Svadhyaya Quotes

It is Maya that makes you feel, “This man is inferior and the other man is superior.

Next comes svadhyaya or study. This means study that concerns the true Self, not merely analyzing the emotions and mind as the psychologists and psychiatrists do. Anything that will elevate your mind and remind you of your true Self should be studied: the Bhagavad Gita, the Bible, the Koran, these Yoga Sutras, or any uplifting scripture. Study

Svadhyaya SELF-STUDY MEANING Svadhyaya, the fourth niyama from the Eight-Limbed Path, is described as the ability to self-study and reflect. SIGNIFICANCE The only way to get to Yoga is to be able to reflect and think for oneself, which is what Svadhyaya requires.

Svadhyaya is about noticing and then reflecting on what you notice. It’s not really a prescription for change; it’s an invitation to discover who you already are so you can move forward with confidence and clarity. Becoming self-aware allows you to enter into a relationship with your past, but it also encourages you to be fully present to your interactions and reactions, as they are happening. There may be times in which what begins to surface proves to be too much to handle. That’s okay too. Acknowledge what’s coming up, bring it to light, and ask it for more time.

The practices presented in the Yoga Sutras fall into the following categories: The physical practices of asana and pranayama Meditation (dharana, dhyana, samadhi) Devotion to God or self-surrender (Ishwara Pranidhana) Understanding and accepting suffering as a help for purification (tapas) Discriminative discernment (viveka) Study (svadhyaya)

To grasp the metaphysical meaning of svadhyaya, sva means inhalation, inhalation means soul, soul means He. Adhyaya means to study or seek or culture. Soul culture is real svadhyaya.

Madhva refers to this practice as jijnasa, or inquiry; this can only occur when one is free from preconceptions (duragraha) (Raghavendrachar 1953). Critical selfreflection is needed as one engages in study. To achieve this one needs the compassion of Vishnu, but one also needs to make an effort by hearing the texts, meditating upon them, contemplating them very deeply, studying them regularly, and teaching them to others (sravana, manana, nididhyasana, svadhyaya, and pravacana). This formulation is not Madhva’s alone: “Yajfiavalkya said: “You see, Maitreyi—it is the self (atman) which one should see and hear, and on which one should reflect and concentrate. For by seeing and hearing one’s self, and by reflecting and concentrating on one’s self, one gains the knowledge of this whole world”’ (Brhad, 2.4.5).