Text 44]
Pastimes of Childhood and Youth
223
SYNONYMS
jhañjhāvāta —the strong wind of a storm;  prāya —like;  āmi —I;  śloka —verses;  paḍila —recited;  tāra —of them;  madhye —in the midst;  śloka —one verse;  tumi —You;  kaiche —how;  kaṇthe —within the heart;  kaila —have taken.
TRANSLATION
“I recited all the verses like the blowing wind. How could You completely learn by heart even one among those verses?”
TEXT 44
প্রভু কছে, দেবের বরে তুমি—‘কবিবর’।  
 ঐছে দেবের বরে কেছো হয় ‘শ্রুতিধর’ ॥ 88 ॥
prabhu kahe, devera vare tumi—‘kavi-vara’  
 aiche devera vare keho haya ‘śrutidhara’
SYNONYMS
prabhu —the Lord;  kahe —replied;  devera —of a superior power;  vare —by benediction;  tumi —you;  kavi-vara —the most elevated poet;  aiche —similarly;  devera —of the Lord;  vare —by the benediction;  keho —someone;  haya —becomes;  śrutidhara —one who can immediately remember.
TRANSLATION
The Lord replied: “By the grace of the Lord someone may become a great poet, and similarly by His grace someone else may become a great śrutidhara who can memorize anything immediately.”
PURPORT
In this connection,  śrutidhara  is a very important word.  Śruti  means “hearing,” and  dhara  means “one who can capture.” Formerly, before the beginning of Kali-yuga, almost everyone, especially among the intelligent men, the  brāhmaṇas , was a  śrutidhara . As soon as a student heard any of the Vedic wisdom from his master, he would remember it forever. There was no need to refer to books, and therefore there were no written books in those days. The spiritual master delivered the Vedic hymns and their explanations to the student, who would then remember them forever, without consulting books.
To become a  śrutidhara , one who can remember simply by hearing, is a great achievement for a student. In  Bhagavad-gītā  the Lord says:
yad yad vibhūtimat sattvaṁ  
 śrīmad ūrjitam eva vā