--- In tiruvenkatam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, sudarshan madabushi <mksudarshan2002@xxxx> wrote: Dear member, Your question reminds me of what my children too sometimes pose to me. Why try and learn by rote a scripture like the Gita which is really meant to be lived more than it is meant to be chanted? Good question, indeed. I often ask my two teenaged children: Why did you have to learn way back in Class 3 or Class 4 in school the multiplication tables by rote? Didn't your teacher then make you recite "two one's are two", "two two's are four", "two three's are six"... and so on, ad infinitum, ad nauseaum? Have you asked yourself why your teacher in those lower classes made you commit to memory first the multiplication-function tables from 1 to 16? The answer is clear, isn't it? When we have learnt the multiplication tables by rote, it becomes easier later on in the higher classes to perform other mathematical functions easily and quickly. The brain or the mind by then has become attuned to the 'X' function so well that we soon become adept at doing the math even mentally. It comes to us naturally as if by reflex. What is true of maths is true of the scriptures too. The Vedic tradition of learning sets great store by memorization. Once things are firmly committed to memory then higher learning of lofty "tattva"and "siddhAnta" becomes easy and effortless. Once a Vedic passage is recalled to mind merely by recalling it from stored memory, imbibing its meaning and essence, and reflecting upon its inner meaning and significance, becomes a matter of ease. The same is true of the Bhagavath-gita too which is said to be the very cream of all Vedantic thought. The Bhagavath Gita deserves to be memorized for yet another reason, I should say. That is that the Gita is wonderful poetry... it is extraordinarily beautiful Sanskrit. If we are lovers of language then we must memorize poetry. I have known many people (my own mother, for example) who had no formal education in Sanskrit and yet by the time they had become older had cultivated a very fine and sophisticated sense for the beauty of the language. It was thanks mainly to their knowledge of the Bhagavath-Gita. The idiom, the phraseology, the style and the rhythm of the Gita is a marvellous treat indeed. If you want to enjoy good poetry you have to first learn to recite it well. This is true in fact, of all great poetry. Even Shakespeare, Robert Frost or Auden.... How can one explain the inner enjoyment one experiences whenever one merely repeats those haunting and famous lines of Robert Graves: "The woods are lovely, dark and deep, And I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, Miles to go before I sleep". Similarly, how can one who knows the Gita well explain the inner bliss that simply envelops the soul when one recalls and recites truly exquisite and memorable lines from that scripture non-pareil? "uddharEd AtmanAt AtmAnam nAtmAnam avasAdayEt Atmaiva hyAtmano bandhur Atmaiva ripur Atmanah" The Lord said: "A man must elevate himself by his own mind, not degrade himself. The mind is the friend of the soul, and its enemy as well". The best way, to my mind, by which we can help to elevate the mind of our children is really to make them memorize the Gita... that way their minds will soon, in good time, become their life-long good friend ('bandhu'), not enemy ('ripuh')! Thanks and regards, dAsan, Sudarshan --- nssuba03 <nssuba03@xxxx> wrote: ------------------------------- I have a doubt and request the esteemed members of this group to kindly advise me. Gita is a textbook discussing a way of living or the ideal way of living and therefore Gita ought to be lived and experienced. I presume that this view is broadly correct and if this is correct, my question is what purpose is achieved by reciting or chanting Bhagavat Gita and by learning to chant it by rote. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Has someone you know been affected by illness or disease? Network for Good is THE place to support health awareness efforts! http://us.click.yahoo.com/UwRTUD/UOnJAA/i1hLAA/XUWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Oppiliappan/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: Oppiliappan-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
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