them mad.

For example, in your collective unconscious mind, the woman who is your wife now may have been your mother in your past life. If this memory comes to your mind then you are going to be in trouble. Then how are you going to behave with your wife – as your mother or as your wife? Just being your wife was enough; just being your mother was enough too; now she is both. And you will be crushed, because you cannot have a sexual relationship with a woman who is your mother…the whole inhibition of thousands of years. And how will you manage your wife? Because she has no remembrance she is going to say, “You are crazy, just forget all about it.” But you cannot forget about it.

Nature has a beautiful arrangement: with each death, a thick layer of forgetfulness comes over your memories. You are carrying all the memories of all your lives. But a small human being finds it so difficult to live with a small conscious mind of one life – if so many lives burst upon him he is bound to be insane. It is a natural protection.

It happened…

I was in Jabalpur and a girl was brought to me. She must have been, at that time, nine years of age. She remembered her past life completely – so realistically that it was not a memory for her, it was a continuity. It was just some accidental error in nature that there was no barrier between the past life and this life.

There is a place just eighty miles away from Jabalpur, Katni. She was born in Katni and she remembered that she had her family in Jabalpur. She remembered the names, she remembered her husband, she remembered her sons, the house – she remembered everything. One of my friends brought them to me.

I said, “This is strange, because the people she is remembering are living just three or four blocks away from my house.” They had a petrol pump, so I used to go for petrol at their petrol pump every day. But I said, “Wait, wait in my house and I will call them – the Pathak brothers – I will call them and we will see whether this girl remembers them or not.”