The fourth Niyama ( do's ) of yoga is Svadhyaya.
Svadhyaya means self-education, education of the self, study of the self, observe our self, self inquiry.
It is made up of two words sva and adhyaya.
Sva means self and adhyaya means education.
Understanding our self is a very large topic.
Understanding our self, means understanding this universe.
We are because of sun, earth, plants, water, sky, soil, mother, father and on and on.
Now sun is because of Milky Way, Milky Way is because of universe and so on.
So to understand ourselves we need to understand the whole universe / cosmos.
If we understand the balance of this universe cosmos, the balance of our breathe in and breathe out, the hot and cold, we have understood our self.
Self is not self alone, self is a part of balance of universe.
Just think if you eat an apple, how many factor play their role. Apple grow on tree. Tree needs soil, water, earth, sun, air, space, light, carbon dioxide etc, to grow, so on and so forth.
While doing yoga our process of self-inquiry or svadhyaya will start.
We need to have knowledge of the outer world to know our self.
We and all our activities are connected to outside world.
Our existence is because of outside world.
Svadhyaya is about giving time to know ourselves.
The more we know about ourselves, we live more better life.
We start understanding our emotions. We start understanding our like and dislikes.
We start understanding the best natural condition for us.
We start understanding our body more.
We start understanding our body parts.
We get to know our weak body parts and strong body parts.
We start to know which part of our body is healthy and which part of our body has disease.
We start to understand which process would improve our diseased body part.
We come to understand that there are billions of human like us on earth, each having different face and each having different finger prints.
We can understand nature better.
Svadhyaya leads us to self improvement and thus improvement of this universe / cosmos as a whole.
Rajesh
Svadhyaya means self-education, education of the self, study of the self, observe our self, self inquiry.
It is made up of two words sva and adhyaya.
Sva means self and adhyaya means education.
Understanding our self is a very large topic.
Understanding our self, means understanding this universe.
We are because of sun, earth, plants, water, sky, soil, mother, father and on and on.
Now sun is because of Milky Way, Milky Way is because of universe and so on.
So to understand ourselves we need to understand the whole universe / cosmos.
If we understand the balance of this universe cosmos, the balance of our breathe in and breathe out, the hot and cold, we have understood our self.
Self is not self alone, self is a part of balance of universe.
Just think if you eat an apple, how many factor play their role. Apple grow on tree. Tree needs soil, water, earth, sun, air, space, light, carbon dioxide etc, to grow, so on and so forth.
While doing yoga our process of self-inquiry or svadhyaya will start.
We need to have knowledge of the outer world to know our self.
We and all our activities are connected to outside world.
Our existence is because of outside world.
Svadhyaya is about giving time to know ourselves.
The more we know about ourselves, we live more better life.
We start understanding our emotions. We start understanding our like and dislikes.
We start understanding the best natural condition for us.
We start understanding our body more.
We start understanding our body parts.
We get to know our weak body parts and strong body parts.
We start to know which part of our body is healthy and which part of our body has disease.
We start to understand which process would improve our diseased body part.
We come to understand that there are billions of human like us on earth, each having different face and each having different finger prints.
We can understand nature better.
Svadhyaya leads us to self improvement and thus improvement of this universe / cosmos as a whole.
Rajesh