Committing AshTAdhyAyi to Memory

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Sita Raama

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Jun 25, 2012, 6:03:39 PM6/25/12
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Dear Members, 
I am not writing this mail to boast about myself but to have a healthy discussion to see if like minded people have some information to share on this topic. Here is my personal experience - 

In the recent past I have learned Purusha sukta, Sri Sukta, Bhoo Sutka,  Durga sukta and sandhyavandanam over skype. I did not have any prior knowledge of verses of the above mentioned text. The class was once a week on weekends (for  about 45 mins to 1 hr).

Through out the teaching - my teacher would recite once and I had to correctly repeat it twice after him, if I make a mistake then I have to repeat it 4 times or until I read it correctly two consecutive times whichever is higher. For first 3 classes he did not allow me to read through text, he used to say "just listen to me and repeat after me." 

He broke all the big samasas / sentences to smaller manageable parts and once we finish a shloka like that then he would take up quarter verses and then half verses and then full verses. Once we reached to full verses level, take up sets of 5 verses.

I recited these verses by looking at the text, after doing this for couple of times, he made me recite the verses without looking at the text. He would fine tune the accents and this method did wonders. Few sessions like that and I could recite these text well in meter with proper accents and without a book. 

I tried to apply same methodology to AshTAdhyAyi learning. So far I am not disappointed with the results.

I managed to add gaps in the AshTAdhyAyi Audio thats available on skydrive created by Sai Susarla & team and split it into parts of 20 sutras. The gap is enough to repeat the sutra two times.  After 20 sutras, in the end it includes the first word of next set of 20 sutras as a memory aid to next set. DO NOT go to next set until you memorized the previous set and could recite without looking the text. 

Once you conquer 1st set then go to second set but make sure every time you read first set and then practice second, and the process continues like this for remaining sets -  
for set 3, always read 1 & 2 once before practicing 3 ..... When you recite a set out of your memory without gaps it usually take less than a min. If you follow this pattern the sessions can get really lengthy if you reach to 100th set. At this time use your judgement to see how many sets you can drop as done in Ghanapatha (words get dropped as First in First out sequence) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedic_chant

I am attaching one sample file, if anyone is interested then I can upload entire work to skydrive and share the link. The metadata still gives full credit to the original creators of the audio files. I did not add anything of my own or changed anything in the existing audio files, instead of full adhyaayas now it comes in manageable parts of 20 sutra as a set. 

I know its a long shot but with few weeks of effort I managed to memorize 2 Padas of first adhyaya not a bad start. Each set of 20 sutras take anywhere from 2 to 5 mins. Here are some interesting statistics - 

Total Sets of 20 200                             
one set a week 200   weeks  3.8  years
Two sets a week 100         weeks  1.9  Years
Three sets  a week 67  weeks  1.3   Years
Four sets a week  50            weeks  1.0  Year

Based one how aggressive one is - one can memorize entire AshTAdhyAyi anywhere between 1 to 4 years. "Every Marathon starts with a single step, and a step after ........ "
The key is consistency. Set a pace and stick to it, create a spreadsheet and monitor your progress. 

Thanks for reading and I would appreciate constructive criticism. 

Raama

PS:- 
I have a dedicated study area, I start with salutations to guru (guruh bramha ....) then recite choosen AshTAdhyAyi set everyday in the morning - I sit in half lotus pose and I do not do any other activities while doing this. I told my family members not to disturb me during this time. 10 - 20 mins a day is manageable as well. 
I do not use headphone, I connect my mp3 player to portable speakers, also I do read it loud while repeating it. My teacher said it is important, "when you repeat you should hear your own voice" that helps memorization. Usually people put headphones and listen while doing household work or some other activity, that distracts your mind and is not that effective due to lack of focus. 


ashtaadhyaayii_01_01_Part1.mp3

Vimala Sarma

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Jun 25, 2012, 8:25:55 PM6/25/12
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RAma Mahodaya

You have a very good teacher on Skype.  Will he/she take on other students for Vedic chanting lessons?

You are very dedicated and I am sure you will succeed with the AshTAdhyAyi.

A minor point- I noticed you wrote "bramha" because that is the way you actually say it.  But it is prakrit.   The actual pronunciation in I my opinion needs to follow "brah/ma" syllables.

Vimala

 

Dr Vimala Sarma

My new e-mail is sarma...@gmail.com

+612 9699 4414

+61 409 690 220

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Sita Raama

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Jun 25, 2012, 10:42:37 PM6/25/12
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Dear Members

I got few request for the ashTAdhyAyi audio files with set of 20 sutras. 
Here is the link 

regards
Raama 
 

usha vasu

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Jun 26, 2012, 12:50:37 AM6/26/12
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Respected Sita Raamaji,
It is very interesting to read your way of learning which is Shravana, Manana and Nidhidhyasana way. It would be great if you can upload the whole Ashtadyayi and give us the link.
With Pranams,
Usha Vasu

Hnbhat B.R.

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Jun 26, 2012, 9:10:36 PM6/26/12
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Congratulation for your endeavor to learn the whole of Ashtadhyayi by heart. Wish you all the best of success. 

By the way, do you learn with स्वर? As you are a student of Vedic Learning, you will be able to do so easily the वेदाङ्ग पाणिनीय in the same way as संहितापाठ with स्वर recite easily. This is important as the अधिकार is decided by the स्वरित word in the संहिता till the next स्वरित as it clearly laid down   स्वरितेनाधिकारः(॥ १।३।११).  A सस्वर संहितापाठ of अष्टाध्यायी is published by  Dr. Nandita Chaturvedi at  पाणिनि कन्या गुरुकुल, वाराणसी.  I don't klnow whether it is available in e-text form or soft copy. But you can contact and ask them to provide you a copy. 

I can give you the contact number personally if you want.


 With regards



--
Dr. Hari Narayana Bhat B.R. M.A., Ph.D.,
Research Scholar,
Ecole française d'Extrême-OrientCentre de Pondichéry
16 & 19, Rue Dumas
Pondichéry - 605 001


Hnbhat B.R.

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Jun 26, 2012, 9:25:50 PM6/26/12
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Sorry I didn't listen to your audio. Anyhow here is the audio from Panini  Kanya Gurukul, available from their website itself:


Hope this help others also if interested.

A very good blog spot.

Sita Raama

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Jun 26, 2012, 9:26:00 PM6/26/12
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Dr. Bhat, 
Thanks for your wishes. I copied this sutra स्वरितेनाधिकारः(॥ १।३।११). and was about to ask this question to the group, 
is there any text that highlights the text with स्वर so that it would be easy to identify the adhikara sutras. 
As soon as I logged into my mail account I saw your mail about the same issue. 

I would really appreciate if you can give me the contact information, I will contact and try to get hold of a hard copy. 

regards
rAma

Sita Raama

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Jul 3, 2012, 7:28:32 AM7/3/12
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Kalivardhanji 
regards
Raama

On Mon, Jul 2, 2012 at 12:23 PM, kali <kali...@yahoo.com> wrote:
Hari OM!
 
Namaste Raama ji!
 
I heard your Ashtadyayi audio file with gaps for recitation.  It is very helpful for recitation purposes.  I don't yet know whether you have uploaded tjhe entire Ashtadyayi with gaps.  I would definitely recommend this kind of Parayana approach for committing to memory Ashtadyayi or any other sutra pata.  In fact my frfiend and I used the same approach last year for committing to memory lot of sutras from SK and verses in samhita form.
 
This is exactly the approach we used to follow in our veda classes, and is followed in all gurukulams for learning the vedas.  Over a period of time this process can be felt very helpful for committing to memory any long verses or sahityams.
 
Thank you and looking forward to receive a line of help on the Ashtadyayi sutra pata.
 
kalivaradhan   
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praveen kumar

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Jul 4, 2012, 7:52:06 AM7/4/12
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Sri Maruthi,

While appreciating your enthusiasm to learn the vedas,it is not
advisible to learn through skype or through CD's etc.One has to be
physically be present infront of a guru to learn.Since you have the
right inclination,it will happen at some stage do not worry.

praveen

On 04/07/2012, Maruthi <mkaz...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Respected Raamaji
> I really appreciate your efforts in learning 'guru-mukha' using online
> means. I have been unsuccessfully trying to learn Vedic chanting on my own
> and did not come across some one who can help me using such skype means.
> Can you pl check with your guru and let me know if he would be able to take
>
> new students specifically for learning RigVeda chanting.
>
> Namo namah,
> thanks and regards
> Maruthi
>>>> http://en.wikipedia.**org/wiki/Vedic_chant<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedic_chant>
>>>>
>>>> I am attaching one sample file, if anyone is interested then I can
>>>> upload entire work to skydrive and share the link.* The metadata still
>>>> gives full credit to the original creators of the audio files*. I did
> https://groups.google.com/d/msg/samskrita/-/1YSYmqyCA0IJ.
> To post to this group, send email to sams...@googlegroups.com.
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> samskrita+...@googlegroups.com.
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> http://groups.google.com/group/samskrita?hl=en.
>
>


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Sunil Chhabada

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Jul 2, 2013, 6:46:49 AM7/2/13
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Raamaji,

Thanks, found exactly what I was looking for.
How's your Panini Journey so far ? I just got started - just memorized 1.1, 
and some of 1.2, glad to get link to your sky drive.
Appreciate your effort, help !

Thanks & Regards,
Sunil

surendra doulat

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Jul 8, 2013, 5:17:54 PM7/8/13
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hi Sunil,thanks for sharing this idea i am very much interested i have started and stop so many time i actually did memorize
the first chapter but reading your correspondence i am encourage
thanks again

Date: Tue, 2 Jul 2013 03:46:49 -0700
From: sunil.c...@gmail.com
To: sams...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [Samskrita] Re: Committing AshTAdhyAyi to Memory
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Sunil Chhabada

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Jul 10, 2013, 1:47:27 AM7/10/13
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Surendra ji, Oh no, that idea and all the effort is of Raamaji, not me. Me just appreciating.

Thanks,

Ashutosh Srivastava

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Apr 23, 2014, 2:54:37 PM4/23/14
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Dear Raamaji,
I am unable to find the ashtadhyayi recitation with gaps mp3's in your skydrive. Infact the skydrive message is that the files are not available.. can u please upload and point me to the files or send me the link if they are already uploaded..
regards
srivastava

radhesh mohandas

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Jul 19, 2014, 8:04:00 AM7/19/14
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Raama,
     Stumbled upon this post recently. I have been following algorithms similar to you have and have completed 6 chapters. You have not provided any time for repetitions in your methodology and wanted to know how it is working for you. Have you completed the task as per schedule? As you proceed further do you tend to forget the past sutras?

Warm regards,


On Tuesday, June 26, 2012 3:33:39 AM UTC+5:30, Raama wrote:

raghuan

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Aug 28, 2014, 11:50:03 AM8/28/14
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Can you kindly me give access to your one drive"s for this?
regards
Raghu A N


On Tuesday, June 26, 2012 3:33:39 AM UTC+5:30, Raama wrote:

सीताराम

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Aug 28, 2014, 12:34:23 PM8/28/14
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Raghuji,
the onedrive folder is public and it does not require any access
 
You can check this youtube as well.
Raama


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Ajit Gargeshwari

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Aug 28, 2014, 12:52:03 PM8/28/14
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Thank you very much Sitaram ji. for sharing this.

Regards
Ajit Gargeshwari
न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचिन्नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः।
अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे।।2.20।।

A Amit

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May 26, 2017, 10:53:45 AM5/26/17
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Namaste Raama ji

I do not see the audio files on the skydrive link. Please point me to the right link. Thanks

A Amit

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May 27, 2017, 10:40:06 AM5/27/17
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Namaskaram everyone

Can any one point me to the link which has the audio files.

Taff Rivers

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May 27, 2017, 1:42:02 PM5/27/17
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Rama,

  Your link is five years old.

Try:

  Ashtadhyayi PrathamaVrutti by Acharya ChandraDutt Sharma by Acharya Chandradutt Sharma  Published May 20, 2017

  https://archive.org/details/PaniniPrathamaVrutti/0020Pv1.119-07-2016.mp3

Taff

सीताराम

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May 27, 2017, 5:45:10 PM5/27/17
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Taffm
That archive link is Prathamavrutti classes.
I had files on Skydrive on microsoft network, I don't use hotmail account often so they might have deleted it.
This time I uploaded on google drive, I hope it stays here forever.

Sorry for the delay
Raama

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Dr.R.P.Sharma

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May 29, 2017, 9:18:38 AM5/29/17
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Please go through the link for sutrapatha in southern style.

Aṣṭādhyāyī Sutra Path ( Aṣṭādhyāyī Main Book in Sanskrit ): http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4lfXMZ9AJ7K--ge_rG75olPDCMtanUDm
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