SVADHYAYA & THIRUMALAR
Srivatsa Ramaswami

Svadhyaya is a Sanskrit word many yogis are familiar with. It is a samasa or a compound word. It can be split into sva meaning ‘own’, and adhyaya or study; therefore svadhyaya would mean own study. It is open to different interpretations. It could mean study by oneself or study of the Self, or as my Guru would interpret based on tradition, study of one’s own scriptures. In his case it was studying his branch of the Vedas, or sakha. It was Taittiriya saka of the Yajur veda, which also happens to be my sakha or branch of the Vedas. It became easy to study vedic chanting with him. The term svadhyaya is found in the Taittiriya Upansihad and there is a chapter in the same rendition (in aranyaka), called svadhyaya prakarana which extols the efficacy of vedic chanting especially the venerated Gayatri. Some scholars refer to svadhyaya with a more generalized interpretation. Since sva is own, svadhyaya could mean study of the Self: or the atma vidya or adhyatma vidya which is the subject matter of the Upanishadic portion of the Vedas. It could include other philosophies which help to understand the nature of the Self, like Yoga and Samkhya. Hence all studies in which the main goal is realization of the Self or Soul can be termed as svadhyaya.

To continue reading this article please download it or subscribe to Namarupa. Thank you