Q4: Earliest Memory?

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Question 4:

“What is your earliest memory from this life?”

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Please make your answers short and clearly understandable.

Posted on September 18th, 2007 by priyan   

43 Responses to “Q4: Earliest Memory?”

    pathri Says:
    September 18th, 2007 at 11:28 pm

    Dear Moderator,
    I hope you take this in the right spirit. I fail to comprehend how this question is related to Amma or one’s spiritual development. I mean there are a lot of blogs where people ask and follow questions that dont lead anywhere, but are fun none the less. I believe the question could be more relevant.
    Again, I hope you dont mind my criticism- if it helps I am really old and probably too old to have a little fun :) And, others might disagree….

    monia Says:
    September 18th, 2007 at 11:34 pm

    how weird…..I don’t know….I don’t remember…

    chetana Says:
    September 19th, 2007 at 2:38 am

    Small child, wooden bed with bars, crying, rocking the bars, calling, try to climb out the bed - no one is there, nobody comes…
    after many years I learned why - mom died when I was a small baby. Now I have Amma!

    savitri Says:
    September 19th, 2007 at 4:29 am

    such an interesting question , I am about three and stayed in hospital worried to be alone without my parents .

    maalanair Says:
    September 19th, 2007 at 7:38 am

    Sitting at the back of my parent’s car with my sister and waving at all the people passing on the street and making up stories about them as our parents rode in the front seats. We were 4 and 3 years old.

    After Amma:
    The moment I was reborn when Amma held me in her Arms and I realized life had a new meaning.

    Prabha Says:
    September 19th, 2007 at 9:04 am

    My earliest memory was being in our garden in England and throwing a red ball high into the blue sky or maybe it was being carried outside where there were hundreds of stars filling the night sky.

    saleena Says:
    September 19th, 2007 at 10:40 am

    When I was maybe under four I remember having several times the same bad dream , where my older brother didnt believe that I did not steal my jeans , and due to that my destiny was to face the lions at a big arena.

    silentyogi Says:
    September 19th, 2007 at 11:04 am

    My Mothers Face… of course

    priyan Says:
    September 19th, 2007 at 11:54 am

    Answer from moderator to Pathri (see first comment in series):
    Dear Prasanth,
    Thank you for your intervention. As an answer I would like first to repeat the annoucement we made for this section. (http://blogs.amritapuri.org/51/question-your-awareness/)
    It says: “The purpose of this section is to make us contemplate on deeper matters and train our mind for awareness, while having fun… like Amma teaches us to!”
    So, we really wanted to encourage people to practice something that Amma has been repeating lately. She asked that we contemplate on on our own, on normal life matters and come to personal conclusions and convictions that bring us to spiritual teachings and principles. She also wants us to have a happy approach and have fun… Smiles!

    antonio Says:
    September 19th, 2007 at 12:05 pm

    I must have been 3 or 4 years old. My parents had brought a bird home. It was in a wooden cage on the kitchen’s balcony, and I was so completely fascinated by it. I probably spent my whole days going back and forth to check on the bird and stare at it… Beautiful innocent feeling and memory…

    cbsuresh Says:
    September 19th, 2007 at 12:53 pm

    It is difficult to single out any particular day of childhood and say this is my earliest memory… While trying to rewind myself to the earliest of days in my life, I experience a great feeling something similar to being with Amma now… Moments full of love and innocence!

    vijaykumar pahalajani Says:
    September 19th, 2007 at 12:56 pm

    I was very small when my mother had taken me to a temple to listen to RAM katha by a sadhu, i remember weeping profusely but silently when this sadhu was narrating the last part of RAM katha when SITA prays to the MOTHER EARTH to open her lap so that she could jump in.

    kaivalya Says:
    September 19th, 2007 at 1:44 pm

    i remember my kindergarten, the playground & doll house& activities. I was… 3-4. I’ve always loved school and learning, it is my path, and thanks to Amma I’m now in Switzerland doing my Masters :) another memory is from when i was 5, camping and going snorkelling and having chocolate wafer bars when we got out of the water shivering! i think it shaped my love for nature, water, family ties and chocolate!

    Krishnalila Says:
    September 19th, 2007 at 6:40 pm

    I don’t remember much of my early childhood. The first full picture that developes in my mind is dancing to my Krishna photo when I was around 4-6ish.

    whoami Says:
    September 19th, 2007 at 8:28 pm

    2 1/2 years old, the memory appears in the mind as if there is vaseline on the camera lens–a bit blurred. I hear my dad telling me I have a baby sister, but all i see is a small round wooden table and small children’s chairs that he has made as a present for me (and he was a doctor!).

    ammakuttan Says:
    September 19th, 2007 at 9:37 pm

    Don’t remember even the days in KG.
    But later now: My earliest memory is “WATERFALL AT AMMA’S DARSHAN”.
    I cried loudly, Mother smiled and told SHE IS WITH ALL OF US!

    sujatha Says:
    September 19th, 2007 at 11:44 pm

    Most early memories are of spending time at my maternal and paternal grandparents homes in Kerala. One memory I have is how much I missed my sister when she was gone to my paternal grandfather’s house and I had to stay at my maternal grandfather’s house. The other is of the Shiva pooja and abhishekam my grandfather used to perform every morning, I still can remember his pouring of water and milk on the lingams and I would wonder when I can touch the round objects! Also the taste and smell of the yummy payasam after the pooja.

    pathri Says:
    September 20th, 2007 at 12:30 am

    Dear Moderator,
    Thanks for your kind reply.

    In the “Orwellian” spirit :) :
    My earliest memory is a dream (a little weird). I was cruising really fast down a river in a cage-like boat, out of which I could not get out. I had a lady (much more than a nanny, more like a second biological mother) who was watching over me next to the crib (i.e. in reality… I was oddly aware of that). And back in the dream, on the bank of the river I saw my parents and a whole lot of other people who I wanted to be with but could not stop the boat, so I was just pointing to them.

    marcie Says:
    September 20th, 2007 at 2:13 am

    I was less than one year old: Two huge (Kali like) eyes. My sister had set me on the ground at the horse coral, and a big red lead horse was peering into my eyes just inches from my eyes. I was drawn deep, and came alive. She was my first Mother and teacher, and what she taught me in nature lead me to Amma, my true Mother and Teacher.

    padma07 Says:
    September 20th, 2007 at 8:24 am

    I am not sure if this memory is from this life or little before I was born. I remember flying freely (not by wings) through mountains, meadows stretched through horizon, blue sky. I could be anywhere in an instant like a dry leaf flies in wind. I was so light and free. It was very beautiful. The next memory is I remember my naming ceremony when they had put yellow bangles in my arms and my aunt was whispering something standing by my crib.

    Girish Says:
    September 20th, 2007 at 12:02 pm

    My initial days in nursery school when I was 3 years old. I was afraid of rain and when it rains I used to cry a lot ( Not now !!).

    Satyadevi Says:
    September 20th, 2007 at 4:11 pm

    Its an interesting question actually. The thing which I remember now is that my father was playing often saxophone at home and that me and my sister were often going to my grandparents house.

    karunap Says:
    September 20th, 2007 at 9:10 pm

    I have very few memories. The earliest I can think of at this point was in 4th grade. I remember building a series of canals in the schoolyard, pouring water in them and watching the water spread. I also remember crawling under the fence of the schoolyard in order to collect snails in the woods. When I crawled back into the schoolyard, I remember looking up and seeing my mother (who was a teacher there) and my 4th grade teacher looking my way.

    remya Says:
    September 21st, 2007 at 12:54 am

    The earliest is probably of when I was around 2 or 3. I was scared that my parents and sister would be taken away by ‘Yama’ at night when all are sleeping. And either to protect them from being taken away or for going along with them if ‘Yama’ comes, everyday I used to spread my arms to both sides while sleeping so that I could touch my parents and sister and be sure that none was taking them away from me.

    michele Says:
    September 21st, 2007 at 9:01 am

    Maybe… I was about three and was playing in the ocean in Dubai with my stepfather. He pretended to sit on a frog and I was very sad that he would do such a thing. I actually have a few memories from that period of time but I do not know which one came first.

    ammasahalya Says:
    September 21st, 2007 at 10:50 am

    This I remember very well: An old man in a black coat and with a large black beard enters our hut. Immediately he points with his finger to our radio and says, ‘There it is! The Satan!’ I was btw 4-5 years old and got really scared. Through that radio we heard the sermons every night. How can God and Satan be in the same place?

    vandana Says:
    September 21st, 2007 at 11:42 pm

    When I was 6-7 years of age My eldest sister used to drop me to my school and then she used to go to hers and I always used to cry saying, I don’t want to go to my school I want to go to yours.

    sudhir161 Says:
    September 22nd, 2007 at 5:52 am

    In spiritual light and in agreement to the philosophy of rebirths “If one cannot even remember what one was doing when one was born, how can one comprehend what one would have been in their earlier birth?”

    Nevertheless, I remember myself as a kid (around 3) watching my elder siblings go to school and stubbornly telling my mom to send me along with them!

    drsorake Says:
    September 22nd, 2007 at 2:54 pm

    when i was 3yrs old i used to every night jump on my grandfathers back and chant a prayer to Lord Hanuman and cling on to him as he prostrated in front of the beautiful idol of Lord Shri Ram.
    WOW it used to be great fun.
    I thank the person who asked this question. I was forced to think deep and it brought back some wonderful memories.

    Ammasvivek Says:
    September 22nd, 2007 at 3:46 pm

    My earliest memory is my first Darshan with Amma, i still remember, i was three, and i remember thinking when i was in her arms ‘ This is a nice lady, she’s giving me a hug!’

    Veena Venugopal Says:
    September 22nd, 2007 at 10:41 pm

    Running around the house, watching everything around in awe, and being scared of darkness.

    juma Says:
    September 24th, 2007 at 7:45 pm

    Vacations with my cousins at my Grandma and Grandpa’s place… all the mischiefs and fun games we invented during the stay… being afraid of darkness and fighting with my sister and then taking her side when mom gets involved…. being very close to dad holding his hands and walking down the street… waiting for his return in the evenings to complain about what my sister did etc etc… :)

    juma Says:
    September 24th, 2007 at 9:10 pm

    Ah ha!! I rememberd one more thing I wanted to share… I never used to tell the name “gold” out loud after sandhya time (6:00 PM) because I was afraid a thief would hear and come and steal all our belongings… and by mistake if I at all I had uttered the word loud, I would stare at all the shadows from the trees and plants on my bedroom windows and remain alert at every sound from the outside thinking it was a thief :) I was even scared of our gurkhas whistle and constant hitting sound from his cane to the road…

    Savithry Says:
    September 24th, 2007 at 11:49 pm

    I think it was when i went to school for the first time. We were in Chicago then, but i didnt know English. My mother taught me the most important sentence “I want to go to the bathroom” and sent me to school. When i came back, I asked her the meaning of a new word i had grasped from school. That was how i started to learn English :-)

    Amma Dasi Says:
    September 25th, 2007 at 3:29 pm

    I remember a strong desire to learn more about God, but my biological mother couldn’t tell me. So I made up my own religion and made drawings of it, maps and symbols. when I compare it now to what Mother has given me, it’s so similar. I was born to see Her.

    ammasdasan Says:
    September 25th, 2007 at 4:42 pm

    A slight memory of my childhood at the age of 2.5 or 3 years when my Father took me on his shoulder at a circus.
    My newlife started when AMMA gave Her first Darsan in a dream 13 years ago. Then after 18 months, AMMA physically huged me and whispered Divine love words.

    vishnisatyan Says:
    September 26th, 2007 at 2:04 pm

    I would like to comment on Pathir’s comments, hope this user does not take it to heart:
    These type of questions are posted to make us think and to go back to the old memories, to cultivate & develop our memory power & also to make us not to forget our past from where we came.

    My comment on this question:
    my sight on first memory falls on a childhood scene, where I used to catch the wall & walk to the entrance of my house to call my Dad in my own language for Dinner.

    Akshay Says:
    September 27th, 2007 at 3:26 am

    My earliest memory is weeping while looking at my mother cry in prayer to a picture of Durga. I simply adore the face of my mother Durga in that picture, still.

    inMothersservice Says:
    September 27th, 2007 at 11:25 am

    my first memory in this lifetime was at the age of about 18 months. my father was a volunteer fireman. There was a plane crash at an airfield not far from where we lived. When we arrived, my mother held me in her arms and watched the burning plane. She turned away from the scene just as a burning man ran out of the plane.

    Swati Says:
    September 29th, 2007 at 10:31 pm

    really a tough one .. but good to contemplate upon … i recall the first bhajan i sang at age of 5 at the ashram… it was “nandalala” … many of the childhood pranks .. i grew up totally in ashram environment .. playing …

    aumsree Says:
    September 30th, 2007 at 7:24 am

    Going to school when I was very young (don’t exactly remember the age) along with elder brother and sister …

    Tortures being inflicted to children in schools …

    Lots of games being played…

    Biting of a scorpion, running and complaining to mother …

    Both positive and negative experiences…

    sureshbalaraman Says:
    April 20th, 2008 at 1:03 am

    as a child in bangalore…..abt 4 years of age…………….amma hugs..appa hugs…

    anjali Says:
    April 23rd, 2008 at 3:54 pm

    am playing in courtyyard and my mother feeding my brother…one begger came and i got feared and ran inside…

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