स्मृति — smṛti: remembrance and awareness in the murlis
Estimated reading time : 5 mn
The definitions and explanations are newly written editorial material, translated from the French draft. The examples reproduce Hindi sentences and the French and English translations actually published in the cited murlis.
The word and its ordinary meanings
स्मृति — smṛti, shown as smr̥iti in the site’s transliteration, is a feminine Hindi noun of Sanskrit origin. Hindwi gives memory, the faculty of remembering, and recollection itself. The capacity to retain information should therefore be distinguished from something actually recalled.
In Hindu tradition, Smṛti also denotes transmitted tradition and its texts, including religious and legal codes. The Monier–Williams entry reproduced by SanskritJagat distinguishes this from recollection and relates it to śruti, heard or revealed tradition. This textual meaning should not be imported into a murli sentence about self-awareness.
The Murli dictionary entry provides the lexical starting point; the examples below support the proposed BK definition.
Published translations of the word
The retained equivalents are souvenir and conscience in French; memory, remembrance and awareness in English. Memory is attested in the plural, memories, on 4 August 2024. The French version juxtaposes mémoires and souvenirs; that wording is preserved in the quotation without being recommended as the standard French phrasing. The passage of 15 May 2022 combines remembrance and awareness in one sentence. On 30 January 2022 the French construction uses être conscient rather than an isolated noun. In स्मृति दिलाना, the passage of 24 October 2022 uses rappeler / remind: this does not establish that the noun alone always means “reminder”.
Proposed translations
Remembrance / souvenir suits the act of recalling. Awareness / conscience is preferable for knowledge kept actively present. Memory / mémoire suits the faculty of retention or particular memories; recollection / rappel may suit knowledge returning to mind, depending on the construction. The French and English lists are not a mechanical one-to-one mapping.
“Awareness” here is not moral conscience or merely wakefulness: it is awareness of something specific. Translating every instance as memory would be too retrospective; always using awareness would obscure recollection and commemoration.
Two connected uses and their applications
Recollection and maintained awareness are connected poles rather than independent faculties. Awareness of the Father, oneself and the drama specifies its content, rather than creating three separate senses of the word.
1. A recollection returning to mind
The sentence describes memories emerging in the heart. In a commemorative context, the term remains close to its ordinary meaning and is not merely a technical meditation term.
हिंदी — मूल / Hindi — original : आज सभी के दिल में स्मृतियां आ रही हैं .
Français — publié : Aujourd’hui, des mémoires, des souvenirs, refont surface dans le cœur de chacun.
English — published: Today, there are memories emerging in everyone’s heart.
Murli · daily · 2024-08-04 · hi2 · FR · EN
2. Knowledge recalled through the Father
The Father reminds the children of their former identity as deities, according to BK teaching. स्मृति दिलाना means to remind or cause someone to remember. The passage presents knowledge as recovered; it does not independently verify past lives historically.
हिंदी — मूल / Hindi — original : बाप आकर स्मृति दिला रहे हैं कि बच्चे तुम देवता थे .
Français — publié : Le Père vient vous rappeler : les enfants, vous étiez des déités.
English — published: The Father comes and reminds you: Children, you were deities.
Murli · daily · 2022-10-24 · hi115 · FR · EN
3. Awareness of oneself and the Father
Remembrance here means keeping two questions of identity and relationship present. Awareness conveys this active orientation better than memory understood as information storage alone. The sentence explicitly connects याद and स्मृति without establishing interchangeability in every context.
हिंदी — मूल / Hindi — original : याद अर्थात् स्मृति-मैं कौन , बाप कौन ?
Français — publié : Se souvenir signifie être conscient de qui je suis, de qui est le Père.
English — published: Remembrance means the awareness of “Who am I? and, “Who is the Father?”
Murli · daily · 2022-01-30 · hi40 · FR · EN
4. Maintained awareness and inner state
The three aspects refer to the preceding sentence, hi249: oneself, the Father and the drama. Hi251 clarifies awareness of being a soul and its connection with stability in action. This is a maintained inner orientation rather than only the recall of a past event.
हिंदी — मूल / Hindi — original : जिन्हें यह तीनों स्मृतियां सदा हैं उनकी स्थिति भी श्रेष्ठ है .
Français — publié : Ceux qui sont constamment conscients de ces trois aspects ont un niveau élevé.
English — published: Those who are constantly aware of these three types of awareness have an elevated stage.
Murli · daily · 2024-11-03 · hi250 · FR · EN
5. Application: the Day of Remembrance
स्मृति दिवस is a commemorative expression. The passage gives it a practical dimension: the day involves not merely recalling Brahma Baba but reactivating the knowledge and experiences he conveyed. This application connects remembrance and awareness rather than introducing another faculty.
हिंदी — मूल / Hindi — original : तो स्मृति दिवस अर्थात् सर्व स्मृतियों के रूहानी नशे का अनुभव करना .
Français — publié : Le Jour du Souvenir veut dire faire l’expérience de l’ivresse spirituelle de toutes les diverses consciences.
English — published: The Day of Remembrance means experiencing the spiritual intoxication of all types of awareness.
Murli · daily · 2022-05-15 · hi44 · FR · EN
From awareness to experience
On 4 August 2024, hi22–hi26 and hi74–hi76, the text distinguishes remembering from actually becoming powerful through remembrance. Belonging to the Father is part of the content of that awareness. Keeping knowledge in mind is therefore not equated with embodying it in conduct: that is precisely the transition being encouraged.
On 30 January 2022, hi9–hi19, recalling soul identity is connected with changes in attitude, vision, action and inner state. This is the spiritual function attributed to awareness in BK teaching, rather than a general definition of all human consciousness.
Sources and scope
Two relevance-ranked pages of the daily corpus were consulted, containing 40 excerpts. Five source pages were examined in French and English: 30 January 2022, 15 May 2022, 24 October 2022, 4 August 2024 and 3 November 2024. Reprints were not treated as independent evidence. Daily includes reprinted BapDada teachings; the separate avyakt and mamma collections were not surveyed. Ranking measures lexical relevance rather than doctrinal importance. This selection does not claim to exhaust all uses of the word.