JULY 2009 1 2 THE DIVINE LIFE JULY 2009 BENEFITS OF SVADHYAYA (H.H. Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj) WHAT IS SVADHYAYA? rectly presented be fore the mind. Then only percep tion is pos si ble. How can the atomic vadhyaya is daily study of reli gious scrip - S mind see the rest of the world? It is im pos si - tures and books written by realised sages. It ble. Therefore, percep tion is not so au thori ta - is the daily Patha or Parayana of sa cred tive and reli able as ‘Srutis’. You see a blue books. It is the fourth Anga or limb of Raja col our in Akasa. It is a false at tribu tion or Yogic Niyama. Svadhyaya is also en quiry of Adhyasa. You can not depend on the the na ture of Atman or “Who am I”. It is reci - Pramana of percep tion. Srutis are reve la - ta tion of Mantras also. Svadhyaya forms a tions. They are the direct superintuitive expe - sort of nega tive Satsanga when you cannot ri ences of Rishis, sages. Srutis give an get pos i tive Satsanga of Mahat mas. ac cu rate knowledge of Brahman. Srutis re- Svadhyaya is the study of scriptures move your Pramanagata Sandeha, doubt such as Bhagavadgita, Upanishads, about the valid ity of the Vedantic text. God or Ramayana, Bhagavata, etc. The study Brahman is Atindriya, be yond the reach of should be done with con cen tration. You the senses; is Avang-Mano-Gochara, be- should un derst and what you have stud ied yond the reach of mind and speech. Sruti is and try to put in your every day life all that you the basis of Nididhyasana or deep medi ta - have learnt. There will be no ben e fit in your tion. The Brahmakara-vritti is gen erated from study if you do not ex ert to live up to the the hearing of the Mahavakyas, “Tat Tvam teach ings of the scrip tures. Svadhyaya in- Asi,” “Aham Brahma Asmi,” of the Srutis. cludes also Japa, the repe ti tion of Mantras. Jnana Yoga is impos si ble without Sravana, Const ant study and its prac tice in daily life will Manana of the Srutis. Some learned fools, lead one to have commu nion with God. big wise fools who pose to pos sess rea son, whereas they really mist ake their fancies and WHY SVADHYAYA? prefer ences for reason de clare that they will Svadhyaya means ‘Self-study’, Brah- ac cept that portion of the Srutis which ap- man is to be learnt through the Srutis and in - peals to rea son. They will never get out of this de pend ent think ing and rea son ing have Samsara Chakra. They are doomed for de- nothing to do with it. Badarayana (Vyasa) struc tion. seeks shel ter always in the letter of the If, for a moment, the aspi rant relaxes his Vedas. Srutis are in fal li ble and au thor i ta tive. vigi lance and falls into a spir i tual or ethi cal Sruti Pramana is su pe rior to percep tion. Per- slumber then the lower pull assert s it self and, cep tion leads to er rors. Percep tion of a jar is im me di ately the al le giance shifts from the really percep tion of jar minus the rest of the higher to the lower self. If, at that time, he co- world. The jar and the rest of the world are di- mes into cont act with sen sual ob jects, there JULY 2009 BENEFITS OF SVADHYAYA 3 takes place a set back in his spir i tual life. and makes the mind run in these new Therefore, this alert vigi lance and spir i tual grooves. awareness, the state of being al ways awak- To translate the precept s con tained in ened, has nec es sar ily to be kept up at this the books of the sages and saints into ac tion stage. is to have your af flicted body soothed, to One of the ways of do ing this is have your bruised soul healed and to save Svadhyaya, study of scrip tures. One of the yourselves from all kinds of ills of life which most power ful methods of keep ing the mind are due to igno rance. Spiri tual books act as fully alive to the Ideal, is read ing of scrip tures con sol ing com pan ions un der all vex ing cir - and the lives of saints daily. For, when you cumst ances, as ideal teach ers in all dif fi cul - read the lives of saints and spir i tual books, a ties, as guid ing lights in the nights of host of power ful and pos i tive ideas rush to ne science and folly, as pana cea for evils and your mind and, at once, your men tal powers as shapers of des tiny. are sharpened. They at once inspire the man Scriptures con tain the wis dom of sages and lift him and enable him to conquer the and saints, phi los o phers and mystics. By lower forces in his every day life. Therefore, Svadhyaya, master the secret s of all sci - Svadhyaya should not be given up even for a ences, know the exact na ture of things, and sin gle day in the life of a Sadhaka. tune your lo cal ized be ing or in di vid u al ized person al ity with the work ings of the Divine BENEFITS OF SVADHYAYA Nature of the Laws of Truth. Wisdom is the Svadhyaya inspires and el e vates the key to the Pleni tude of Power and Joy. Wis - mind to high spiri tual al ti tude. It clears dom an nuls count less suf fer ings, in nu mer a- doubts. It weeds out unholy ideas. It cuts new ble sins, cuts the root of igno rance and spir i tual grooves for the mind to move on. It con fers upon you the Peaceful Harmony and reduces wan dering of the mind or Vikshepa. Ab so lute Per fec tion. It helps con cen tration. It forms a kind of lower Be regu lar in the study of reli gious Savikalpa Samadhi. It serves pas ture for the books, Ramayana, Bhagavata, Yoga mind to graze upon. When you study the sa- Vasishtha and other good books. If you re- cred books, you are in tune with the authors flect on the ideas of the Bhagavadgita and fix who are realised souls. You draw inspi ration the mind on these ideas this it self is a form of and be come ecst atic. lower Samadhi. Gita is a unique book for When you cannot get posi tive Satsanga Svadhyaya. It cont ains the es sence of all the of Mahat mas, Svadhyaya clears doubts. It Yogas and the cream of the Vedas. You can strengthens the flick ering faith. It induces de vote half an hour to three hours daily for strong yearn ing for lib er a tion or as pi ra tion. It this pur pose ac cord ing to the time at your dis - gives en cour age ment and il lu mi na tion. It posal. Study of scriptures is Kriya Yoga or places be fore you a list of saints who trod the Niyama. It puri fies the heart and fills the mind path, en coun tered and re moved dif fi cul ties with sub lime and el e vat ing thoughts. and thus cheers you up with hope and vig our. Therefore, study of scriptures, bearing It fills the mind with Sattva or purity; it inspires the sa cred truths propounded by men of wis - and el e vates the mind. It helps con cen tration dom, listen ing to the Lilas of the Lord are and medi ta tion. It cuts new Sattvic grooves never to be given up by sincere Sadhakas, at 4 THE DIVINE LIFE JULY 2009 what ever stage of spir i tual evo lu tion they spir i tual lit era ture come to your great aid. may be. Are you more advanced than Sri They are your saviours. How many sub lime Sukadeva who was a born sage and thoughts are brought to your very doors by Parivrajaka? Are you more advanced than the scrip tures? Study the pages of the scrip - the great sages who assem bled at tures carefully . Under line the sen tences that Naimisaranya to lis ten to Srimad Bhagavata strike you as having a di rect bearing on your be ing narrated by Sri Suta? Learn a les son life. Reflect over them in your leisure mo- from these il lus tri ous ex am ples of great ments. Thus would you find that you are able sages. Be for ever a Sadhaka. Be for ever a to surmount many ob sta cles and jump over thirst ing as pi rant af ter spir i tual knowl edge. many pit falls. Is the mind disin clined to read Be for ever a student. He and he alone is an these pas sages over and over again? That is old man who feels that he has learnt enough Maya’s po tent weapon to put you to sleep. and has need for no more knowledge. He is a Beware! Are you not tak ing the same food man dead while alive who does not feel a over and over again? You will have to go on compel ling ea gerness to lis ten to the stories reading and re reading the selfsame spiri tual of the Lord’s Lilas or to spir i tual dis courses.