How many times have you given a ‘missed call’ to someone so he could save your number, in lieu of remembering it by heart? This has become common over the last decade. We have no reason to memorize a phone number, address or other basic information. Rather, we look to digital sources for retrieving information. By doing this, are we “saving” our memory for other purposes or are we dropping our ability to memorize and retrieve?

A question to ponder…!

Avadha:nam is a literary performance popularized in ancient Bharath.  It showcases the mastery of abilities like observation, memorisation, retrieval, and retention in multiple modes of intelligence within literature, poetry, mathematics, calculations etc.

As per Vedic recommendations, dha:rana shakti – memorization and retention is quite crucial for the able functioning of the mind in every aspect. In 1993-94, when Swamiji was personally teaching students, HH utilized avadha:nam prakriya in teaching devotional sthotras.
The students would learn the sthotras with elevated interest levels by doing so and have excelled in every path of their lives later.

JIVA students in Swamiji’s asram have showcased avadha:nam wonderfully for many years. Hundreds of children in the United States are learning to perform avadha:nam for Sri Vishnu Sahasra Namam and Srimad Bhagavad Githa. Children as young as 6 years old are able to chant the right sloka from the Sahasra Namam when a questioner gives the sloka number and able to produce a number from a questioner’s sloka, at random! Questioners also challenge these children by giving a word in the sthotram prompting the child to chant all the slokas in which contain the word in the entire sthotram. There are many other types of questions that people pose, and these children effortlessly give the correct answers.

On the day of Guru Purnima, July 5th 2020, many students from the USA performed avadha:nam of all the eighteen chapters of Srimad Bhagavad Githa flawlessly. Pṛcchaka (a questioner) asked the avadha:ni (performer) to chant a sloka from the 18 chapters of Bhagavad Githa to test the avadha:ni by giving the chapter number and the sloka number. There were several other prakriyas with various types of questions that every performer answered correctly.

While these students may use digital sources to retrieve information, they are definitely sharpening their natural God-given brain by making use of the wonderful opportunity that Swamiji has given. 

Neela Ji (Bharath) and Sarada Sripada Ji (USA), students of JIVA, devoted teachers, and parents from the USA have been training hundreds of avadhanis in Sri Vishnu Sahasra Namam and Srimad Bhagavad Githa. This is offered as part of the Prajna program that introduces all interested children in Bharath and other countries across the world (USA, UK, Australia, Dubai, etc) into Vedic way of Life. 

– Inspired from Srimad Bhagavad Githa Avadha:nam
– 5 th July 2020, Guru Purnima