Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 11.22.41

svapnaḿ manorathaḿ cetthaḿ

prāktanaḿ na smaraty asau

tatra pūrvam ivātmānam

apūrvam cānupaśyati

SYNONYMS

svapnam — a dream; manaḥ-ratham — a daydream; ca — and; ittham — thus; prāktanam — previous; na smarati — does not remember; asau — he; tatra — in that (present body); pūrvam — the previous; iva — as if; ātmānam — himself; apūrvam — having no past; ca — and; anupaśyati — he views.

TRANSLATION

Just as a person experiencing a dream or daydream does not remember his previous dreams or daydreams, a person situated in his present body, although having existed prior to it, thinks that he has only recently come into being.

PURPORT

The objection may be raised that sometimes when experiencing a dream one actually remembers a previous dream. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura replies that by the mystic power of jāti-smara one can remember one's previous body, and as is well known, "The exception establishes the rule." Normally, conditioned souls do not perceive their past existence; they think, "I am six years old" or "I am thirty years old," and "previous to this birth I did not exist." In such material ignorance one cannot understand the actual situation of the soul.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
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