Memorizing scriptural verses – Whys and hows -2

[Bhagavatam class at Connecticut, USA]

Video:

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Why to memorise scripture? Yesterday I talked about why to memorise.
Then I talked about how it can help us in application and absorption. And I talked about how memorising the original language, if it is possible, then that has a special potency in it. All that also requires some effort.
Now, today I’ll talk about how to memorise. So, broadly speaking, the process is intrinsically connected with the purpose. It’s like say, if we want to go from here to LA.
Now, why we want to go there will determine also how we want to go there. If we have an urgent meeting there, then we may take a flight. If going there is not very urgent, then we may decide, okay, I want to go, I want to drive and I want to enjoy the drive also.
So, the purpose is associated with the process. And if our purpose is absorption in Krishna, then the process that we follow is also something which fosters that absorption. But if our purpose is simply to show off to others, that I know this verse, I know that verse, I know that verse.
Then our goal is simply, our process becomes somehow or the other I need to get my verse in this memory and I need to reproduce it. Then the whole joy of memorising the verse is restricted to the time when we can speak that verse to others and show off our learning. So, and then if sometimes we don’t have much forum to show our learning to others, if we don’t have the forum where people appreciate scriptural verse being learned, then we start feeling, why do all this? So, that’s why it is the purpose that we discuss first.
When we have the purpose right, the purpose is not just exhibition of our learning. We don’t want to exhibit our learning to others, though of course we want to substantiate what we have learned to others by quoting scripture. Prabhupada would give the example, let’s say a lawyer who is good knows the law codes when they are arguing in court.
Similarly, we should also know the scripture so that we can quote it to others. But a lawyer quotes law codes not to show off the knowledge, but to make a point. And to make a point so that they can win over the judge.
So, persuade the judge. Similarly, our purpose, yesterday I did not talk about this purpose, although it’s a sub part of application. In application, it’s also we want to inspire others to apply scripture in their life.
We don’t want just them to be impressed by our learning. So, it’s a sub part of application that we would like to know scripture so that we can quote it to others. But if that becomes our only motive, then for a lawyer, there is no intrinsic love for the law codes.
The law codes are to be memorised so that they can earn a living. But for us, memorising scripture is not like that. It’s not that we want to quote scripture just so that people will be impressed with how much knowledge we have.
At the kanishta adhikari level, we equate scriptural knowledge with external knowledge. So, when we equate spirituality with the externals of spirituality, one way in which we do that is by equating spiritual advancement with scriptural learning. With just the capacity to memorise and quote verses.
That is what we consider as a sign of scriptural learning. Somebody who can memorise and speak verses, we think, oh, this person must be very learned. Yes, that is one aspect of learning.
But that alone, if we think only scriptural capacity to memorise and quote verses is a characteristic of a learned person, then we are actually at the kanishta level. Now, kanishta level is that one who considers the deities alone to be the manifestation of God. And one doesn’t consider how I deal with devotees, how I work, how I function in the world as important for one’s devotion.
So, similarly for us, we need to recognise that just scriptural memorisation is not the sign of our spiritual advancement, not the sign of our scholarship also. Or for others also. But just as a person who is an advanced devotee, who is a serious devotee, will worship the deities diligently.
Similarly, we also are meant to worship the deities diligently. We are meant to worship the deities, no doubt. So, when, similarly we are meant to memorise scriptures.
Now, as far as this background, the purpose being clear. Now, what is the process that we could use? The first process, I will talk about three or four parts in this. Recitation, repetition, reflection and revision.
So, recitation. Especially most verses in scripture, they are meant to be recited. They are not, like some, if we see in the 5th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, there are some verses which are not really in any metre.
Or at least we don’t know the metre they are in. Like the forest of material enjoyment, that section, that comes up in the Bhagavatam class, we don’t recite those verses because they are not exactly recitable. But most verses in scripture are recited.
And in recitation, there is a particular metre. Now, we don’t have to necessarily get that metre right. But there are different metres.
And that musical metre, that becomes an aid in the recollection. So, sometimes when we are trying to memorise verses, we may strain too much to try to get the metre right. And if we don’t have a musical sense, that might be a little difficult.
But sometimes there are different metres and if we just find that we can connect with one metre, then that metre can become an aid in memorisation. So, recitation means that if we just recite the verse, not just hear the verse recited, but recite it ourselves. That recitation is vital because we could, if we see in school also, when children learn mathematics tables, it’s initially when we learn, we say 2 2’s are 4, 2 3’s are 6, 2 4’s are 8. They repeat it.
But as we grow up, for memorisation, we don’t repeat it so much. We just read it and try to recollect it. Now, that is fine because we often have so much to memorise and most of what we memorise doesn’t have any musical cadence or metre to it.
But actually, just as when we say we chant mantras, chant the Hare Krishna mantra, when we speak it aloud, then we are involving more of our senses so that the mind becomes more engaged. So, we just can recite in the mind, but when we recite it aloud, then our mind, our tongue, ears, they are all involved. So, even our fingers are involved when we use the japa metre for counting.
So, similarly for us, when we are memorising verses, if we recite them and recite them aloud, then that involves both our tongue and our ears. And this is especially vital if it’s a language that we are not familiar with. Now, many people, they want to learn a foreign language.
Say, somebody goes to Canada where France is spoken. Or goes to South America where Spanish is spoken quite a bit. Then, while they are in India, if they are Indians, they might have curiosity, maybe I would like to learn French, maybe I would like to learn Spanish.
But it just remains a curiosity. Sometimes we do it, sometimes we don’t do it. But actually, if you go to that area and hear people speak that language, then learning it becomes much easier.
Okay, we hear this spoken, this spoken, this spoken. So, actually, for us Sanskrit, because although we are familiar with some words, but it’s not a spoken language. So, we need to make our tongue and our ear familiar to that language.
And that’s why reading it, reciting it aloud is very helpful. In fact, I’ve seen even many devotees who are seasoned at Sanskrit reading. I’ve seen that when they study, when they read, they may read directly the Acharya’s comment in the Sanskrit text of the Bhagavatam or the Gita.
Normally, when they read it, they read it aloud. Normally, most languages when we read, we just, if we are reading a newspaper, we read the article, we read it in the mind. But especially if we are reading sacred texts, then reading it aloud, it also involves more of our senses, it is more absorbing and it is more purifying.
So, when we are reading, say, news articles, we don’t necessarily need to read very scrutinizingly. Just get the gist of the news and move on. But with respect to scripture, it is not like that.
So, even when reading scripture, if you are reading the original text, reading it aloud is good. Especially Prabhupada, right in the early days of the movement, when initially when the hippies would come, in 1906, Prabhupada started the Krishna Consciousness Movement in New York, in America. Then he went to San Francisco.
And in San Francisco, he started the Bhagavatam. And there the hippies would come, many of them would have been, some of his were, some were faithful followers, some would just drop in. After a whole night of being high, they would just drop in.
And they would be all in different states of emotional disturbance. So, that was the time when Prabhupada introduced verse recitation. And that was quite a serious thing for them, to read the Sanskrit.
Even if it is a Roman transliteration, just, what does this mean? So, Prabhupada would recite it, they would try to recite it, Prabhupada would try to recite it. So, that made them serious. So, actually, even in our Bhagavatam class, Prabhupada involved the, we could say, the contemporary principle of interactive learning.
He made people recite. So, it does, the recitation itself is purifying. So, it involves more of our senses.
It gets us more absorbed and it can also get us our sense of the metre. So, recitation is the first step. Whenever we want to memorise, even if we find it a little difficult, actually, especially with respect to learning something which is not in our, in the language that we normally speak, at that time it is not just the mind has to get it, the tongue and the ear have to get it.
So, when the tongue and the ear get it, then it becomes much easier to memorise. And the second is repetition. In general, our memory is dependent primarily on repetition.
The more we see something again and again, the more we should do something again and again, it just becomes default for us. Like, earlier I gave the example of driving. First time when we drive, we remember, okay, now I have to move the steering wheel, I have to press this button, I have to press this, I have to do so many things.
But after sometimes, even if we are not driven for some time, when we start driving again, it’s almost like our body has got that memory. Oh, you know, you should press this, press this, press this gas or press this brake, press this button. It just becomes a part of us.
And that happens primarily by repetition. So, repetition is extremely important for making something a part of us. Now here, repetition, what does it do basically? We can talk about it from a philosophical perspective as well as a scientific perspective.
In the scientific perspective, we don’t really understand the brain very well. And in the past, scientists used to think that we have millions of neurones inside us, and they thought that one neurone is associated with one memory. So, you know, that’s why if you memorise a lot of facts, then after sometime you feel, now I can’t memorise anything more.
So, all our neurones are filled with facts. Like, say, if we have a computer and then our data is filled, now you cannot put any more data over there. But then they found that, so what they tried to do is, they tried to get people to recollect.
And, okay, you know, think about your grandmother or think about your home city. And then they tried to do brain imagery to see which neurone got lit. And no matter how much they tried, they found that actually there is no one neurone that got lit.
That there are several neurones that got lit. And sometimes for the same memory, for different memory, the same neurones got lit. They were very confused.
So, how exactly does our memory work? So, actually our memory is stored in a very efficient and resilient way. So, it is stored not in the neurones. Memory is very subtle.
And if you could find, now scientists consider that the idea that one neurone is associated with one memory as a myth. They say that it is like the grandma neurone theory, they call it. There is one neurone in your brain which has all the information about your grandmother.
If you remove that neurone, you will forget your grandmother. It is not as simple as that. So, now they say that actually our memories are stored not so much in the neurones but in the pattern of neuronal connections.
So, that means the neurones are brain cells and they have dendrites, the hair like things which come out. And dendrites get connected. So, when information is passed in the brain, that is through the connection of the dendrites.
And when we do something repeatedly, then those connections of the dendrites become faster and stronger. So, when somebody becomes an alcoholic, they drink alcohol once, twice, thrice, four times, then what happens? The dendrites which are connected with the experience of drinking alcohol, they become stronger and stronger. Not those dendrites but the connections, the connections are called synapses.
So, then that experience becomes much faster and it becomes almost without thinking they do it. So, similarly for us, so basically at a mechanical level, if we keep repeating some experience, then the synapses, the connections of the synapse level become stronger. Now, from the philosophical perspective we understand that the brain has impressions, the mind carries impressions.
And the past impressions become the present propositions. The past impressions become the present propositions. So, if an alcoholic is drunk repeatedly, the impression has been created in the brain and then it will become the present proposition.
Oh, come on, drink alcohol, drink alcohol, drink alcohol. So, for some of us, say if we are going in a car and we pass by a temple and even without thinking we will fold our hands. Now, why? That has just become a habit from the culture upbringing that we have or if accidentally our foot touches someone, you know, we will just reach our hand and put it on our head.
So, it’s a way of offering respect and we will not even think about it. So, these past impressions becoming present propositions, do this. This can work both positively and negatively.
So, when we keep having the impressions again and again in our consciousness, then that makes the impression deeper and deeper and then it will come more naturally back to us. So, basically now if we consider recollection, if I want to remember something, then actually we use the same word but there is memorisation and recollection. Memorisation means we want to imprint something in our memory and recollection means we want to get it back.
So, for this memorisation and recollection, essentially how strong the impression is, that the memorisation means repeating it again and again and again will make the impression stronger. And once the impression has become stronger, then the recollection will become easier. It will come back to us naturally.
And then, so I talked about first is recitation, then I talked about repetition. Now, we talk about reflection. So, reflection and revision, I will explain what is the difference between revision and repetition.
We just use those terms in a different way. Basically, Krishna says our subtle body is directed by two main things. Mayi arpita mano buddhi, the mind and the intelligence.
So, those who study memory, brain research, they also say we have different kinds of memories. They can say that we have a, we could say a reflection or analytical memory or intellectual memory and we have an emotional memory. Emotional memory means that suppose my hand has been burned by fire, then even if I don’t consciously think about it at that time, as soon as I see fire, I am a little careful.
For some children, say if they have had an abusive parent, say their mother was loving but their father was not very loving, then as they grow up, if they encounter any male authority figure, immediately they recoil to that. Because they had the experience of the father and they carry on. So, now in this case there is no intellectual memory, it’s an emotional memory.
So, our memory works both at an intellectual level and an emotional level. So, these last two points I am going to talk about is reflection and revision. This is going to tap the intellectual and the emotional aspects of our memory.
So, reflection means we contemplate it. So, Prabhupada gave the Sanskrit verses. In Sanskrit, along with the transliteration and he gave the meaning of each word.
Word for word translation and then he gave the translation and then the purport. The whole idea was Prabhupada wanted us to study scripture seriously. So, studying scripture seriously means that we need to actually go step by step in our study of scripture.
We need to move forwards in understanding using our intelligence what the scripture means. Now, if I talked earlier about the process of memorisation and recollection. Memorisation means we imprint something into our memory and recollection means we draw it back.
So, one way something that we have learnt is drawn back easily is if we have a lot of connections to it. Like say, if we have gone to a person’s house for the first time. And it’s a completely different city where we know nothing about that city.
Then, if we have to go again and if we don’t have Google maps then we have to memorise. I come out of the airport, then I go left, then I go right, then I do this, then I do that, then I do that. So, it becomes quite difficult.
You will have to do a lot of memorisation. But suppose we are going to a friend’s house who lives in the city where we are staying only. And we know the overall lay of the city.
Then, when we are going there, oh, you know, this house is here. This friend’s house is here. And from here, this is the road like this.
Oh, my, this friend stays in this area. This friend stays in this area. Then what happens? The more connections we develop with that place, so we know one route to get to that place, but we also see that place in association with other things.
Then, the possibility that we will remember how to get there will be easier. Even if I can’t get there over here, I can go here and come from there over here. I can go to this friend’s house and from there I can come.
Or whenever I go to that friend’s house, oh, I had gone to this area last time. And this other person also stays over there. So, just as when we connect one place with many other places, not just the main pathway by which we are going, but other pathways also, then that address becomes more easily traceable for us.
Similarly, for us in our spiritual life, when we learn to connect whatever we are learning with other things that we have learned, that helps a lot. And this could be at three levels. Again, when we are memorising scriptural verses, we can connect the concept with other verses or other points, other examples of what we have learned earlier.
So, one is connecting the concept. The other is connecting the words. Sometimes, if we consider scripture itself, the same word may be used in different places.
So, for example, if we consider the word, say some verse in the Bhagavad Gita, Till this point, the verse is the same in 9.34 and 18.65. 9.34 is 18.65 is So now, when we are memorising one verse, oh, that verse is also like that. So, Prabhupada often, if you see the classes that he gives, many times he takes a particular word from a verse and he says, okay, this word comes over here also. And then he may not mention this word comes over here, but immediately he goes to another verse, which talks about that.
So, for example, in the Isopanishad, there is a concept of Atmaha, that ये के चात्मः नोजनः It says that those people who do not enquire about life’s spiritual dimension, they are called as Atmaha. They are the killer of the soul. And then Prabhupada in the purport goes to the Bhagavad Gita, where नर्देह माद्यम् सुलभं सुदुर्लवं प्लवं सुकल्पं गुरु करणधारम् मयानु कलेन बाश्पनाते पुमान नो तरे What is that? So, basically what he is saying is that word Atmaha comes somewhere else in the Bhagavad Gita.
So, when we are reciting and memorising scriptural verses, if we connect first the concept with the other concept that we have heard and the words with other words we have heard other places where the same word is used, that is very helpful in memorisation. In fact, in important books, whether it is the Bible or the Quran or the Bhagavad Gita or the Vedas, academic scholars, they often, when they write the book, they have something called a concordance. Concordance means that as an appendix they will give the word Karma.
It comes in 2.47, 2.48, 15.3, 17.2. So, they give a list of all the verses in which that word comes. And in some versions of the Veda base also we have that. In the online website also we have sometimes we want to go deep into scripture and especially some of us whose verbal intelligence is good.
We like to play with words, like to remember words, like to use words properly. Then, we can go in the Vedas, click on the word and then we may find that other instances where the word is used that comes over there. So basically, we can connect the concepts with other concepts, with other similar concepts.
We can connect the words in the scripture with other verses. So, there are many verses in the Bhagavad Gita where the same line is repeated. So, if we can correlate that way, for example, यतः प्रवत्तिर्भूतानाम् येन सर्वमिदं ततम् स्वकर्मणातमभ्यर्जः सिद्धिन्निन्दतिमानाम् So, येन सर्वमिदं ततम् This is in 18.46, 47, that verse by whom the whole world is pervaded.
But येन सर्वमिदं ततम् comes in the 8th chapter also. Where Krishna says that पुरुषयस पारापार्था भक्त्या लभ्यस्तनन्ने स्यान्तः स्थानि भूतानि येन सर्वमिदं ततम् So, that’s 18.21. So, basically we can see, I have a class where I describe what are the verses. So, one line common in different verses, two lines common in different verses, three lines common in different verses.
So, three line is not so common, there are only two verses. But two line common, one line common is many. So, when, this might seem a little too academic for us, but basically the idea is connection is the basis of making it deeper inside us, of making it more accessible to us.
So, when we do reflection, reflection can be on, okay, what is, where is this concept spoken in other verses, or other, what are the other concepts, other examples, and where are these words or these lines used in other places. Then it becomes very easy, just like if you meet some person, and if you tell somebody, okay, what is your, so we ask, what is your name? So, somebody may say, okay, okay, my name is Govindacharan. Oh, I know another Govindacharan over there.
And what happens, immediately we connect, this word comes over here. You know, many times I have seen that the names of, the spiritual names of devotees are like the names of American cities. In what sense, you know, like in America, you have the same name for many different cities.
Their stockpile of name is limited, so they keep reusing the names. So, like that for us, our initiated names, we don’t have so many names. So, names keep getting repeated.
In fact, those spiritual masters who have many disciples, thousands of disciples, I have seen that they, they appoint committees of devotees to find new names. And then they correlate the name. So, so the point I am making here is that just as when we meet a person with a particular name, we know, I know another person by that name.
So, words, that way if we connect with other words, then it becomes easier to remember. Then beyond that, the reflection can also happen more through connection of contexts. So, till now I have talked about connection of content.
Content means that, okay, this word is used here, this concept is used here, context. That means, sometimes one verse may be, may be used in one context and later the same verse may be used in another context. This is especially helpful if we are in a class and somebody recites a verse which is familiar.
Then our mind starts saying, I know already, already know this. Sometimes we may try to analyse when we are reciting the verse with the speaker. It’s also good.
But when the mind starts saying that, I know this, then we can, okay, I have heard this, I have heard this many times, but when was the last time I heard it? Or it was in that class and what context was it being spoken? Then we start looking at the context. We will see sometimes Prabhupada quotes the same verses, but often he is quoting the same verse for a different context. So, when we start appreciating the context, then we start seeing that actually it’s a, it becomes very subtly but sweetly relishable.
Just like we consider music, the ragas are not infinite. The ragas are finite, but when they are brought together in different ways, so many varieties of relishable music are created. So, if you start seeing the verses as part of a musical composition, they are like the swaras of a raga.
Sorry, the swaras themselves, not ragas. The swaras themselves are finite. But from the combination of the swaras, we can make so many ragas.
So, like that, if you start looking at the context, okay, what context is this spoken? What context is this poet over here? So, when we read the purpose, we say, oh, I know this verse. No. What is the point that Prabhupada is using to, Prabhupada is making with this verse? And when we see that, that also creates greater, that also gives a stimulus for reflection.
And that also actually helps in memorisation. So, we ourselves, when we do reflection, reflection basically means we are trying to connect that memory with other pre-existing memories. And that will help us very much accelerate the process of memorisation.
And then revision, I’m using the word recitation, I’m using it for ourselves doing it. But revision, I’ll use it in the sense that we find some forum where we can repeat it. So, it could be with some friends.
Where, say, if we decide, I’m going to memorise one verse per week. And we have some other friends, and we ask them, they also want to memorise a week. We memorise the same verse and we memorise different verses.
But having somebody else to share it with. So, at the end of the week, if it’s a week Sunday programme, we meet each other. And we ask them, which verse have you memorised? Which verse have I memorised? We share it.
So, that revision, in some forum, if we have to do it, that helps a lot. In general, it has been found that actually, with respect to motivation, when we decide to do something, announcing our motivation to others, announcing our intention to others, increases the motivation. Not announcing in a public sense to the whole world, but announcing in the sense that we tell others that I’m going to memorise one verse every week.
Then that person asks us. And what happens by that? That creates a further impetus for us. I was one devotee who came to India for the first time.
He just became a devotee few years ago. And then he came to India. And he went to pilgrimage.
And then he happened to be there in India when another devotee’s marriage was there. So, he attended that wedding ceremony. And in India, weddings are often huge, long, drawn-out celebrations.
Sometimes they are just ostentation. Just people showing off their wealth, how much I have, and how much I have. But what he said is that, as an interesting realisation, he said that in the West, many times people just have legal marriages.
You just go to the court and sign a document and you’re married, if you have a couple of witnesses. But he says, when you have a big wedding ceremony, and hundreds of people sometimes come and they congratulate, they bless, there’s a big event associated with it, then one big advantage of that is that it gets impressed with the mind, I’m really married now. Because, otherwise, for many people, just go to a court, and you sign and you get married.
And then after some time, if you don’t get along, you just go to court, sign and again get separated. So, in some senses, making it a formal occasion helps it getting reinforced in our mind. Just like initiation when we take, we may already be chanting Hare Krishna for many years before that, we may already be following the regular principles before that.
And it is not that at that time alone, something magical becomes, changes. Yes, it’s a very important moment, but there are many people who may take initiation and then they stop practising bhakti. So, it’s not that initiation alone leads to transformation.
Initiation is a formalisation of the commitment that we have made. And that, yes, the Guru’s mercy also comes through initiation, but it is not that the Guru is holding back his mercy, saying that, you know, you’re not initiated, no mercy for you. It’s not like that.
If we are serving Krishna diligently as per the instruction of the spiritual master, then the mercy is coming to us. But the initiation is a formalisation of the commitment. And, yes, certainly we formally become the member of the spiritual family, and it’s a very important practise.
But the essence is that it is meant to the whole ceremony, being in front of the sacred fire, being in front of the deities, being in front of the Vaishnavas. At that time when we take a vow, then it gets more seriously reinforced within us. Of course, memorising verses is not as serious a vow as, say, marriage or initiation.
But the principle I am telling that when we decide we want to do something and we tell about it publicly, not in an exhibitionist way, but in the way just of informing or taking blessings or getting inspiration, getting support, then that helps a lot. So, when we have some other people who also like to memorise verses, and then we revise with them. And that is, that not only makes the process some intellectual, but also makes it relational.
Talk about emotional memories, it becomes relational. I speak this verse to you, you speak this to me. So, when the relations are there, the emotions are involved in it.
Similarly, we can also have that plan that we can recite verse in front of the deities whenever we go. So, if we go to the temple once a week, we decide that every week I am going to offer a new verse to the deities. Then, that can make the whole contemplation more prayerful and more devotional.
Again, the emotions get channelled. So, our emotions basically, they are directed either towards things or people. So, now, with respect to people, if we are having a relationship within which we are memorising verses, then that emotion gets triggered that way.
And ultimately, if we connect with the deities, then that also helps us in channelling the power of our emotions in memorisation. Then it becomes emotionally associated memory also. And I know when I travel with devotees, sometimes we memorise verses.
And then, what happens is, those devotees, those devotees memorise this verse because they have travelled with me. And the next time when we meet, we memorise this verse together. So, that memory becomes associated with the person.
And sometimes I also memorise verses at that time. Okay, you know, we memorise this verse together. And then we recite it together.
So, by that, the more personal a devotional verse becomes, the more it is easier to remember it. Because personal attributes, we can remember much more easily than impersonal facts. So, similarly, we can also, I’ll conclude with one last point, that when we are memorising verses, one way to make the memory more devotional rather than simply intellectual, is even if we, even when we recite the verse in front of the deities, or even if we don’t recite the verse in front of the deities, we can also convert that verse into a prayer.
That means, if Krishna says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja, then we can pray to Krishna, Krishna, please enable me to surrender to You. So, in that way, what happens is, we make that prayer, convert the import of the prayer, import of the verse into a prayer. In fact, there is a verse in the Mukunda Mala Stotra, which is in the same mood.
There is 12.7 in the Bhagavad Gita, 12.6 and 7, where Krishna says, teṣāṁ ahaṁ samuddhartā mṛtyu-saṁsāra-sāghārāt bhavāmin acirātpārtha mayyāmeśita-cetasāṁ He says, therefore, thus I will deliver you swiftly from the ocean of material existence. And Mukunda Mala Stotra has a similar prayer, which says that, samuddharatam, He says, my dear, I forget the verse, samuddharatam, my dear Lord, please deliver me from this material existence. So, the verse exactly is actually the translation of the Gita verse into a prayer.
And this kind of thing makes the memory more devotional. And as we keep doing this more and more, then we will find that the memory will become associated with Krishna more and more. We are remembering Krishna Tattva, we may remember Krishna Leela, we may remember Krishna Mahima, there may be songs about Krishna, there may be verses about Krishna, there may be the philosophy of Krishna.
But whatever it is that we are remembering, if we associate with Krishna more directly, this was the verse that I offered to the deities. Especially even if we can’t memorise regularly, I say on a weekly basis, we can plan, at each festival, at least, I’ll memorise one verse. So, every Janmashtami, I’ll memorise one verse.
One special verse about Krishna and offer that to Krishna. Every Ram Navami, I’ll memorise one verse about Ram. Every Gaur Purnima, I’ll memorise one verse about Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
So then, the whole process will become very devotional and will become much more relishable. And that way, this whole process of memorising verses can become more and more accessible for us. Now, one caveat, that caveat means cautionary point, with respect to learning things, there is no right or wrong way.
Each one of us is an individual. And learning is not a mechanical activity. There is a mechanical aspect to it.
Now, we keep repeating something, we will need to memorise it. But learning, especially things that are close to our heart or that are meant to be close to our heart, there is no mechanical trick for it. So, we can use some mechanical method like repeating again and again, as a means for memorising.
But, ultimately, it’s personal. So, we have to see what method works the best for us. That’s why I’m not going to talk specifically about methods.
I’ll give one or two methods as examples of how we could memorise. But the methods are not important. We have to find out which method works for us.
So, some devotees, when they want to memorise a verse, you take one verse and recite that one line five times. Then, go to second line, recite it five times. By this, our tongue and ear become familiar to that.
Then, recite the first and second line five times. Then, go to third line, recite it five times. Then, recite the fourth verse five times.
The third and fourth five times. And then, the full verse five times. And, if normal verse also if we do, this whole process will not take more than five to seven minutes.
And, even if at the end, we have not memorised the verse, we just, if we just, sometimes I feel, I mean, I find memorising very difficult. So, if you just do this, if you do this daily, this five minute investment, you do it for five days. If you do it for five days, for most of us, a significant part of the verse will get memorised.
Even if not everything. Just get one word, oh, then we will get the whole verse. So, this is… So, there are different mechanical ways which work for different people.
There is, just like we call japa, there is also something in the tradition which is called as likhit japa. Likhit japa means people just write the names of the Lord. So, many times, if the temple is to be built, then devotees are told that you are going to write the Hare Krishna mantra and then those papers are put below as a foundation.
So, likhit japa is also very common. Some people find that writing the verses also helps in memorisation. Because some people, their memories are very much associated with their fingers.
So, if you write something down, then they can memorise it much faster. So, so, while writing also, we can be reciting it. But, okay.
dehi nausmin yatha dehe, dehi nausmin yatha dehe. So, we recite it two, three times while we are writing it. And then by that, even if we find memorising verses very difficult, and I just keep forgetting verses, doesn’t matter.
If we just apply ourselves to a process that works systematically. If I decide that, okay, I want to memorise verses but I keep forgetting it. Then I will simply show Krishna my intention to memorise.
So, this verse, every day for the next five days, I am going to spend five minutes on this. Or, every day for the next one week, if I am going to memorise one verse per week, say, I will do this, each verse, I will read it five times, one line five times, second line five times, two lines five times, third line five times, fourth line five times, three, four, four lines five times, and then four verses five times. If I just do it for one week, that itself will increase.
Even if it doesn’t increase our memorisation at that time, it will increase our familiarity with the verses. And gradually, memorisation will become easier and easier. And it is important to, if we are to memorise, to keep track of the verses.
Sometimes, we remember a verse, but we forget the verse which we have remembered. So, you know, I have memorised 108 verses of the Gita. But I don’t know which 108 I have memorised.
So, the nature of the memory is that we keep forgetting things. So, even things which we have memorised, we may forget that I have memorised this. So, if we keep a track, maybe on our phone or on paper, these are the 108 verses I have memorised.
And then, we note that and then, depending on how easy or difficult the verse is, we may decide, okay, after I finish this 108 verses memorisation, it took me about 6 months to memorise it. Then, maybe every month, I just go back and look at all the verses. Or maybe once a week, I have got these verses, and then we can ourselves shortlist them.
You know, we can keep, if we have a Google sheet or something, we can keep moving it up and down. These verses, I have memorised them. Even if I don’t revise them, they are done for me.
They are there with me. But these verses, I need to keep revising them. These verses, although I memorised them, I have forgotten them.
I have to actually apply myself again and again. So, if we keep track of it, and we, although we want to go to Shabda Pramana, and we are trying to study Shabda Pramana, we are all very much at the level of Pratiksha. We want to see things tangibly.
So, if in our home, we make a sheet and put it on the wall, these are the verses I want to memorise in these next 6 months. And we put a tick, put a tick, put a tick. Doing something physical actually creates some sense of achievement within, some sense of excitement within us.
So, if it’s all in the head, okay, I did it, I didn’t do it, doesn’t matter. So, we have to, these are all ways in which we can channel our energy by which we can remember. And of course, the more we start sharing, sharing about Krishna, as I said, have some forum where we can speak about the verse with others.
At least one friend we need who will not think that we are just showing off and telling about verses. But they also want to memorise. Then, we have that forum where we regularly do that.
So, which method works for us, we can experiment and find that out for ourselves. But broadly, these are principles which can help in memorisation. And memorised verses can become a very valuable asset for us.
That whenever, as I said yesterday, we are caught in a crowd, we are in a stress, start reciting the verses and then we will feel ourselves elevated about our situation. Chanting Hare Krishna can also elevate about our situation. But because we keep chanting so much and most of our chanting is mechanical, but sometimes chanting just goes on and we also keep going on.
The two don’t connect. Sometimes what happens when we are chanting our mind, we don’t focus. Why? Because what is happening? We are not chanting only.
The tongue is chanting, the mind is wandering and we are thinking which of the two to do. So, that’s why when our mind is distracted, chanting, the mind has got a habit I know you keep chanting, you keep chanting, I’ll keep wandering. So, sometimes if our mind is very agitated, chanting, although it is very powerful, our chanting may because of the past happened not be powerful enough to interrupt the mind’s flow of thoughts, mind’s rush of thoughts, not just a flow.
So, that’s why some other thing, if we ask, okay, what is that verse? I want to recite that verse. Then immediately to recite that verse, I have to think, what is that verse? And then that interrupts the mind’s flow of thoughts. And then if we recite a few verses, then calm down, then we can chant also.
So, the more we start finding personal and practical uses for verse memorisation, to interrupt an unwanted flow of thoughts, to infuse a mood of devotion when we are chanting, to bring authority when we are speaking, to have some substance for relishing when we are associating with devotees, the more we find practical avenues where we can use the verse memorisation, the more the impetus for the verse memorisation will increase. Sometimes when we associate with devotees, what do we talk with them? We just start talking Prajalpa, you know, he did this, she did this, I went here, we did there. And it may not be, we are in a spiritual association but our association is not spiritual.
But if we decide, we will just talk about some verses, then it becomes very spiritually nourishing association. So, and that way we can make our memorisation more practical and more relational. So, I will summarise.
I spoke today about memorising verses, how to do it. And in the house I talked about four broad principles. And you remember what are the principles? First is recitation.
So, recitation is because the verses have some musical cadence and metre to them. So, we don’t have to necessarily get that metre. But if we can associate a verse with a metre that we like, that we can connect with, then that musical stimulus also gets associated with the remembrance.
And it makes the remembrance easier. Then second was repetition. There I talked elaborately about how memories are formed.
So, from the neurological level, the memories are not stored from the brain level, they are not stored in particular neurones, but they are stored in the patterns of connections between the neurones. And that is the current theory of course. The brain might be much more complex and we don’t know what it is.
But basically if we keep doing an activity repeatedly, the synapses get connected very quickly. And then that is how that memory becomes a part of us. So, recitation habituates our tongue and ears to the sound of the language because this is not a spoken language.
And repetition causes the memory to become more easily accessible. It is like if you consider our memory to be a city, then we need to imprint the memory and then we need to get it back. So, memorisation is imprinting the impression, recollection is getting it back.
So, the repetition makes the impression deeper and deeper within us. And then it is like we go to a friend’s house again and again and again and the road becomes easy to remember. So, then I talked about recollection.
was repetition, recitation, repetition. No, reflection, reflection, not recollection. The whole class is about recollection only.
It is not recollection, it is reflection. So, reflection I talked about mainly establishing intellectual connections. Just as if we place a devotee’s house, okay, this is connected here, this is here, this is here, then we can more traces, more paths to get there.
Similarly, one verse, we can, if we are memorising a verse, we can connect with, okay, is this concept told in some other verse? Are these words used in some other verse? And this similar words or verses, the concepts, what other contexts are they used in? Or what all contexts in which this verse is used? So, the words, the meaning and the context, all these can help us to reflect more on the verse. And by such reflection, the memorisation will help together. Then that revision helps us to memorise.
So, revision we can do in, have in various ways. Revision basically is a way in which we find a forum to express that verse, to use that verse. It can be to interrupt our own disturbing chain of thoughts.
It can be to have a devotional mood when we go in front of the deities. It can be when we quote while giving talks. So, the more we find practical use for the verses, the more the impetus to memorise them will increase.
The specific method that we use for memorising verses can vary. Whether we write a verse down, whether we repeat each line many times, how often we memorise something, that is something which can individuate based on what works best for us. But basically when we make the verse work for us, work in the sense that we start finding use for it more and more, then memorising it will become much more easier and relishable.
Thank you very much. Hare Krishna. I chat but my mind is running somewhere else.
So how that quality also affects the final outcome? Are you talking about chanting? That’s a different topic. Let’s focus on this topic right now. To recite, we memorise the verse and then we recite and reflect.
But are we just reciting the text or we are also reciting the meaning within because we are not understanding the Sanskrit words altogether. We just memorise it and then we repeat it. We can reflect also to some extent but we don’t understand the meaning completely or as a whole.
So it’s just like it’s a foreign language we just repeat it but we don’t go in deep like the way we go in our mother tongue or mother language. So is that when we memorise it we also memorise the language? Okay, good question. So if we memorise the Sanskrit verse should we also memorise the translation of the verse so that we can reflect on it better? It depends.
It’s good to know the meaning. Now whether knowing the meaning means memorising the word to word translation or memorising the full sentence translation or memorising the words. Many times if you see those who are habituated with Sanskrit when they recite a verse they may not just recite the translation after that.
This word means this, this word means this, this word means this, this line means this. Just surrender to me. So take one phrase and translate that phrase and explain it.
So I would say that if we want to make recitation a habit or memorisation of verses a habit then rather than putting energy on memorising the translation, it’s good to memorise the translation no doubt but if we have a limited energy then that energy might be better used to memorise the meanings of the words. That will enhance our Sanskrit vocabulary also. And then that will enable us to use those, to notice, oh this word I have memorised, this word comes in this verse and whenever we are reciting some other words we will find that.
So yes, we need to definitely know the meanings and knowing the meanings may also mean memorising the meanings of specific words within verses. Some verses maam, te, twaam, those are easy, they are simply very common words and we can memorise them easily. Some words may be a little more difficult to memorise.
But yes, so I would say, that’s why I said words also. How will you correlate this word has come in that verse? We know the meaning of that verse. So translation can help no doubt but it will help much more if we get the meaning of the words and then we are able to put it together.
Okay, this line means this, this line means this, this line, we will get the same effect of the translation. But we are doing it in a way that will help us to memorise future verses also, to connect with other verses also in future. Okay, thank you.
Yes. I have no sense of metre. Same with me.
How do I get, like what is metre first of all and then for which verse, which metre do you like? Okay, sorry. If you have no sense of metre, what do we do? Yes, I think that’s, we all have certain like some people are colour blind. You can see, but certain colours they just can’t see.
That’s why we say, similarly as I was saying, some people are tone deaf. Just don’t understand musical tones, musical tune, musical metre, that doesn’t matter if it is like that. So we just recite some verses, when some devotees when they recite the verses, it’s like a musical performance.
Sometimes some devotees, I have even said they get a veena or something like that and they actually keep it right next to them and when they recite the verse, they will pick it up and they will play it and they will recite the verse. So, it’s very good. It creates a musical devotional feel to the class.
It’s nice, but then it’s not that Prabhupada would do that. Prabhupada, if you see in his classes, most often when he would recite the verses, he would not put so much stress on musical tone. He would just recite the verse and then sometimes when you are reflecting, he would have a particular metre in which he would recite the verse.
So, this is practical, whatever works for us. And even if, when I use the word recitation, I don’t necessarily mean that it has to be in a particular traditional metre. It’s simply, dehi nausmini tha dehi kaumaram yavanam jara So, I would say that we could use the word verbalisation more than recitation.
That means we just enunciate it aloud in a way that works for us. Some people, when they speak, not only is the content of what they speak sweet, but even their voice itself is very sweet. About Krishna the Gopis say Madhuraya Gira Valgu Vakyaya Krishna, your speech is so sweet and your words are so intoxicating.
So, Gira, the voice itself is sweet, Vakyaya, the words that you form are also very sweet. Sentences you form. So, all of us now, we can’t really change our voice.
The voice we have is the voice we have. Similarly, the ability to sense or sing in particular metres, that’s what we have, we don’t have. That’s okay.
So, I use the word recitation not so much to emphasise metre as the act of verbalisation. Speak it aloud and make the tongue and the ear familiar to it. So, even if it is a straight reading, dehi no smetha dehi kaumaram yonam jara.
That’s also fine. Okay. Thank you.
So, if some people are able to remember the words very quickly, so is it their determination or is it their memory or both means the factors? Okay. If some people are able to memorise verses quickly, is it their determination or is it their memory? I would say, if it’s quick memorisation, it’s mostly memory power itself. So, all of us have different kinds of memories which we are good at.
Some people come to a house and they immediately know this house, this picture was put here, this colour was here, this was the colour of the house, the TV was kept here, the table was kept here. So, for them, the spatial visual memory is very good. So, all of us are good at different memories.
Some people go to the temple and they go in front of the deities and they remember which dress they were wearing, this decoration, this decoration, this decoration. If I go in front of the deities, I’ll remember which verse I recited but I won’t remember which dress the deities were wearing. So, I try to remember the dress also but it doesn’t come naturally.
So, it’s just the way we are. So, some of us may be gifted with, as I said, more verbal intelligence by which for memorisation of verses becomes easier. So, something may be easier for some people but even if something is difficult, by determination we can actually do it.
By here, determination I simply mean perseverance. Just keep doing it again and again because our brain also is, it functions based on how we make it function. So, like somebody, as I said, somebody in India wants to learn French, they may never learn it but they go to Canada and they have to speak it there, they’ll learn it.
So, it’s not impossible for us to do. Generally, sometimes I say this is too difficult for me. So, one way to, now we may have to decide, sometimes I say this is impossible for me to do.
Now, rather than saying it is impossible, I say it requires a lot of effort and I don’t feel inspired to put in that effort. Suppose, you know, somebody had kidnapped our child and that person put a gun at the guy, you memorise this verse otherwise I’ll kill your child. And he immediately memorised the verse, isn’t it? So, actually we are capable of doing a lot more than what we think we are capable of.
But, it’s just that we may not put in the effort that is necessary. And it is, we are all human beings. So, it is not that we can, we have many things to do and we may not always, it would be possible for us to put in the necessary effort in certain things.
That’s understandable. But, rather than saying that I can’t do it, well, in my current set of priorities, I don’t have the time to put in this. That is the honest admission.
Actually, if we make it a priority and put in the time and effort, we can do a lot more than what we are doing. Okay? Thank you. Yeah.
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when the words are arranged in a particular way, Sanskrit is a very versatile and flexible language. So in English, for example, we have to have subject first and then predicate. In the predicate, we have verb and then we have object.
So, I saw him. So, him I saw. Sometimes we say in poetry or sometimes we say for emphasis.
Saw I him. That sounds a little odd. But in Sanskrit, we can do, we can play around in various ways.
So, what happens? The Anvaya is the traditional way of translating a verse where the words are put in a sequence. You take the Dehino Sminitha Dehe Kaumaram Yamanam Jara. But if you do Anvaya, it may not be that the first word in the Anvaya will be Dehino.
A later word may come first. And they basically, how the thought of the verse is being expressed based on that the words are arranged and then the words in translations are given and then taking the sequence of the word translations, then the sentence translation is made. So, Prabhupada did not want to make things too complicated.
Because for him, he wanted to make sure the meaning was clear. He did not use the Anvaya method of translation. Because for, I don’t know why, but one reason we could say is that it might just become too complicated for western people.
Okay, this word is here, but why is this word not coming here? It’s coming somewhere later in the translation, not the first word. So, he kept the word to word translation. And that has also been done in the more recent translations.
Traditionally, it was assumed that people knew Sanskrit, so the Anvaya method was used. But in contemporary, many Sanskrit translators use the word for word translation in the same sequence as the verse. So, if you see the way Anvaya is done, at that time, the Sandhi is split.
And you don’t just necessarily keep the compound word, we take it to separate words. So, that’s perfectly fine. The important thing is not necessarily to stick to all the grammatical technicalities of Sanskrit, but ensure that we get the meaning easily.
So, any question on the phone? Or we’ll stop here. Okay, so, yeah, if we are memorising, we are helping small children to memorise verses, then is it better to have some selected verses to memorise or take a whole chapter and memorise? Both have advantages and disadvantages. If it’s a whole chapter that we memorise, then it becomes a unit that we can very easily revise.
And we can very easily recite also. So, if I say, if we take a small chapter, like 15 chapters, just 20 verses, then if we memorise the 15 chapter, then 20 verses we memorise and anytime we can recite those 20 verses again. So, we don’t have to labour to remember what we have remembered.
Because it’s one unit of thought. So, in general, whenever I try to memorise scripture, I try to memorise a section of scripture. Say, 3-4 verses or maybe 7-8 verses.
So, Gajendra Moksha prayers or Bhishma’s prayers. It may not always be possible to memorise all the verses, may require much more effort. But trying that section wise, it gives a much broader template for thought.
And it becomes easier for recollection. Now, as far as children are concerned, sometimes memorising a whole chapter, if it seems too difficult, and some chapters are really long, 78 verses, last chapter, then there is a standard online list, I think it’s there on the, it’s called Zayatri if you search, 108 important verses from the Gita. Or the BBT has published a book called Prabhupad Shlokas.
Or recently they renamed it as readings from Vedic literature or something like that. But Prabhupad Shlokas is the book that is there in the Veda base also, which gives a list of verses that Prabhupad quoted most often. And you can take those verses and memorise that.
Okay. So, thank you very much. Shloprabhupad ki, Gaurabhakta Vrindaki, Thaigaur Premanandi.
Thank you so much. I’m grateful to be here with all of you today.