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They say that we are living here on Earth where we are sent by God and are observed. If we do good deeds, we acquire punya. If we do bad deeds, we acquire paapa. After death, We are sent to Naraka(Hell) to get punished for our paapa and are sent to Swarga(Heaven) to enjoy the fruits of our punya.

But after that we are sent back to Earth again and again until the said soul attains Moksha and are sent to Vaikunta or Kailasa or elsewhere where it is the true destination place. Here we truly enjoy.

My question is that If we were to remember the pain and punishment from our previous visits to Naraka, wouldn't it be a guideline to us to learn from our previous experiences and work towards attaining moksha. The Earth would be a better place.

Varun Rao
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  • Maya or Prakriti of Lord makes us to forget everything. see this http://hinduism.stackexchange.com/q/6632/3500. This helps us to remove burden. But Lord gives residual karma (both good and bad) without partiality. – The Destroyer Nov 19 '15 at 07:06

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It's not that simple. Whether Hindu or not, for a system of reincarnation for the purpose of growth to work, losing past memory is paramount. There's burden contained in experience and eventually too much will wear the soul out and make it collapse. There's also the problem of clashing identities. Experience based on a single or simple identity is crucial to acquiring a diverse pov, ironically. It also interferes with the belief in the reality of this world - which is also important. Finally, direct knowledge of why you're here will actually make you involved in that goal too much, that you may miss out or ignore other aspects of life that would compel you come back again.

Even if you die, you don't get to have all the past experiences back. You just get to read/watch what you've done in your past lives as a third person. They're not really an intimate part of you as a memory is to your life.

Nevertheless, the wisdom you acquired during the years is subconsciously innate in you and it guides you in the form of a higher self. This is why an old soul is more comfortable and experienced on Earth than a young soul with higher and complicated goals.

Once you reach Moksha, all these memories will be truly yours again and you will live and act as the higher self.

Sonolil
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  • Welcome to Hinduism SE. Answers on this site should be elaborate enough to solve the questioner's doubts and should contain relevant texts from Hindu scriptures, eg, Vedas, Puranas, Upanishads, etc to support your answer. In the absence of associated texts from scriptures, your answer will be categorized as personal opinion. – Aby Nov 20 '15 at 07:18