Wrote the following article about memorizing Gurbani, sometime ago:
Everyone is different as far as memorizing Baani is concerned. I think, the baani that we have been reading in previous lives is the easiest to memorize and the new baanis that we start doing paath in this life are a bit harder to memorize.
It is very important to memorize Gurbani and it is written in the old rehitnaamas that the loving singhs of Guru Sahib, memorize as much baani as possible. If someone can post the original pankiti, that will be great.
Baba Harnaam Singh Rampur Khere waale, warned his close associates to memorize as much baani as possible. He said that a very bad time is coming up and Gurbani will become rare (Durlabh is the word he used).
Faithful Muslims, the diwaanay of Prophet Mohammad, out of love for Koran Shareef memorize the whole of Koran Sharif and such faithful Muslims are called Haafiz i.e. ones who “hifaz” the Koran”. Prophet Mohammad encouraged his followers to memorize Koran and this is the reason why Koran has stayed unchanged over so many years. At any given time, there are numerous haafiz of Koran.
Many Old time Pandits had 4 Vedas memorized and it is said that Vedas were put in writing only few thousand years ago
Father of Sardar Kahn Singh Nabha, had whole of Guru Granth Sahib jee memorized and he was an “Atee Akhand Paathee”. An Atee Akhand Paathee is such Khalsa who can do the whole of Siri Akhand Paath Sahib in one sitting without stopping. Once the Nabha-pat (King of Nabha) asked Bhai Sahib (S. Kahn Singh’s father) to recite whole of Siri Akhand Paath in one sitting. Bhai Sahib agreed and he did the whole Akhand Paath in one sitting. He was a great gursikh. His name was Baba Narayan Singh.
Baani is the aadhaar (foundation) of a Sikh and it is not possible to always read baani from Gutka or pothi. Sometimes we may be stuck in such situations where we may not have access to Gurbani. Are we going to stop doing paath then? In order to protect our Rehit, we must try our best to memorize Nitnem, Siri Sukhmani Sahib and Asa kee Vaar. This much Baani is a must to memorize because this is how much Baani we should strive to do paath of, everyday.
Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh jee had great amount of baani memorized. He wrote whole of Gurmat Bibek, without the help of any pothi as he was in jail at that time. All the parmaans (references) to Gurbani in that book were from his memory. There are about 500 quotes from Gurbani in this book of Bhai Sahib. It is amazing to see how much baani he had memorized. Bhai Sahib writes that after amrit, he used to do Sukhmani Sahib all the time. How could he have done it, if he had not had it memorized?
It is said that if we continue to memorize something as we get older, our mind stays stronger and fresh. After finishing studies, most people stop learning anything more and sensing this, our body acts to free up the cells in brain that are intended for memory. If we start to memorize baani, our mind will become more sharp and there is no limit to how much baani we can memorize.
The best way to memorize baani is to take baby-steps in memorizing it. Say, you want to memorize Siri Sukhmani Sahib. Give yourself one week to memorize one ashtpadi. Read that ashtpadi about 8-10 times a day and on day 4, start memorizing the the pauris one by one. You will be surprised how easily you will have it memorized. If we memorize one ashtpadi a week, we can have Siri Sukhmani Sahib memorized in less than 6 months. Can you imagine the benefits of having this baani memorized?
Similarly, it is imperative to memorize Siri Asa kee Vaar. If we don’t have this baani memorized, we just have to sit and listen to the kirtan but if we have it memorized we can sing and listen to baani. This is double laaha. Our rasna will get pure while singing this baani and we can keep our eyes closed to minimized distractions. Of course, we still have to listen to it.
Here is a summary of formula that worked for me:
1. Attempt to memorize one Ang of Siri Guru Granth Sahib jee at a time. One ang would be roughly equal to one ashtpadi (actually little less than that) of Siri Sukhmani Sahib. Give yourself at least a week and maximum two weeks to memorize this much baani.
2. Remember that a drop may seem very little but if poured consistently, drops can fill a bucket over time. Same way, be patient and memorize little by little and soon you can memorize a lot of baani.
3. The baani that you are going to memorize in a week or two, should be read at least 7-10 times a day. This will take you only 15 minutes or so. For the first 4 days don’t attempt to memorize it, just read it 7-10 times.
4. On the fourth day or the fifth day, or when you can do this baani in less than minute and a half (one ang or one ashtpadi), further divide this baani into 4 or 5 parts and memorize one part a day for next 3-4 days. By the end of the week, you should have this baani memorized.
5. Above all, do ardaas before Guru Sahib to have you memorize his baani.
There are many other ways to memorize baani but this is the way I know and have tested on myself. If anyone can benefit from this, I will be greatly thankful to Guru Sahib.
Daas,
Kulbir Singh
ਸਤਿਗੁਰਬਚਨਕਮਾਵਣੇਸਚਾਏਹੁਵੀਚਾਰੁ॥