All of us routinely employ this even without being aware of it. I had a student whose name was some difficult to pronounce Arabic word. That was the first time I was hearing such a name. I had tough time remembering his name.
So, once I asked him what that name really means. He not only gave me its meaning, but also told me some story from Quran related to that name. I remembered that name for a long time, after that!
As I explained in a previous episode, our brain employs this meaning association to remember new things. When you associate some new piece of information with something that is already known, there is a better chance that the new information gets retained in memory. I will not get into the neuroscience of that at this time. You can read my book “How does the mind work?” if you are curious to know more.
The association can happen at various levels. It could be between a word and its meaning. It could be between a sequence of words and a concept as in the case of a simile or metaphor. It could be a complete set of sentences and a verbal picture as in the case of an allegory and so on. It could even be a story that can be mapped on to a set of concepts or ideas. Vedas use all these tools to memorize the massive text.
For example, in the Mrityunjaya mantra that we discussed in the very first episode, the mantra uses the simile of a ripe fruit detaching itself from the vine to explain liberation from the tangles of the world.
Through a well-known chariot allegory, one of the Upanishads, namely the Kathopanishad describes how the soul is associated with the body. It says that our body is like a horse drawn chariot, with our sense organs being the horses that draw this chariot, with our mind that controls these sense horses, with our intellect that steers this chariot with the help of the mind. It is ‘we’ who are the riders in this chariot. And this ‘we’ is the soul.
Even at a higher level, Vedas may use stories to indicate the sequencing of the Mantras. For example, the ShunashEpa’s story that we saw a few episodes ago, narrates a set of events in the story and each of these events is associated with a mantra appearing in the corresponding part of the Veda. Whether the story really happened or not, is not very important. But it serves the purpose of remembering the sequence of the mantras.
It is possible that many of the stories that one comes across in the Vedas may not be meant as record of historical events but are only tools to remember the sequence of the mantras. So, it is futile to dig more into the historicity of these stories. Their purpose is altogether different.
Sometimes the Vedas employ mysterious stories to convey some fundamental idea. One of the interesting stories is as follows.
Once the Angels, Demons, and humans went to God. Each of them had a separate appointment with the God and each asked God for some advice.
When the Angels approached the God, the God just said ‘Da’. The angels understood this single sound to mean Dama which means control over sensual desires. Angels are by nature sensuous and this advice was apt for them.
Next it was the turn of the Demons. They too asked for advice. Once again, the God just said ‘Da’. The demons understood this sound to stand for ‘Daya’ which means mercy. Demons are cruel by nature and may be the God wants them to be more merciful.
Finally, the humans went to God. God had the same monosyllabic advice for them too – just ‘Da’! Humans understood this ‘Da’ to mean ‘Dana’ which means charity. Humans are by nature very miserly. May be God wants them to be more generous.
The word is the same, but it meant different things to different people depending on their frame of mind. Vedas use such mysterious stories to convey very important concepts. Without the story, the concepts would have sounded dry and difficult to remember. So, the Vedas spice them up, not only to convey essential things but also to get them deeply ingrained in the mind.
The Vedas are full of such similes, metaphors, allegories, storytelling, mystifying, and so on to retain the subject to be conveyed for a long time. This in tandem with the rote learning tools that I discussed in the previous episode, forms the core of memorization techniques that are employed by the Vedas. They managed not only to preserve them for thousands of years, but also ensured to make them interesting enough.
In rote learning, the importance is on recitation. In meaning association, the focus is on concepts, procedures, and cultivation of interest. Now the question is – what is important? chanting of the Mantras or understanding the meaning of these mantras? That is the question that we will address in the next episode.
A series discussing the most ancient of the Indian scriptures, nay the world scriptures namely the Vedas. © Dr. King, Swami Satyapriya 2021
Very useful knowledge- memorization through meaning association. This is what modern neuro science is speaking of.The wheel is just being reinvented!!
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