Can one human being know everything?
Why not! But perhaps you have not yet attained that stage. This short book is
intended to benefit everyone, with the possible exception of those who already
know everything. Although primarily directed toward those we normally recognize
as students, nevertheless it is hoped that this book will prove helpful to an
even broader spectrum of people – people of all ages and all professions. This
book is for everyone who realizes that there are still some things that they
don’t know and that they should know.
For anyone who fits into that large
category, the first and most important thing to do is cultivate the attitude of
a good student. Perhaps you do not have an elephantine memory. Perhaps you do
not have the quickest comprehension. Nevertheless, you should still remain
receptive to learning. Even if you happen to know everything or even if you just
think you know everything, still you should always maintain the attitude that
you are ready to learn something new. The day you lose that attitude, the day
you close your mind to additional knowledge and new ideas – that day, you might
as well leave this world. You personally have nothing left to gain by remaining
here, and your example of close-mindedness naturally inclines others to follow
in the same self-destructive pattern.
This world and all that it contains
belongs to everyone. But only people with open minds and open hearts derive
maximum benefit and enjoyment from it. So you must never close the doors of your
mind – always maintain an attitude of readiness to learn new things. As human
beings we are more than an occupation. We are far more than bankers and clerks,
seamstresses and housewives. Hence it is not at all desirable that we should
wear blinkers over our mental eyes, restricting our field of vision only to
those areas that directly relate to our present or future job requirements. As
human beings and as children of God, our knowledge should not be specialized;
rather our knowledge should be encyclopedic.
Always be ready to learn something
new. This point is not listed later among the various scientific study methods,
but it is nonetheless absolutely fundamental. Without this proper attitude, then
all that follows herein will be of marginal value.
The following study methods are all scientific. That is to
say, they have been derived by practical observation and testing. They work for
everyone, because they are based upon an accurate understanding of how the human
mind operates as well as its interrelation with the external world, the physical
body, and the Supreme. However, the purpose of this book is not merely to
provide the curious with some information about study methods; rather, its
purpose is to help everyone to improve their own capacity to learn. Test these
techniques for yourselves. Put this knowledge into practice, and reap the
benefits from what is presented here.
There is a close connection between body and mind. That is
why bad posture inclines one to sloppy thinking. When there is an emergency that
calls for all of our attention, all of our concentration, we automatically sit
up straight. At the time of an examination, look around the room and you’ll see
nobody is slouching in their chair. This is because the mind becomes clearer and
sharper when we maintain good posture. Therefore our first study rule is to sit
up straight. The chair that you use for studying should have a firm seat, and
you should resist the temptation to lean against the back of the chair.
Some people like to study while lying in bed. Don’t do it.
Your bed is for sleeping, not studying. When you try to study in bed your
concentration cannot remain strong. Soon you will find your mind drifting away.
Eventually, you will fall asleep.
It is not always possible to maintain good posture when you
are physically sick. Poor physical health directly and indirectly hampers your
studies. So a good student must preserve good physical health.
This rule does not imply just taking the appropriate
medicine whenever you are sick. On the contrary, prevention is far superior to
cure. So you will have to always observe the rules of proper hygiene, get
sufficient physical exercise, absorb sufficient sunlight and fresh air, and take
proper food (keeping in mind that what you eat is nourishment for both your body
and your mind).
The mind relates to the external world through the medium
of the five sensory organs and the five motor organs. At the time of studying
books, we generally give more stress to the utilization of our eyes than the
other organs; however, it is a mistake to utilize only the sense of sight.
Everyone will have noticed that when reading text books the
mind has a tendency to wander. Due to this tendency, it can take a long time to
finish reading even one page. Moreover, after having read that page, it is not
at all unusual to find that you cannot remember much if anything of what has
been read. So, what should you do?
If there is some important subject that you must study out
of a book, then you should always read out loud. This act of reading out loud
engages the eyes, the ears, and the mouth – three organs out of ten, where
formerly you were using only one, just the eyes. The result of reading out loud
is that it becomes much easier to concentrate the mind on the study material;
and, after going through it, you will remember much more of what you have read.
Your study time will reduce, and your absorption of information will increase.
Due to complexity, the art of note-taking cannot be covered
here. The difficulty is that one’s style of note-taking will vary depending on
the type of class you are attending, the teaching methods of the professor, your
personal study methods and personal understanding of the various subjects. But
keep in mind that you should not only take notes from classroom lectures but
also from textbooks. The main object of note-taking is to filter out the
important facts – the information that you need to know for future reference or
during exams.
This filtering capacity is not equally developed in every
student. However, if one simple rule is observed, then you will surely achieve
good results. The rule is: Always copy down whatever facts you will have to
repeat verbatim. These facts should be listed and copied by hand many times.
This includes diagrams, formulas, dates, names, and so on. In this way, become
accustomed to writing these items down and seeing them written in your own
script. If you have only read a date or a formula in a textbook, that
typewritten item may look different from the handwritten one, leading to doubts
as to the accuracy of your own version. You might remember correctly; but, due
to self doubt and hesitation, you could fail to give the right answer (or
sufficient answer) at the exam.
This study method works according to similar principles as
the previous one. Instead of engaging just the eyes or even the eyes, the ears
and the mouth, now you have engaged the hand also (as well as the eyes, once
again in a new way). So these last two rules should be used together. Take notes
in class. Underline your text books in order to extract the most important
material for study. Depending on your style of classroom note taking, it may be
necessary for you to underline your notes, or consolidate them. Then, while
studying for exams, read out loud from your class notes and textbooks (generally
only the underlined or consolidated portions). And, especially when the exam is
written rather than oral, write out repeatedly all of the important information
that you might need to reproduce in an exact form on the exam.
One of the most common mistakes of students is to study
with the radio, tape recorder, or CD player on. What is the result? Attention is
divided. Whenever a song that you like is playing, you stop your study to listen
to the song. In the end, you find that you are studying for three minutes,
listening to music for thee minutes, studying for three minutes, and listening
for three minutes. This just isn’t an effective way to learn anything. What
happens if it is going to take you five minutes to grasp a particular topic?
Remember, the mind can only entertain one object at a time.
Often it may seem we are doing two things at once, but actually the mind is just
moving quickly back and forth between those two activities. When the radio is
playing while you are studying, either you are listening to the radio or
studying, but not both. So make up your mind. If you want to study, then turn
off that extraneous noise.
As just mentioned, the mind can only entertain one object
at a time, but it has the tendency to move very quickly back and forth between
objects. That is why practicing psychologists, and even their clients, often get
quite unexpected replies when they play the game of free association. Starting
from a very ordinary concept (like milk or sky) the human mind can take many
flights of fancy in virtually any direction. But behind the apparent madness
there is reason and system. The mind stores information in memory according to
the associations that take place at the time of encounter. As a result, one
concept links with another, the next concept links with something else, and so
on and so forth, forming chains of concepts that are often fathomed only by the
individual whose mind has forged the chains. Let us call this linking of
concepts the Law of Association.
Nursery school teachers know that to teach young children
they must associate the subject matter with a game, a song, or a rhyme. As
children grow up, the process of association becomes more refined (more
idealistic and more practical). However, even adults can more easily remember
lines that maintain a repeated meter or rhyme or alliteration. Of course, you
need not convert everything that you want to memorize into poetry. Poetry is
just one method. The main point is that if you want to memorize something – for
example, a person’s name, a line in a play, or a mathematical formula – then
best to memorize it by association. The importance of conscious, constructive
association cannot be overemphasized. Improved memory is just the first of many
benefits derived from appropriate application of the Law of Association.
Let’s say you want to remember the date: 17 April, 1945.
Well at the age of seventeen perhaps you were just going off to university.
April is presumably a rainy month (“April showers bring May flowers”) and in
1945 the Second World War came to an end, and so soldiers were returning home.
Now form a mental image of a young boy walking towards university, with rain
falling and soldiers passing by in the opposite direction: 17 April, 1945. By
imagining this picture in association with the event on that date, it becomes
easy for you to recollect that date later on.
Finally, it should be added that this associative tendency
of the mind is another good reason why you should not study while listening to
the radio. Memorization by association can only be turned to advantage when the
associational link is intentional. When the link has been made unintentionally
and environmentally, then it is of little or no practical value to you in
respect to memorization. Rather, it may prove to be a hindrance. Subjects that
were learned with the MP3 playing may be more difficult to remember in a quiet
examination hall.
Most students perform their studies largely out of the
desire to do well on examinations. In other words, what they want is that when
the appropriate time comes, they will be able to associate the correct answers
with the various questions that they will be asked.
To the extent that question-and-answer relates to the
process of memorization, we find again the usefulness of associational
techniques. Devise your own questions to test how well you understand or
remember the study material. In this way, you prepare your mind to use the
material you learned in a practical way, if only as answers on an examination.
This technique has other advantages. It is a relatively
simple way (and indeed it may be the only way) to discover what you have learned
and what you have not learned. The questions that you cannot answer correctly
identify the areas where more attention is needed. The questions that you can
answer correctly identify the areas where your study has been successful. Not
only do you receive preliminary feedback from such self-administered tests; but,
if continued until most or all of your own questions are answered correctly,
then you will develop confidence that you have mastered the subject. Such
self-confidence will certainly benefit you at the time of exams (and indeed at
all times), because you will remain calm. (Note that self-confidence is not the
same as intellectual vanity. Unlike self-confidence, intellectual vanity tends
to preclude the desired attitude of a good student, that is, a perpetual
readiness to learn something new.)
Students must always guard against intellectual vanity.
When studying alone, you tend to learn only those things that you yourself
consider important. But everyone may be subject to blind spots. So you should
meet regularly with others who are studying the same subject.
What are the main advantages of study circles? First, if
you don’t understand a particular point, then probably others will. Perhaps they
can clarify the matter for you. Second, others might recognize some important
points in your textbook or from the classroom that you missed. Just discovering
a gap in your knowledge is valuable, because that is generally the first
important step on the way to knowledge. However, it is common for a study group
to not only identify such gaps but also fill them. Finally, when you explain to
others what they don’t know or when you discuss commonly understood subjects
with all, your own understanding often becomes deeper and clearer.
Study may be of two varieties – literate and non-literate.
Our discussion relates mostly to literate study, but a wise student avails
herself/himself of both varieties. So, in respect to non-literate study,
maintaining good company is essential.
Here we find an important extension of the Law of
Association. Association not only helps to improve our memory but ultimately it
can either uplift us or degrade us. Generally we find that a person develops the
same good or bad habits and the same good or bad qualities as the persons with
whom s/he associates. If your friends are teetotalers, you will become a
teetotaler too. If your friends are drunkards, you will become a drunkard too.
If your friends smoke, you will smoke too. If your friends are very intelligent,
and have good study habits, then that is what you will be like too. So always
try to associate with those persons who are more intelligent than you and who
have better study habits than you have.
Let me may add one last point for those engaged with the
competitive side of academics. There is a military rule of thumb that every good
general practices either consciously or unconsciously. If you want to defeat
someone, then study your enemy. After studying your enemy, imbibe your enemy’s
strong points and make sure that you do not possess or that you have under
control your enemy’s weak points.
When we extend the Law of Association to its ultimate
conclusion, we realize the need for regular meditation. Great spiritual masters
throughout history have endorsed the Law of Association with the observation:
“As you think, so you become.” So if our objective is always to know more, then
we will have to keep our mind focused on the one who knows everything. The
scientific method of ideation on the Supreme is known as meditation. To get the
desired results from meditation, it is not enough to know how to meditate.
Rather, you must perform meditation, not just once in a while but regularly (at
least two times every day).
Mental health is vital to the achievement of good results
in your studies, and meditation is the most effective way to ensure mental
health. Not only does meditation provide a balanced mental state, meditation
also helps to clear the mind of unwanted distractions, makes the mind more calm,
develops greater capacity for concentration and contemplation, improves memory,
enhances creativity, sharpens the intellect, eliminates psychic complexes, and
strengthens will power. Hence, meditation is undoubtedly the most important
technique for improving your ability to study.
Question
You said that we should take proper food. Is there really
an ideal diet for students?
Answer
Everyone adjusts a bit differently to different types of
food. So the type of food that is best will differ from person to person, from
place to place, and even from time to time. However, there is a growing body of
evidence that a vegetarian diet is much superior to a non-vegetarian diet.
Consumption of meat tends to make the mind restless and aggressive. That psychic
condition is not conducive to learning, especially if your routine involves more
psychic activity than physical activity. It is also clear that consumption of
intoxicants (like alcohol and drugs) impairs the perceptive, analytical, and
cognitive faculties of the mind. Hence, serious students should abstain from
meat and intoxicants.
Question
What are yogic exercises, and how do they work?
Answer
Yogic exercises are a unique system of physical postures
devised primarily for the purpose of balancing the glandular system. This not
only enables one to maintain good physical health, but also helps to establish
the basic psychic equilibrium required for effective utilization of one’s full
mental capacity. For example, when the thyroid and parathyroid glands
over-secrete, one becomes nervous and irritable. When those glands
under-secrete, one becomes lazy, lethargic. To balance the secretion, two
exercises - sarvaungasana (the all-limbs posture, also known as the
shoulder-stand posture) and matsyamudra (the fish posture) – were
developed, tested, and found to be effective. Today, some ten thousand years
after yogis first started experimenting with physical postures and meditation,
we now have appropriate exercises to cure virtually every physical and mental
problem. There are even physical postures to improve memory. Different people
require different yogic exercises. So yogic exercises should be prescribed
personally for you.
Question
Can you explain more about how
meditation helps with study?
Answer
Students of physics know that everything in this universe
is vibrational. The same is true for the mind. When your mind is restless, your
mental wavelength is short and irregular. When your mind is calm, your mental
wavelength is longer and more regular. Modern psychological studies describe
this process of mental expansion as a transition from the ordinary Beta waves to
the more relaxed Alpha waves, the creative Theta waves, and ultimately the
ecstatic Delta waves. By making your mental wavelength longer and more even,
meditation relaxes your mind and renders it more conducive to study.
Question
Isn’t meditation a bit like praying to God?
Answer
No, quite the contrary. There is an old Greek saying “God
helps those who help themselves.” Meditation works on that principle. Meditation
is scientific, whereas prayer is religious. What would happen if you do not
study for your exams but instead just pray: “God, please arrange a high grade
for me in my course?” Wouldn’t that be an unrealistic approach? Even if by some
miracle you pass the exam, you still would not know the subject. With
meditation, you first learn the subject and then you pass the exam.
Question
You said that while studying we should read out loud. How
loud do we have to read?
Answer
You only need to read loud enough so that you can hear
yourself. It is not necessary that others should hear you.
SUMMARY: GENERAL STUDY RULES
1. Maintain good
posture
2. Preserve your physical health
3. Read out loud
4. Copy down important facts
5. Avoid distractions
6. Memorize by association
7. Test yourself
8. Attend study groups
9. Keep proper friends
10. Meditate regularly
If one of the reasons you are studying is to do well on
examinations, then there are some additional rules that can help you before,
during, and after examination. Let us first examine the best way to prepare for
the examination.
If you are observing the ten General Study Rules
discussed in the previous chapter, then your studies will be efficient. Those
rules will improve your score on examinations while simultaneously reducing your
study time. But no rules can eliminate completely the need for study. And even
with the best approach to study, only so much can be accomplished in any given
amount of time.
To avoid the last minute panic of cramming for exams, you
must regulate your studies carefully. Be disciplined. Always try to make
proportional progress in your studies. For example, if you have eleven days to
complete your study of 100 pages, then each of the first ten days you should
cover ten new pages and briefly review all of the preceding pages. On the
eleventh day, you should painstakingly review all of the 100 pages.
Typically, the main benefit from studying is not passing
exams but rather the learning that you derive. Some students think: “Why should
I bother studying these 100 pages ten pages at a time? Why should I trouble
myself every day with this particular subject when I can just spend a bit longer
time studying on the last day and learn everything at once?” There is some truth
in that point of view. If you don’t become too sick to study on the last day
before the exam, you might pass the exam. You might even score a very high mark
on the exam. But after the exam is over, you will quickly forget everything that
you learned. That which you learn under the stressful influence of a pending
exam will be quickly unlearned as soon as the threat of the exam is removed.
Stimulus and response is just another application of the Law of Association,
discussed at length in the previous chapter. Here the conclusion is: Relax. Yes,
strange as it may sound, relax.
What you may learn with the powerful stimulant of fear,
will be quickly lost to memory as soon as that stimulus is withdrawn. But if you
study in a relaxed fashion, if you learn something with a clear and calm mind,
then that which you learned may be retained even throughout your life. Today we
find many educators experimenting with new study techniques that associate the
study process with states of deeper relaxation, achieved through
outer-suggestion or auto-suggestion (hypnosis or self-hypnosis). While these
methods appear to be a bit artificial and superficial, certainly superfluous for
someone who has learned a proper system of meditation, nevertheless they may
prove to be quite valuable to many, not because they are likely to increase the
speed of learning, but because they are likely to increase the duration of
learning.
To recapitulate, our first rule regarding study prior to an
examination is to regulate your time so as to avoid any form of unhealthy
psychological pressure at the last minute. Time-management is an essential
pre-requisite for remaining relaxed while studying, Regulated studying in a
relaxed fashion is the safest way to ensure complete preparation for exams and
knowledge that persists after exams.
Like it or not, some facets of an examination may not be
equitable. Despite the most diligent effort, still the questions asked and also
the style of the questions will tend to favor some students over others.
Moreover, some students will be physically or mentally better prepared than
others for the exam. Nevertheless, every student may take significant steps to
improve her or his own readiness for the examination.
All of the aforesaid study methods contribute to a greater
state of physical and mental readiness for exams. However, still more may be
done. On the eve of an exam, you should prepare yourself like a solder. Like a
soldier, you should focus your mind on the test to come, starting from the
previous day.
What does it mean? Whether or not your regimen of study
intensifies the day before, you should take care to eat correctly, get the
requisite exercise, perform proper meditation, and get sufficient sleep.
On the morning of the exam you know that this day you want
to be absolutely alert. So the following points should be observed. First take a
cold (or cool, but definitely not hot) bath or shower. Then put on clean
clothes. And finally eat a nourishing but light meal. If your examination is not
in the morning, but rather in the afternoon, this same routine may be followed
later in the day – even if you already took a bath earlier and even if you
change clothes again in the middle of the day. The effect of a cold bath and
clean clothes is to make your mind feel fresh and alert. Overeating makes you
feel heavy and possibly even drowsy; it makes the mind dull. You should also
abstain from sugar just before exams, because that too reduces mental acuity.
Before leaving your home on the way to the exam, you should
satisfy yourself that your preparation for the exam is complete. With the help
of a check-list prepared the night before, quickly go over the various areas of
knowledge that are likely to be examined and satisfy yourself that the basic
facts and formulas that you may have to reproduce on the exam are within your
intellectual grasp (as they will be if you have followed all of the rules thus
far).
At the bottom of the check-list should be any physical
items that will be needed at the exam, for example, pencils, pens, ruler,
calculator, paper, reference books, and so on. (If applicable, always bring
extra pencils and a spare pen with plenty of ink.)
Finally, be sure to reach the examination site well ahead
of time so that you can become comfortable in the surroundings. Consciously or
unconsciously, it takes a little while for our bodies and minds to adjust to any
new environment. Perhaps the temperature in the room is hotter than what you are
accustomed to, or perhaps the desk at which you are sitting is higher or lower
than your own. Whatever may be the difference – and always there are some
differences – it will take you some time to adjust to them.
Certainly it is far better to get adjusted before the exam
begins than to lose valuable time and energy while the exam is going on. This
becomes especially true if you consider the state of mind of someone who reaches
the exam site late or just in the nick of time. Due to the mental agitation of
rushing to the examination hall, even after reaching the hall, taking a seat,
and receiving a copy of the examination, that person will require a few minutes
to still her or his mind enough to concentrate on the examination questions.
Is there a conscious way to adjust with a new environment?
The answer is Yes and No. The best way to acclimatize yourself is to do a few
minutes of meditation after sitting in the examination hall. After meditation,
you will feel more relaxed, and you will behave naturally in accordance with the
external conditions. Moreover, your mind will become concentrated. If you have
followed all of the study rules up to here, you will feel at the peak of
preparedness – ready and able to handle any questions that may be asked.
Question
Sometime when I’m studying at night, I become very tired,
but still I have to go on studying because of upcoming exams. What should I do?
Answer
If you have no choice but to keep studying, then splash
cold water in your eyes some twelve to fifteen times. That will keep you awake
for a while. If you become sleepy again, then stand up and continue studying
while walking back and forth in the room.
Question
There is one subject that I am just not good at. What can I
do?
Answer
Follow all of the scientific study rules that you have been
given, and put a little more effort into your studies. You will find that you
can become good at that subject also. Remember: “As you think, so you become.”
If you really want to succeed in your study and if you work hard at it, you must
get good results. You will succeed.
Question
There is one subject I’m studying that I just don’t like.
Every time I look at the textbook, I want to read something else. But, of
course, I really do have to study that subject. Is there anything I can do about
this problem?
Answer
It is only natural to like some subjects more than others.
But if you investigate deeply, you’ll discover that all knowledge is
interconnected. So, here also apply the Law of Association. With those subjects
that you find a bit boring, try to discern their connection with your present
life, your future career, and the various subjects that you enjoy. If you can do
that, you will soon notice that you are taking a greater interest in the
formerly distasteful subjects. Eventually you may even like these subjects also.
Knowledge is a bit like food. The particular food we detest today may become for
us a favorite delicacy if we simply take trouble to cultivate a taste for it.
Question
After exams I quickly forget
everything. Why is that, and how can I prevent it?
Answer
This question has already been answered while explaining
about time management. You forget what you memorized because you performed your
study only out of fear of failing or doing inadequately in the exam. Perhaps you
also neglected your study of the subject, only doing last-minute cramming for
the exam. The best way to avoid this unfortunate aftermath of exams is to
develop a deep thirst for knowledge.
Without meaning to be critical, it is a primary duty of
every good teacher to awaken a positive desire to learn in each of her/his
students. But even if the teacher fails in this regard – even if the teacher
just writes a lot of facts on the blackboard for you to copy and regurgitate at
the time of examination – still you yourself will have to find a way on your own
to develop a genuine interest in the subject. In this respect, the response to
the previous question may also be helpful.
Question
You put a lot of emphasis on relaxation, but you did not
list it as one of the study rules. Why is that?
Answer
Relaxation is not so much a study method as the result of
many study methods. Implement all of the methods given so far – in particular,
regular meditation and appropriate time management – and you will surely feel
more relaxed while studying and also before taking, while taking, and after
taking the exam. Relaxation derived from a healthy outlook and confidence in
your knowledge is the ideal for which to strive.
SUMMARY: BEFORE THE EXAMINATION
1. Manage your time
2. Ready yourself the day before
3. Freshen up
4. Keep a check-list
5. Reach the exam site early
Here onwards, the methods under discussion pertain less to
studying than the follow-through after studying. However, these methods are also
a vital part of the learning process. They will definitely help you to use your
acquired knowledge more effectively.
Many things have already been said about the importance of
meditation and how it works. Here let me add that the main tool in meditation is
a special word known as a “mantra”. Mental repetition of the mantra with
ideation brings instant peace of mind. This is not a fiction or a religious
belief – it is a practical reality. Anyone who has been taught a proper mantra
and who subsequently used it will attest to the fact.
As stated earlier, it is very important to be relaxed while
studying and before exams. Similarly, it is also very important to be relaxed
during exams. But in that stressful situation, how to feel relaxed? Actually, it
is not very difficult. Just briefly ideate on your mantra before starting the
exam and before turning your mind to any difficult question.
Some forms of examination – especially essay exams – call
for a degree of creativity in your response. Creativity is not mechanical. It is
not even a function of intellect. Rather, creativity transcends the intellect.
It comes from a higher realm known as intuition. Mental repetition of the mantra
with ideation helps to activate and expand your creative talents. This too is a
big boost at the time of the examination. Even a mediocre reply to a question
will be graded more favorably if it is expressed in a novel way. However, when
creativity is tapped, you typically start with an ordinary answer but end with
an answer from which even you derive some inspiration. Call it divine help or
call it awakening the “cognitive faculty latent in the innermost golden cavity
of every microcosmic mind” – either way, it is a tremendous asset to have at the
time of exams.
Most examinations are time-delimited. So you should always
be time-conscious. Try to pace yourself so that throughout the examination you
make proportional progress. In other words, when one third of your time has
elapsed you should have completed at least one third of the exam. When
two-thirds of your time has elapsed, you should have completed at least two
thirds of the exam.
Your calculation of time should be such that you can
complete the exam with time to spare. That does not mean that you should rush to
be the first person to complete the examination and leave the hall. On the
contrary, until and unless you are convinced that you have answered every single
question completely to the best of your capacity, you should not hand in your
examination paper with time remaining. Rather, with any extra time at the end of
the exam, you should first return to the questions that you either skipped or
answered only partially. Then, after filling in those gaps, with whatever time
is left, you should proofread your entire paper. If you still have more time and
you feel that perhaps you have omitted something, then remain seated and do some
meditation. Generally, after meditating for a while, additional inspiration will
come to you.
In the preceding point, there is an allusion to the
possibility that you skipped one or more particularly difficult questions. If
the examination is written rather than oral or even if it is oral and you are
permitted to do so, you should try to answer the simple questions first.
Whenever possible, don’t hesitate to re-order the examination to suit yourself.
Of course, if it is a written exam, you must be careful to leave sufficient
space to fill in the answers to the questions that you temporarily skip. There
are two advantages to this approach.
First, you don’t lose precious time bogged down on
questions that you ultimately may fail to answer correctly anyway. By wasting
too much time on such questions, you might fail to reach other, easier questions
toward the end of the exam. Obviously, this means that you would receive a lower
grade on the exam.
Second, by answering the easier questions, you often
discover important components of the answers to the more difficult questions. In
any event, by the time you turn your mind to those more difficult questions, you
will be better prepared mentally to consider them. You will also be more relaxed
about the passage of time while you contemplate your answer. In other words, you
have a better chance of correctly answering the difficult questions if you leave
them for last.
While the examination is in progress, the last thing you
want is for your mind to wander. Time lost during an examination cannot be
easily made up. So what is the best way to concentrate the mind?
To answer this, we must consider the method whereby mental
dirt is removed. If you want to remove physical dirt, you push it away. The
process is direct. But if you want to remove mental dirt, you avoid contact with
it. The process is indirect. For example, if you are feeling angry with somebody
and you want to overcome that anger, it won’t be effective for you to start
telling yourself: “I should not be angry.” After a while, you will start
thinking: “I should not be angry, but that so-and-so did such-and-such, and that
is why I am furious.” To overcome the anger, you must take an opposite and
positive ideation – you must contemplate the other party in a sympathetic and
compassionate way. After a while, the waves of anger in your mind will be
neutralized, and your psychic equilibrium will be restored.
What this means in respect to concentration during your
exam is very simple. From time to time, your mind may tend to wander. Whenever
you notice that you are engaging in idle thought, don’t try to push those
useless or ill-timed thoughts out of your mind. Just ignore those thoughts, and
start to work on the exam once more.
It happens to everyone at one time or another that an
important piece of information just can’t be remembered. You know it, but
somehow it has slipped your mind. Naturally, when this happens during an exam,
it is both frustrating and time-consuming. Racking your brain will not help.
That simply increases your mental tension, and tension might well be what caused
the loss of memory in the first place. In other words, by furrowing your brow
and shaking your head back and forth, you are probably only driving that
important data still deeper into the darkened labyrinths of your temporarily
muddled memory.
How then will you recall that which you now desperately
need to know? The rule is: When memory fails, remember the One Who members all.
Close your eyes and let your mind flow toward the infinite, formless, Supreme
Being in Whose cosmic mind this entire universe is contained – the all-knowing
One Who can never forget anything. Take this ideation with the help of your
mantra for a few seconds. Thereafter, bring your mind back to the problem at
hand. Soon, without any effort at all, the missing piece of information will
flash into your mind.
Question
Can a mantra also be helpful in improving concentration?
Answer
Yes, certainly. While explaining the way to remove mental
dirt, I said that you must take an opposite and positive ideation. A proper
mantra will have a meaning that is supremely positive. A proper mantra can help
you to focus your mind and overcome all distractions. And though I did not
mention it before, a proper mantra will also have a sound vibration and rhythm
that work together to focus the mind even when you forget the ideation.
Question
The closer we get to the examination, the more important
meditation seems to become. For example, in this last portion of your
instruction, you mentioned more than once the need for using a mantra. And just
now you told us that repetition of a mantra can also help us to improve our
concentration. If doing meditation is so important, why haven’t you yet given us
a mantra?
Answer
Due to individual psychic differences, meditation is best
learned privately. One person wears size 8 shoes, and another person wears size
12 shoes. Both wear shoes, but neither will benefit much by wearing the other
person’s shoes. Similarly, different mantras are prescribed for different
persons, according to the yogic science of acoustics. Nevertheless, until you
receive your personal mantra, I recommend repeating the universal mantra, “Baba
Nam Kevalam”. This mantra means “God’s name only”.
SUMMARY: DURING THE
EXAMINATION
1. Ideate
2. Pace yourself
3. Answer easy questions first
4. Concentrate
5. When memory fails, remember the One Who remembers all
An examination is usually quite taxing both physically and
mentally. But throughout this process we have been primarily concerned with the
psychic side of life. You should never forget that human existence demands that
we maintain a healthy parallelism between body and mind. Failure to take
sufficient care of either the physical or the psychic side of life is not only
detrimental to the neglected side of life but ultimately to both sides of life.
Now that your examination is over, pay special attention
for a while to your body’s needs. If you are feeling hungry, eat something tasty
and nutritious. If you are feeling muscular or nervous tension, go out and get
some exercise. If you are feeling tired, get some rest.
When once again you are ready to exercise your mind, the
first thing you should do is meditation. That post-examination meditation will
help you to assimilate the knowledge derived from all of your previous study,
and it will prepare your mind for the absorption of new knowledge to be gained
from further study.
Quite often we hear it said that human beings are rational
animals. This definition cannot be admitted on two grounds. First, this
description presents us with a contradiction in terms. If indeed human beings
are rational, then it would be illogical to call them animals, because
rationality elevates human beings far beyond the ordinary precincts of the
animal kingdom. Nobody refers to animals as mobile plants. So we should not
demean human beings by calling them rational animals.
Second, while human beings certainly do have the capacity
for rationality, that rationality is a latent potential that must be awakened
and cultivated. No doubt, we may find a few cases of truly rational human beings
in the history of humanity. No doubt, we may find a few cases of rational human
beings in the world today. But these cases are few and far between. As such,
they can hardly be taken as representative of the human race as a whole.
Here, however, our purpose is not to discuss definitions of
a human being. Our purpose is only to discuss the concept of rationality and to
encourage all students to take pains to develop rationality for their own
personal benefit and for the benefit of all. To do this, let us go back to the
beginning and re-examine the nature of study.
Already it has been stated that study may be either
literate or non-literate. But now it must be added that in both varieties of
study there are two ineradicable flaws. The first flaw results from ignorance,
and the second from the passage of time. It is possible that your lecturer or
the author of your textbook is mistaken in some respect, or possibly you
yourself misunderstood what was being communicated. Alternatively, it is
possible that the information was correct at the time it was first presented;
but, due to passage of time, changes have come about that now invalidate the
information. Therefore, no information that you acquire through study should
ever be accepted fully at face value, because these two defects open the
possibility of error.
Despite the inherent dangers, careful study may uncover a
wealth of accurate information. Furthermore, careful study may bring to light
many facts that deflate all kinds of popular myths. So the importance of study
is tremendous. Study benefits students by expanding the frontiers of their
knowledge. And when students are diligent in disseminating what they learned
throughout all sections of society, then everyone will have greater opportunity
to judge matters in the light of truth. Regrettably, today the human intellect
is fettered by chains of dogma. As students, you have the dual duty to liberate
your own intellect and also to liberate the intellect of others.
But never forget that ordinary study alone is not
sufficient to qualify you as a rational being. As mentioned, study has two
defects – ignorance and time. Somehow, you must neutralize those defects. You
must not accept automatically whatever you read or hear. Accept something only
after thorough verification. Without this process of verification, your study
can be neither proper nor complete. And even when your study is proper and
complete, still it remains only the base on which rationality is founded.
So, finally, what is rationality? Rationality is a two
stage process involving analysis and a progressive conclusion. In the first
stage, you weigh the pros and cons of every piece of data and come to a logical
decision regarding its positive and negative aspects. In the second stage, you
decide on a course of action that not only is practical but also serves the
welfare and happiness of everyone.
All of us are lifelong students. As students, our duty is
to learn the truth through persistent and disciplined study. But as human
beings, our duty is much greater. As human beings, our duty is to take our
learning and act on it in accordance with rationality. Let all the people of our
world enjoy social security and intellectual freedom.
For those who would like to receive personal instruction in
meditation and yoga, please contact your local Ananda Marga center.
All the
entities of the universe are on the move. No one has come to rest, to lament
unnecessarily. And in this movement lies the success of every entity – the
colorful glamour of one’s existence. So move on individually, move on
collectively. Let your sincere help illuminate those who have lagged behind on
the path of movement. May you be victorious.
Shrii Shrii
Anandamurti
4 May 1985