Memory and innocence

Innocence of a child has always amazed me. How many times have I wished to be pure at heart - to be innocent, to be without prejudices, like a child!!! What is it that makes child so innocent? It is the fact that the child hasn't "seen" the world - because it hasn’t developed mind to cognize things that happens around it. So, essentially, it is the mind (again) that is the culprit. Maharshi Ramana says, a Jnani is compared against child because a thing in front of Jnani interests Him only until the object is in front of Him - he would not think about it once it is taken away. That is true... when a toy is given to a new-born, he would look at it, with curiosity only till it is in front of him/her. Once taken away from his/her sight, the child wouldn't crib about its disappearance. So, is it the memory that makes grown up child - men and women miserable? J. Krishnamurthy says that we should look at things/people every time, like they are new - without prejudices from our past experiences.

How do we attain that? How would it be, if we were to have memory freshened up every morning? You are now probably thinking that the world will treat us as an insane. But I am not talking about memory refreshment for just one person. This is for all people - how would it be if everybody's memory be refreshed every night, as we went to bed? I think that is the solution for everybody's peace. You have no idea who is your friend and who is your foe. So, every morning, we would treat every person, equally. Isn't that same as what Lord Krishna suggested in His Divine Celestial Song? But this doesn’t complete the equality. We need to treat all circumstances also equally - whether it’s in favor of us or not. Would loss of memory achieve this? Yes, of course! We treat something as favorable because of our previous experience or because someone had told some time back or we inferred it by reading something somewhere.

The memory loss for the whole world seems perfect. After all, the vasanas exist in the form of thoughts and its the firm grip of these thoughts on us that is called Maya. Since this doesn’t happen, can we afford to see anything/anyone in fresh perspective, without any prejudices - each time we see/come across them, like J.K. says? Can we afford it? So, when J.K. says that, what exactly is that done? How can it be practiced? We obviously can’t behave like we do not know who they are, when parents/friends talk to us. So, how exactly is this to be implemented? I do not know much about J.K. - whatever I know about Him or His teachings whatever my father has told me about Him. I have read very little about His teachings and I know that His teachings are different from the traditional Indian spiritual teachings. But now, as I ponder over His words that we need to remove prejudices - any kind of perceptions that we have gathered out of previous experiences, I see that it leads us to what our traditional teaching says and what was confirmed by our Maharshi Ramana. For us to not have any prejudice about anything, they should not leave any impression on the mind. For this to happen, we should be in constant thought of The Self - in meditation of The Supreme, all the time. Memory is the culprit. But what’s memory? Nothing but mind. So, its the mind that’s the culprit. Again, its the mind that says that mind is the culprit :) Such is the Maya!!!