If we forget everything upon rebirth, how do our instincts carry over to the next life?

So, starting from our past, how do we carry instincts from previous lives? There are two kinds of forgetfulness. One is forgetting facts or tangible information, and the other is forgetting skills.

A friend of mine, who is a neuro specialist, trains people recovering from amnesia. I had a fascinating discussion with him that also applies to the idea of forgetfulness from past lives.

He explained that a person with amnesia—perhaps after hitting their head—may forget their own name but still know how to drive a car. How does that happen? It’s interesting to see what a person forgets and what they still remember. Facts may be forgotten, but to some extent, skills remain.

Generally, we can say there are three levels of existence: the soul, the mind, and the body. When the soul and mind move from one body to another, things related to the body are mostly forgotten. But impressions imprinted on the mind remain.

A person may not consciously remember when or where they learned certain things. For example, if someone practiced music extensively in a previous life and became a great musician, it’s not just brain wiring—it’s also impressions on the mind. In the next life, when they receive a new body, those impressions influence them, and they act accordingly.

The subtler the impressions, the deeper they are embedded in the mind, and the more we carry them forward.

If we literally forgot everything, then why are all children not born as blank slates? Every child has a particular nature from early childhood. All children cry, but some cry as if they’re going to bring down the whole house; others lie quietly, looking around as if waiting for their turn to take control.

That’s not necessarily negative—maybe it reflects a more Kshatriya-like nature. The point is, as children grow, parents shape them, and that shaping is important. But parenting can only shape the sculpture—the child’s nature—it cannot change the stone itself. Every child has an innate nature that comes from their previous life.

What does nature mean? It means certain psychophysical tendencies, interests, and desires. A person may not remember specific skills. For instance, it’s very rare that a newborn baby who was an English PhD in a previous life will speak fluent English as their first words—they will just cry.

Similarly, even a great devotee in a previous life is unlikely to chant holy names as a newborn. Biological limitations affect how mental impressions can be expressed.

Just as a person with strong lustful tendencies in a past life cannot express that until puberty, there are biological limitations for expressing both negative and positive impressions from previous lives. Some expressions simply take time.

In general, the subtler the impression, the more it impresses upon the mind. Because the soul carries the mind to the next body, certain tendencies persist.

This explains, philosophically, the existence of prodigies—children with phenomenal talents. Some are math whizzes, some excel in computers, others in sports. Their extraordinary talents are not part of their conscious memory.

What is lost at death and during transmigration is mostly the conscious memory. Almost entirely, conscious memory is wiped out for most people, though rare exceptions exist where some remember parts of past lives.

However, subconscious memory, including impressions within the mind, remains and forms the foundation of a person’s starting point in their next life.