Human
Brain: A Marvellously Rich Storehouse of Memory-III
= Pt. ShriRam Sharma
About a century ago, a major market in a city of Denmark was caught
in devastating fire; all the records and cash of a bank's branch were charred
into ashes. By the next day the anxious depositors began to crowd around the
bank premises in panic. The supramental memory of a clerk in that bank saved
them from the unprecedented crisis. This man could recall the names, account
numbers and the latest bank balance in the accounts of thousand odd customers
of his bank. His information was found correct by appropriate inquiry with the
customers and police investigations.
He was soon honored by the post of chairman of the corporate group
of that bank. Renowned Scottish historian Thomas Carlyle (b1795-d1881) had
given the first handwritten manuscript of his book on the French Revolution to
noted scholar John Stuart Mill for editing. By mistake, the latter's servant
burnt many pages of this manuscript in the cooking fireplace. When Mill
apologised before the author, this shocking news did not perturb him at all.
Because of his extraordinary memory and dedication to the work, Carlyle could
reproduce the revised version of the manuscript with new enthusiasm. It is said
that our interest and attention in the subject and the importance and influence
of an event or assimilated knowledge plays a predominant role in registering of
the associated matters into deeper folds of our memory which can be retrieved
by sincere practice. According to Carl Emil Seashore, a noted American
psychologist of the 1890's, an average man uses only about 10% of his natural
memory.
Remaining 90% is left unused in a haphazard or dormant state. This
is why one generally remains intellectually deprived or dull. If one is alert
and systematically attempts to awaken and adeptly use the natural memory, the
latter would be activated creatively and offer intellectual benefits of higher
order. Some people are endowed with exceptionally sharp memory since the time
of birth. Their extraordinary mental potentials often startle others. John
Fielding was one such gifted person.
He lived in Gloucestershire, England during 1901 to 1960. This man
was born blind. His memory was so vivid that he could easily remember the names
and addresses of over ten thousands persons whom he had ever met or interacted
with. He was able to recollect this information without any mistake just by
hearing the voice of any of these people. Another Englishman, Montugunes also
had similar memory. Incidentally, he too was blind since birth. The British
Government had selected him for the job of a postman because of his exceptional
memory. He used to sort out and arrange the deliverable letters with the help
of an assistant. The latter used to read the addresses loudly - this was
sufficient for Montugunes to store the entire sequence of corresponding
addresses in his mind.
Thanks GOD, Thanks Sadguru,
Shiv Sharma
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