Permanent Knowledge

Tarun Pradhaan

*This article provides some theoretical ideas and my personal views on the problem of knowledge preservation in the face of impermanence. This should not be taken as truth or a primary teaching of the path of knowledge. This is meant for advanced seekers of the Essence of knowledge and Tantra Bodhi.*

A question is often asked - What is the use of essential knowledge for a person if that person is momentary and can die anytime? With death all knowledge is lost which he/she earned via so much effort, so what is the point of it if we are going to lose it anyway?

A canned answer on the path of knowledge is given in the form of a counter question - What is the use of eating daily when you forget what you ate within a day or two? What is the use of education, family, jobs etc. when death can occur anytime and can erase it totally?

And, you know it, nobody likes this answer. Obviously, here it is fully understood that there is no knowledge actually, only unknowing, and there is no person actually. There is no birth or rebirth or death also. Anyhow, from a practical (transactional) point of view, this question seems valid. Indeed, there can be some use of this knowledge, if we could preserve it somehow. At least the repeated effort of gaining the knowledge will be saved and that which is evolving can evolve faster, and probably one can prevent their fall into ignorance when bodies and worlds change. We are totally in the domain of illusion here. And in the domain of illusion, as you know, the only thing that works is illusion, not truth.

So let us take a look, what can be done to fulfill this desire of a determined seeker to keep his/her knowledge permanently. Fortunately we can utilize some peculiarities of the illusion itself to achieve this feat and maintain a similitude of persistence even if it actually changes. Just like the human body keeps mostly the same shape and look even though all of its cells or matter gets replaced many times throughout its lifetime. The key is information preservation via continuous copying. The old copies are destroyed sooner or later, but not before new copies are made. So, as per my limited knowledge, there are following ways to keep the knowledge forever.

1 - Causal Impressions
2 - Kula
3 - Sangha
4 - Guru
5 - Gurufield
6 - Tantric Ways
7 - Soulmates
8 - Aware Death
9 - Turiya
10 - Evolution

### Causal Impressions

Aka Sanskaras, are naturally stored in the causal body as and when actions or events happen. Causal body stores everything, but that which is of importance is stored surely and firmly. Such as important events in life, lessons that are learnt, new contracts etc. And similarly, your path and your knowledge is also stored. This then reappears in the next birth, not as a vivid memory but as tendencies.

In the next birth, you will seek out the same path and will be gravitated to the same knowledge. It will become your preallocation. It will be your life goal, you will be attracted to it again. Once you find the right conditions and the right teacher, you will gain it back within a day. It will be easy. You will be like a fish in the water. The key here is - strong impressions. If you manage to make the impression of the knowledge and the path of knowledge very-very strong, it is guaranteed that they will reappear again and again.

They can be made strong by -

1) Giving them the highest priority and highest importance in your life. 
2) Repeating the knowledge again and again. 
3) Practicing (Abidance) or awareness practice. 
4) Living a life full of knowledge where satsangs, teachers, books, service etc. are your main activities. 
5) Falling in love with knowledge and teachers.

This is the most natural way, and an easy way. It will ensure that even if you forget it due to a new birth or adverse conditions, you will gain it again, and that too very quickly. It is just like impressions of any talent or artistic abilities or powers. Another advantage is, it will remain there even when evolution causes births in higher or lower wombs. The downside is that it is a lifelong practice to impress it firmly on the causal body. Depends on your interest and intensity of practice. Sometimes there are stronger desires, impurities or karmic bonds that take precedence and it can be forgotten. However the seeds remain forever.

### Kula

Aka biological family/lineage or caste or varna is a time tested way to preserve your treasure of knowledge. This method exploits the tendency of the causal body to cause a birth in the same family/caste repeatedly. This happens due to karmic bonds. We can use it to ensure a birth in a family or a caste which favours the path of knowledge or something similar. At least we can get a spiritual family or broad minded parents. If not, it can cause a birth in a country where the path of knowledge is taught widely.

If you are already in such a family or caste, you are fortunate. Just hold onto it. Even make the bond stronger. If you are not a part of such a lineage, you can try to become a family member by getting friendly with these people, trading with them, marrying a woman/man of that caste, adopting a child of that caste, intercourse with a woman/man of that caste, becoming a servant of that family etc. Of course, you can come up with more clever ways to form a bond. Forming a firm karmic bond is the key here.

I know, some of the readers will laugh at this idea and some may find it offensive as it seems to promote casteism. So whatever floats your boat. This was a valid means in ancient times anyhow. There are some disadvantages also, like the castes or lineages become corrupt with time, become impure or completely stray away from the path. Moreover, you will not be allowed to marry someone of another caste, so you are stuck with it forever. The fall of the caste will cause your fall too, and its rise will be your rise.

### Sangha

Aka tradition or the greater family of seekers of the same path as your own. This is a better option than Kula, in my opinion, as the traditions are longer lasting and are global in reach. Secondly, it is easy to join a tradition compared to the strange ways to join a kula or caste. This association will also form a permanent bond or impression in the causal body, and you will gravitate naturally into this tradition in your next life.

Obviously, you will need to follow the ways of the tradition, follow its discipline, you must love it by heart. And as usual you may find that you are stuck with it, if you do not want it anymore. However, it is relatively easy to leave a sangha. The contract has easy terms of dissolution.

Another interesting thing is - the combined energy of the sangha and the power of gurus there will pull you again and again into the tradition, no matter under what conditions you take birth, and the sangha may cause instant remembering. Sometimes it can cause vivid recollection of past life events also. This is because of the combined intention of the sangha, which is indeed very powerful, any tantric knows this very well.

After the human births are over, you will join the non-physical sangha and you will continue without any trouble or any worry of forgetting your path.

### Guru

Of course, who else will save you? Some seekers are very fortunate, as they enjoy an intimate relationship with their guru. They love their guru, obey him/her, become a favorite student and form a deep bond. This has some higher effects in addition to the obvious advantages of better learning and progress in this current lifetime. Given the strong bond, and given that the guru is an advanced seeker and has already done something to preserve their own knowledge and path, it is natural that the guru will seek out his/her disciples and the disciples will seek out their guru in future lives. They recognize each other, they meet each other. Result is either rapid progress or a complete recall.

Sometimes, in order to affirm a bond, the guru will also perform some ritual with the students which resembles some kind of wedlock. Perhaps you will forget, but your guru will remember.

You can think of them as soulmates. Sometimes the guru will not reincarnate and will keep guiding their students in subtle ways. They will be reminded surely. This happens more in countries where the guru-disciple relation is valued more than any other relation. As you know, this is in decline these days and such bonds happen, but rarely.

### Gurufield

Some are not so fortunate as to be close to a guru, but not to worry, we have the entire Gurufield. Just make some arrangements with the Gurufield, ask them and they will take care that you are reminded of the knowledge in every coming life. For this you must please the Gurufield. Luckily this is not so difficult, just be a strong seeker. Take interest, pray often to the Gurufield. Since reminding seekers of their path is a part of the job of the Gurufield, it will be done. All you need to do is - ask politely. Repeat a few times, that's all.

You can also do an elaborate ritual to send your message strongly, depends on you. Sometimes you will get a signal of acknowledgement, sometimes you do not. So it requires some faith. It also requires serious dedication and sensitivity.

The energy of the Gurufield is in the direction of progress of all creatures, that is their full time job, and if you can contribute in this job, you will surely be noticed, and since you are a helpful assistant, you will be reminded and helped to continue assisting in the next life. Sometimes you will be gifted and provided sufficient means to continue your work or to continue on your path. This is a bonus and a blessing.

The ways to join the Gurufield or methods to contact them are given in your program.

### Tantric ways

Aka occult rituals are favorite of those who are in the tantra field. If you are on the independent path, you can develop a strong intention to remember your studies. You can even externalize and embody your knowledge in some other memory area in addition to the causal body. Just in case. It is better to have a backup. You can energise places or houses where you are likely to take birth or set up things to remind you of your past practices. Methods are explained in your program.

Yes, in tantra, the sky's the limit, be imaginative. You can set up reminders in non-physical which will manifest in physical at the exact time you need them. You can literally plan your next life today. If you are on the dependent path, your deity will rescue you. Sign the pact now, yes there will be some give and take here.

You must have guessed that this way requires extraordinary talents and abilities. However, some do take this path, some are born with such arrangements already in place. Here one can also take help from your ancestors, depending on the quality of your past relations with them. And lastly, if all fails, ask Devi herself, she never says no.

### Soulmates

This can sound like fantasy, but somehow it is a very popular and attractive method to ensure that you never fall back into ignorance. Two seekers can form a strong and intimate bond with an intention to help each other in every incarnation. They incarnate together, they advance together, and they keep reminding each other. So much so that they are joined permanently at the level of the causal body. It is like two bodies with one soul.

A male-female pair is ideal for this kind of spiritual partnership, but it can appear in many ways - mother, child, father, grandfather, guru, lovers etc. I cant think of any problems here, except it can cause trouble if they both forget or get separated and go their own way.

### Aware Death

This means cultivating a very strong awareness, especially at the time of death. This results in a rebirth with complete memory, as awareness is the key in forming a memory bridge.

Such awareness is developed via proper practices, or via special rituals during the dying process, or via lifelong awareness practice. Other practices like aware dreams (lucid dreams) or astral projection (non-physical exploration) can also cause aware death. As death is nothing but a change of state, one dream to another.

Guru or tradition can help in this transition. The guru is especially useful here, if he/she has already done it many times. Sometimes you will be taken to some non-physical areas that are meant to remind you of your previous lives and to help you plan your next.

### Turiya

Aka, the fourth state is a state of unbroken awareness in waking, dreaming and deep sleep, and is actually a merging of all states into awareness, including the state of death and rebirth. It is characterized with retention of complete awareness and memory of important events, including your path and your whole knowledge in every state. There is no interruption in memory and hence no possibility of forgetting. In whatever state you are, the memory gets copied there instantly and is maintained.

We forget because we are not aware, and thus this method hits at the root. This state will be achieved after many years or lifetimes of intense practice. Some can achieve it quickly. Anyway, it starts with awareness in the waking state. If you practice it with dedication the duration of awareness extends into dreaming and sleep, and finally, hopefully, in the death state as well. Actually, logically, there is no death or rebirth for such an entity, it is a continuous experience, although changing, but a minimal effort is required to retain knowledge. I called the seeker an entity here because it's no more a human being now, it has become an embodiment of knowledge whose very nature is awareness.

### Evolution

Evolution happens naturally. So it is a lazy way, unless you manage to speed it up considerably. Anyhow, it will happen for all of us. It is effortless. You will probably take birth without knowledge sometimes, sometimes you will regress, other times you will be reminded and you will progress, but eventually you will reach a stage of evolution where forgetting is impossible.

Once you reach a higher stage, the whole causal body is opened up for inspection and all the stored memories or tendencies are accessible. It will be possible to embody them at will.

Such a stage can be an entity for whom death is not a necessity, e.g. an immortal god or goddess or something even higher. There will be your causal body and there will be impermanence, but you will possess so much power that you can make infinite copies of it, eliminating any chances of loss of memory or knowledge or of your achievements.

There are ways to speed up evolution, as mentioned in your program, and those who practice that, will reach this stage quickly. How quickly? You ask. Here time is not measured in years, but in number of rebirths. All that can happen is, you will need to repeat human or lower births less number of times. The essence here is - right action, which is enabled by right knowledge.

### Conclusion

Fully knowing that all such attempts to preserve knowledge are illusory, it is left to the seeker to employ them respecting their free will. Moreover, some of these seekers will incarnate back into the lower worlds in order to spread the light of knowledge, which is truly the only benefit of remembering, otherwise you are whole and complete already, you need to remember nothing, you remain the absolute with knowledge and also without it.

### Useful Links

[Essence of Knowledge Program](https://gyanmarg.guru/eok)

[Tantra Bodhi Program](https://gyanmarg.guru/tb)

[Knowledge Sutras](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB-JSAbBz5B63ZDW7sQfAPL6Ly17hRJiw) (Includes a discussion on the topic of the Gurufield)

[Hindi Version](https://gyanmarg.guru/ww/view.php?id=62745151&con=65909804)