The Niyamas: Svadhyaya as Deep Study of the Self and Yoga
I've chosen these wonderfully beautiful images from outer space to inspire reflection upon the space within. When you get that big and consider the Universe, it often invokes self consideration as well.
“How far down the rabbit hole do you want to go?” asked Douglas Brooks in my first workshop with him, many years ago.
“All the way!” I responded enthusiastically.
We were studying a text called The Pratyabhijna-Hridayam. It’s a text that invites you into the heart of self-realization. It’s absolutely beautiful. And I still haven’t gotten all the way through it. Heh. One day…
Sometimes I feel like I could just open up the top of my head and let the information pour in. When I am passionate about something, I often study it intensely!
Of course, sometimes studying yoga can also be quite dense and hard to absorb. I remember reading the Shiva Sutras as one of the required books for Anusara® yoga certification.
The text was so dense that, with the summer heat and the comfort of the couch on my front porch, I often found myself needing a nap every 3 pages or so. It helped the information sink in, on some level at least.
The thing with deep wisdom, especially when it comes through an ancient, immensely powerful language like Sanskrit, is that one line can offer an incredible amount of information and you can contemplate it for a long time.
Though this article does speak mostly on the study of texts, really, self-study encompasses all of life. It is an attitude of awareness and willingness to perceive yourself and learn deeply from everything you encounter.
Svadhyaya, the fourth of the niyamas, is a deep study of the self, through contemplation, practice, and also via the vast wisdom contained in sacred texts.
How To Study Sacred Texts:
Let’s jump straight to Patanjali’s Sutra 2.44 and see what it has for us, shall we?
Svadhyayat ishtadevata sampryogah
Now, when studying texts like this, there is an order to things.
First, try out the taste of the sutra before actually getting all intellectual. Say it out loud a few times and see what it FEELS like, even if you don’t know its meaning.
Go ahead. I’ll wait…
“Svadhyayat ishtadevata sampryogah… Svadhyayat ishtadevata sampryogah… Svadhyayat ishtadevata sampryogah…“
Then, once you’ve rolled the Sanskrit around in your mouth and felt the vibration of it, you can move on to looking at the meaning of the words.. By breaking down the words, you can formulate your own ideas about it…
Svadhayad – through self-study
Ishtadevata – chosen diety, patron saint
Samprayogah – communion, uniting with the Divine
Which gives you a pretty clear idea, doesn’t it?
Or maybe not…
But what does it mean to you? Do you have any experience discovering a clearer connection with whatever you believe in your heart through the process of self-study?
Very likely you do. Contemplate that for a moment.
After allowing yourself to sit with the feeling (bhava) of the sutra, and thinking about what it means to you initially and through your own experience, it’s a great idea to see what others have to say about it…
Here are a few different translations of the same sutra:
“Through self-study one has communion with one’s Ishtadevata (your superhero).” – as translated by John Friend
“Self-study leads towards the realization of God or communion with one’s desired deity.” – as translated by B.K.S. Iyengar
“Study, when developed to the highest degree, brings one close to higher forces that promote understanding of the most complex.” – as translated by T.K.V. Desikachar
Generally those who translate the sutras will also give you more guidance as far as the meaning, for these small phrases can be unpacked seemingly infinitely.
Sometimes, to me, this is the most insightful part – you bring all of the above together with the perspectives offered by different teachers, and then sitting with it to formulate what it really means to you.
The Deep Study of the Self as a Practice of Yoga
I quite like Desikachar’s expanded ideas on the concept of Svadhyaya:
“Sva means ‘self’ or ‘belonging to me.’ Adhyaya means ‘inquiry’ or ‘examination’; literally, ‘to get close to something.’ Svadhyaya therefore means to get close to yourself, that is, to stuy yourself.
All learning, all reflection, all contact that helps you learn more about yourself is svadhyaya. In the context of the niyamas we find the term often translated as ‘the study of ancient texts.’
Yes, yoga does instruct us to read the ancient texts. Why? Because we cannot always just sit down and contemplate things. We need reference points. For many this may be the Bible or a book that is of personal significance; for others it may be the Yoga Sutra. The Yoga Sutra says, for instance, that as we progress in our self-examination, we will gradually find a link with the divine laws and with the prophets who revealed them. And since mantra are often recited for this purpose, we sometimes find svadhyaya translated as ‘the repetition of mantras.’” – from The Heart of Yoga, by T.K.V. Desikachar
Dive deep into the heart of self-study. Use whatever speaks to you; meditation, asana, mantra, texts, and even seemingly random bits of songs on the radio, billboards, and fleeting encounters. All the elements of life can contribute.
So, the question I invite you to think about is, “How far down the rabbit hole do you want to go?”
Every opportunity to study your self and the world around you is an invitation to connect to the essence of all that is.
