अनुभूतविषयासंप्रमोषः स्मृतिः ॥११॥
पदविभाग: (separating individual words): अनुभूत-विषय-असंप्रमोषः, स्मृतिः
अन्वय: (Rearranging in logical prose sequence): अनुभूतविषयासंप्रमोषः स्मृतिः
प्रतिपदार्थ: (word-by-word meaning): अनुभूत = experienced (previously felt or known), विषय = object (of experience), असंप्रमोषः = not slipping away / not being stolen / retention, स्मृतिः = (is) memory
तात्पर्यम्: (final translation): Memory is the retention (the not-slipping-away) of an object that has been previously experienced.
Further context on the 11th Sutra from Patanjali’s Yogasutras
Memory is dependent on the other four vrittis. It cannot create new knowledge. It simply regurgitates what has already been stored in the mind. As the experiencer of events, the “I” records both the good and the bad. Consciously, we might want to let go of the bad experiences and retain only the good ones. From a biological perspective, however, our body stores all events regardless to ensure our survival. We are physically programmed to remain attached to external events because our biology relies on them to guarantee its continuity. This inability to let go, or this intense retention known as असंप्रमोषः (asampramoṣaḥ), is what causes the vritti of स्मृतिः (smṛtiḥ).
In Indian Knowledge Systems, knowledge is divided into Shrutis and Smritis. Shrutis represent the knowledge that was directly heard or revealed, while Smritis represent the knowledge that was remembered and passed down over generations. Notice how this framework accounts for both the horizontal (liberal) and the vertical (conservative) transmission of knowledge. Viewing Smriti as a mental fluctuation is connected to this idea of passing down knowledge/behaviours for sustenance of the species.
We carry a memory that has been actively interpolated over millions of years of evolution. This memory of the material world, held by the material body itself, is perhaps the manifestation of the smriti.
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