Super Memory: It Can Be Yours

Devi, Shakuntala
Orient Paperbacks

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Created by Shri J – Last synced April 11, 2022

Introduction

we should evolve to a higher level of consciousness. A plane 14

in which the technology we produce will also alter its

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emphasis and will be directed more at feeding the soul than 14

indulging the collective ego, where science will work towards
achieving a balance rather than controlling the world with
its death-dealing weapons.
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For, science must liberate man rather than dehumanising 14

him, must be the source of continuing aliveness for the
sustenance of the

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human spirit. All this means, of course, that we must 14

transform ourselves in order to transform the machines that
we make to transform our world.

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Man is in danger of losing the potency of his God-given 14

faculties — by taking them for granted even as he blindly
pursues and allows himself to be driven by crafted

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artificiality. In the hands of man, Science should be a strong, 14

tensile string that unreels smoothly, allowing man’s
Intelligence to soar and to garner wisdom from the whispers
of information and knowledge blowing in the free and open
skies of life

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Human memory is one of our primary intellectual faculties 14

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we tend to forget all too easily that human memory is not 14

merely the

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repository of information in the brain 14

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It is much more than this, and something that a machine can 14

never be: a power , a force by which we mentally reproduce
not just information but also our experiences, by which we
shape our perceptions, introspect, interpret and analyse the
direction our life has taken

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Thanks to our memory, we can not 15

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only reproduce knowledge but also apply it to avoid past 15

pitfalls and to steer a better course in the future.
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Memory is also the force that affirms our very identity. 15

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Example: Sheetal remembers every morning, that she is 15

Sheetal.

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If she hadn’t been blessed with a memory, if instead, when 15

she awoke, a computerised monitor blinked out the words,
GOOD MORNING! YOU ARE SHEETAL!, she would be no
better than a programmed robot!

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It is an implanted chip that our spirit recognises and rejoices 15

in as an affirmation of our higher intelligence

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Memory integrates our self (or personhood) with culture, 15

civilisation, modernity, country, the world. It can motivate
us to great achievements, to supreme endeavours.

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When Rabindranath Tagore started his revolutionary, 15
open-air educational institution, he said, ‘I know what it is to
which this school owes its origin. It is not to any new theory
of

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education, but to the memory of my schooldays.’ His memory 15

linked two experiences — ‘our regular type of school ... a
manufactory specially designed for grinding out uniform
results’ and ‘our family (that) lived in the freedom of ideas ...
It made us fearless in our freedom of mind ... This was the
education I had in my early days, freedom and joy

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in the exercise of my mental and artistic faculties.’ And a 15

living experiment called Shanti Niketan was born.

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This is what I want this book to do for you: release the 15

immense power of your memory so that you can dream and
link events and experiences and take off on that joyous flight
of spirit where you are

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 free, aloft. From those liberating heights, life will appear 16
vital, unfettered, effortlessly smooth. And that’s where and
how you’ll want to stay for the rest of your life — in the open
skies, breathing fresh breezes, attuned to your own links of
self-discovery.

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This book blooms from the inspired land of the 16

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Bharatvasis , named not only after the legendary King 16

Bharat, but also for the wisdom of its spiritual intellectuals
who lived up to their names — for bha means ‘to shine’. It’s
there in our smritis — our memories.

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Chapter 1. Get Set For An ‘Unforgettable’ Experience!

Poor memory’ has been blamed on all kinds of suspects (‘I 18

just wasn’t born smart’, ‘Age is catching up with me’), but the
fact is that the most common culprits are the least suspected
ones. Unhappiness,

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for instance. It can usher in the dark, heavy clouds of fear, 18
anger and resentment that overturn your mental equilibrium
and blotch out memory. Most memory experts fail to give due
importance to mental tranquility. Yet, in its absence, you
might be able to train your brain to remember better
temporarily, but you will not be able to make

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remembering a lifelong habit. It’s when you possess inner 19

calm that you are able to retain your sense of reason, your
sense of balance, your sense of humour. In this state of
rational tranquility, you operate from a basis of fact, not
sentiment. And facts are what memory is all about.

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A robust memory requires fertile ground on 19

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which to thrive. Not only a clear mind, but other 19

pre-requisites go into its making. So, before we get down to
the actual techniques for improving memory, let us make
sure that we prepare well the soil in which it is to be
nurtured. Start with these important preliminary strategies
before you go on to the next chapter; without them you will
not

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derive the full worth of this book. 19

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