Right from my childhood, while other peers were busy in normal mundane affairs, my curiosity to know what a human body comprises of and to unravel the processes which made it diseased, always fascinated me. In this curious exercise, I got an opportunity to sift through varied subjects, which, in the normal course, were neither needed to be pursued for academic distinctions nor for any specific motive in mind. I was not sure whether what I inferred was, in fact, right or wrong, but whatever I acquired, with the Divine Grace, made me believe that what all of us call as a “man” is a product of “discursive formations” and of the “socio-political contingencies” of the various epochs of human history. The concept of “man” is beyond grammar and logic. “Man” is an invention of society, in the same way that “being” is an invention of metaphysics. While a famed…

Before proceeding with penning down my musings on “Svadhyay” I find here an opportunity to profusely thank Venerable Meena Om ji, the originator and the exalted driving force behind this innovative platform of pranam.org, to have encouraged me to lay bare my personal experiences, which I think, are never ending to uphold the infinite concept of swadhyay. It would be pertinent to refer to what Swami Vivekanand once told a seeker when asked how many persons have been influenced by his sayings. He said that even if he can change only one person in his life time, it will make his life well lived for. As truth is eternal and multi faceted, therefore, Swami Vivekanand succinctly opined that “Truth can be stated in a thousand different ways, yet each one can be true." Through these musings what I am conveying about my personal experiences with “svadhyay” is true as well.…

Now starts the step by step story of my journey in pursuing “svadhyay”. Between the age of 5 to 10 years, children played “gulli-danda” or “kanche” or flew kites, all my innate self drove me to collect herbs, plant flowers, fruits and roots, macerate them and put them in one “pateela” discarded by my mother. In the name of fire, I used to make a “desi chulha” by using three bricks in stand on position. Collect dried leaves and dried twigs from a number of trees growing in our house. In the boiling cauldron, some salt and some sarson oil was put to prepare medicine, which in my juvenile mind, perceived to cure humans and cattle of their ailments. Apart from my innocuous shenanigans with plants, I took to reading “Satyarth Prakash” by Swami Daya Nand, Books by Swami Vivekanand, Swami Ram Tirath and Swami Satya Nand. These books was…

Svadhyaya, as the name implies, has its origin in the hallowed Sanskrit language, literally interpreted as,” sva,” meaning “own, or one’s self or the human soul; and “adhyaya”, meaning a "lesson or a reading or to meditate or to contemplate..”  In other words, “svadhyaya” literally means “to read one’s self or to learn the lessons of your own soul or a close study of the self.” Svadhyaya is the key to deepening your spiritual practice as well as to improving your relationship with others and yourself. In the Yogic Parlance it also means studying the body and understanding its needs and limitations. In famed "Yoga Sutras of Maharishi Patanjali. practicing svadhyaya is regarded as a niyama (positive or righteous duty). By engaging in ‘svadhyay” it is imminent to get connected to the Universal Infinite Reservoir of Consciousness that is omnipresent in the whole universe and thus realize how an individual self aligns with that…