Svadhyaya by "reading for oneself"
On Svadhyaya.
We have often heard someone say: ‘He knows’, meaning that someone really knows. I heard it being said many times. But I know for sure that one doesn’t know the way it is being referred to. One makes only an impression of knowledge and in that moment of time there can be an opening to a deeper perception, which can be felt and experienced. This opening is made by the one who is aspiring to know the truth, but neither speaker nor hearer possesses the opening or the truth. This opening is created by the Word, which comes from some depths of our consciousness. It brings with itself its inner spaces and creates the opening in the minds of speaker and hearer.
So, the one who speaks aspiring to know receives sometimes the Word which opens his mind and those who listen to the depths of their own being. This truth about the word was known from the Vedic times. In the 125th hymn to Vak of the 10th mandala of the Rigveda the Word, Vak, herself confirms this truth. ‘It is me, She says, who opens the passage to the Knowledge. I make man wise and knowledgeable and strong. It is me who defeats the enemy; it is me who performs the Sacrifice. I bring all the powers of the Divine Mother (Adityas) into action.’
On this ground the whole concept of the Sacrifice is built. Svadhyaya by ‘reading for oneself’ the sacred text with the aspiration to know the truth and the silent and attentive mind observing it generates the power of the Word which opens its perception to the inner spaces and thus introduces forces of the beyond into our smaller being here. This process of opening and introducing the inner consciousness and its powers is done by the Word. All the rest follows: Knowledge, Power, Light, Bliss.
The word is the secret power of our ascending consciousness.
commented by ihaiva on Apr 1, 2012
I find reading and re-reading Sri Aurobindo's Hymns to the Mystic Fire, and the Secret of the Veda very helpful in guiding and illuminating my svadhyaya. Also hearing Vedic verses being chanted helps in the absorption of the words.
commented by Satish on Mar 1, 2012
Nice topic to know our-self.
Thank you Vladimir.
Teaching of whole veda are related and based on "Sva-adhyaya". To study by your self and to do research on your own self. Self is the most important thing what the vedas teach us.
commented by Arul Dev on May 10, 2011
"Having gathered your consciousness and focused your attention on what you are reading, you must establish a minimum of mental tranquillity—the best thing would be to obtain perfect silence—and achieve a state of immobility of the mind, immobility of the brain, I might say, so that the attention becomes as still and immobile as a mirror, like the surface of absolutely still water. Then what one has read passes through the surface and penetrates deep into the being where it is received with a minimum of distortion. Afterwards— sometimes long afterwards—it wells up again from the depths and manifests in the brain with its full power of comprehension, not as knowledge acquired from outside, but as a light one
carried within."
Thoughts and Aphorisms - The Mother
commented by Rod on May 9, 2011
There is an interesting problem of grammar in the first sentence, however, which also shows the truth of grammar. "We have someone say:" would be correct because "someone" in this sentence is the objective case, ie. "him". "Somene says:" would be nominative case. This word opens the window of practical language and calls for the response from the manas plane, which is based on the concept of "differance". The word of Savitri, or mantra, calls for a response on the plane of vijnana because it emanates from that plane.