Memory Techniques from Vedic Learning [pdf]
artofmemory.com
Memory Techniques from Vedic Learning [pdf]
1–10 of 41 posts
Re: Memory Techniques from Vedic Learning [pdf]
#2More pseudo scientific bs from Hindu nationalists.
Re: Memory Techniques from Vedic Learning [pdf]
#3Fascinating. As a child, I semi-reluctantly learned vedic chanting when staying with relatives over the summer. It was very interesting to understand the “algorithms” behind the techniques they used to have us memorize each “shlok”. As the author says, these served an important purpose to transmit knowledge to future generations when writing materials and books were scarce and delicate.
Re: Memory Techniques from Vedic Learning [pdf]
#4I mean yeah we get it. Everything from Einstein's equation to memory techniques to anatomy to the cure for goddamn covid was in the Vedas. Can we have less of these please ? I am sure India the country has contributed other things worth show-and-tell after the Vedas were written.
Re: Memory Techniques from Vedic Learning [pdf]
#5More pseudo scientific bs from Hindu nationalists.
The article focuses on texts of Hinduism but I don’t understand the criticism. The article seems to accurately describe how vedic verses were memorized using simple techniques like chunking and chaining. The author starts by pointing out that pretty much everyone uses these techniques to memorize phone numbers, so I don’t see any surreptitious glorification of religion here.
Re: Memory Techniques from Vedic Learning [pdf]
#6> The oral tradition of vedic learning has preserved the entire vedic texts by purely human memory for several generations. This in an enormous accomplishment given the vast corpus of text preserved without any errors creeping in.This has been made possible by a diligently devised systematic scheme of chanting the vedic corpus.
A system of chanting for memory has been used since pre-history across many cultures. See for example Greek epic poetry, Hebrew Scripture, Arabic Koran, Anglo-Saxon Beowulf, Viking sagas.
In ptr-literate societies, bards were able to memorize huge amounts of information and recite to their listeners. Much of the poetry with its rhyme/meter/repetition was written that way to aid in memorization.
That sort of memorization got a lot less as literacy grew and people could just read stuff for themselves, but it was pretty widespread and certainly not something unique to the Vedic tradition.
Re: Memory Techniques from Vedic Learning [pdf]
#7> The oral tradition of vedic learning has preserved the entire vedic texts by purely human memory for several generations. This in an enormous accomplishment given the vast corpus of text preserved without any errors creeping in.This has been made possible by a diligently devised systematic scheme of chanting the vedic corpus. A system of chanting for memory has been used since pre-history across many cultures. See…
> This in an enormous accomplishment given the vast corpus of text preserved without any errors creeping in.
This bit is particularly questionable. It's unproveable -- if a text was only transmitted orally, there's no way to compare its modern form to an older version -- and it's probably wrong. The short-range memorization techniques described in the article don't guard against larger-scale errors in memorization, like omitting a "chapter" of a text, nor do they prevent single-word changes, like a student mishearing a word for another similar-sounding word.
Re: Memory Techniques from Vedic Learning [pdf]
#8Fascinating. As a child, I semi-reluctantly learned vedic chanting when staying with relatives over the summer. It was very interesting to understand the “algorithms” behind the techniques they used to have us memorize each “shlok”. As the author says, these served an important purpose to transmit knowledge to future generations when writing materials and books were scarce and delicate.
The idea that memorization was used due to a lack of writing material is just a modern and shallow interpretation.
The ancients considered written text as less authentic, and rightly so.
Oral knowledge is spread among the populance and can not be destroyed or distorted by few actors.
Re: Memory Techniques from Vedic Learning [pdf]
#9do you think if, for say, 20 generations, your family practiced these mental exercises... would your DNA/RNA (more % turned 'on'[1]) be primed for increased memorization ?
[1] https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/genetic/genes-turned-...
Re: Memory Techniques from Vedic Learning [pdf]
#10Fascinating. As a child, I semi-reluctantly learned vedic chanting when staying with relatives over the summer. It was very interesting to understand the “algorithms” behind the techniques they used to have us memorize each “shlok”. As the author says, these served an important purpose to transmit knowledge to future generations when writing materials and books were scarce and delicate.
The idea that memorization was used due to a lack of writing material is just a modern and shallow interpretation. The ancients considered written text as less authentic, and rightly so. Oral knowledge is spread among the populance and can not be destroyed or distorted by few actors.
It seems increasingly obvious to me that memorization and learning play a really important role in maintaining basic intellectual standards. Everything can’t be googled and even if it could be, retrieval isn’t equivalent to knowledge. Having personally memorized a lot of things via Anki, there is a noticeable difference when you can “chew on” something mentally at a subconscious level.