# The smell of his baby pram

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-earliest-memory-baby-pram-smell
- Themes: meditation, memory, rebirth, direct experience
- Life situations: questions about death, spiritual doubt

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

Asking in deep meditation 'what's my earliest memory?', Ajahn Brahm (soon after leaving Thailand for Perth, he thinks) suddenly smells — really smells — his baby pram. He is back in it, eyes closed yet seeing everything clearly, his old toys around him, with absolute certainty that it was him.

## The story, as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

the only thing one which I can tell you because I'm not allowed to S say too much about psychic powers and stuff the only ones which I can tell you is when I first did this and got the smell in my nose and this is not imagination anymore you're smelling it as if it's right here in front of you it's a real real smell my eyes closed and I recognized it straight away it was the smell of my baby's PR and immediately I was back in my pram a re experience even though I was sitting meditation I think this first happened over in when I left highand coming to Perth you're back in your baby's pram and with that experience you could no your eyes were closed you could see everything clearly as if you were had your eyes open and there I could see my baby's PR and all the old toys which I used to have in it and I could play around in there was a vision from the past as I say in the book when you have this experiences one of their Hallmarks is this absolute certainty that was you in the same way this absolute certainty it's you right here looking at me or hearing this talk the same degree of certainty weird but true

## Teaching point

Deep meditation can give first-hand evidence about memory and rebirth, replacing superstition with experience — but don't just believe him.

## Reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

Deep in meditation, Ajahn Brahm asked for his earliest memory and suddenly smelled his baby pram, toys and all, with total certainty. He shares it, then insists you shouldn't believe him; that would be just another superstition. Test things in your own experience. What you see for yourself needs no one's word.

## Source

- [Superstitions | Ajahn Brahm | 12-01-2007](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RggiVQ6F0fk) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 51:27 to 52:52: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RggiVQ6F0fk&t=3087s

Other tellings of this story:

- [Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 12 April 2025](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z7bPa3YXfY) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 1:45 to 2:13: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z7bPa3YXfY&t=105s
- [Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 28 March 2026](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxgibjSoGBY) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 9:55 to 10:44: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxgibjSoGBY&t=595s
- [Word of the Buddha (Part 10) | Ajahn Brahm | 14 January 2024](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjPefO1w0sw) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 20:03 to 20:25: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjPefO1w0sw&t=1203s