The Sanskrit Effect

India’s ancient heritage of chanting mantras has been appreciated the time and again by various scholars across the Globe. It has been found that memorizing Vedic mantras can increase the size of our brain and enhance our problem solving and cognitive skills! The influence of west and pressure of learning foreign languages, for suitable career options, has made Sanskrit quite old fashioned despite its immense potential. James Hatrzell, a neuroscientist, conducted research on 21 pundits who regularly chanted Sanskrit mantras. Similar study was conducted by AIIMS on Gayatri Mantra. The conclusions were startling! The MRI test results confirmed a 10% increase in grey matter across both cerebral hemispheres.   In a world of shrinking attention spans, where we are flooded with information daily, and children display a range of attention deficit disorders, ancient Indian wisdom has much to offer. Even introducing small amounts of chanting and recitation could have an amazing effect on all of our brains. Thanks to MRIS the Gayatri Mantra is a part of regular prayer in the school. As parents, if we can take a step ahead and make our children chant it for 5-10 minutes a day, their problem solving and stress-bearing capacity can be increased considerably. And, we would also have the satisfaction of sharing our ancient heritage with them!  Happy Chanting!