SS3. Reciting Poems & Mantras from Memory

In the video shared above, I recite a series of mantras, poems and quotes from memory. 

 

The full slide deck explaining the process of memorization and recall of poems and mantras is shared here.

Reciting Poems from memory

 

The full text of mantras is available here along with their meanings:

mantra

 

******** Mantras in the video.

  • Prayer to Lord Ganesha (Ganesh Aarti

(Comment: In some versions of the prayer – 3rd line is Paan chadhe, Phool chadhe instead of Fal chadhe, Phool Chadhe…).

  • Gayatri Mantra
  • Mantras that remove obstacles

( Shani Beej Mantra; Markatesh Mahotsava Mantra; Bagulamukhi Mantra)

  • Guru Mantra
  • Julia Donaldson’s Poem “ I opened a book” – link is given to my posts on my journey as a reader “I changed” that kicks off with the poem.
  • Couplet “Abhi to Asli Udaan hai baaki…”

*******

As shared before -Mnemonics are a powerful aid to remembering specific elements – you can enhance the power of the same by:

  • exaggerating the image in your mind
  • linking it with your reference points (I use my jogging track in the park and create memory stations at the park entrance, trees, park benches, flower beds and flower showers, gazebo and park corners…and more )
  • Compounding it to reinforce
  • Building it in a location flow (memory map) for natural recall

As one builds this practice of memorization in one’s life, the power of creative visualization can grow dramatically. You will start creating mnemonics with increasing ease and speed (after all, there is nothing standard here – you just need to be comfortable & creative!). The place where you do need to minimize your cognitive load is where you place your images sequentially at appropriate memory stations in a location map called the memory palace! ( I will cover memory palaces in depth in a future session – but for the time being, simply look at it as a location that you are familiar with -your home, office, jogging track etc. You need to be able to visualize clearly each location in the memory palace that you use)!

Do note that this is an acquired skill that leverages the fact that visualization and visual memory is a key cognitive capability of the human brain…and surprisingly under-utilized by humans. By combing a focused mind with visualization, imagination, action and location, one can increase human memory capacity and recall accuracy dramatically.

I will develop this memory training (Smriti Shaastra) in future posts. In the next post, I will cover how to memorize names. For the time being, just enjoy and soak in this- and the videos shared below – and ,for future alerts, do subscribe to my Youtube channel and the blogpost for getting more posts on memory training and other life-hacks!

Previous episodes of Smriti Shaastra Posts are shared here.

SS1: Reciting Pi to 1110 digits

SS2: Reverse Alphabets from memory