Svādhyāya offers thought seeds as oblation into the “fire” of Tapas… They are tightly coupled niyamas that run in spirals.

We Individually select the question/s, analyze,  set the investigative program, determine the method of study, we individually walk the path, and finally, we individually realize the vision (Darśana).  That’s the blueprint for Svādhyāya.  Never to take someone else’s conclusions for granted – no one.  This is not to disrespect anyone.  No gimmes, axioms, or assumptions; all verified and realized individually.  Absolute unverified belief in what someone else is saying is to give away control, and can even lead to dangerous consequences.

Granted, sometimes this exploration puts us on a tough path!  To make this point, rishis tell us an interesting anthropomorphized story, where this exploration process actually takes a famous rishi all the way to the abode of  “supreme God” and makes him kick that God in his chest…!!!

The story…

From 10.89 of Bhagavatam:

Rishi Suka (the storyteller, the rishi with perfect memory) tells his audience which included a King: O King, as a group of sages were performing a “Yajna” on the banks of the Saraswati River [Remember the river Saraswati from our “meditation” blurbs?  The flow of thought/information ensembles coming down from the seventh to sixth chakra, as it breaks up into several tributaries along the way…; a possible hint that this story was actually happening in someone’s deep state of meditation],  a controversy arose among them as to which of the three chief deities (of Trinity – Brahma, Vishnu, Siva) is Supreme.

Eager to resolve this question, the sages sent Rishi Bhṛgu  to find the answer. To test how well Lord Brahma is established in neutral mind [sattwa], Bhṛgu did not bow down to him or glorify him with prayers. The lord became angry at him, inflamed into fury by his own passion.  Though anger toward his son was now rising within his heart, Lord Brahma was able to subdue it by applying his intelligence [sattwa], in the same way that fire is extinguished by its own product, water. [high speed responses emanate from our “negative” or reactionary mind; we often recover, just like how Brahma did…].

Bhṛgu then went to Mount Kailasa. There Lord Siva stood up and happily came forward to embrace his brother. But Bhṛgu refused his embrace, telling him, “You are a deviant heretic.” At this Lord Siva became angry, and his eyes burned ferociously. He raised his trident and was about to kill Bhṛgu when Goddess Devi fell at his feet and spoke some words to pacify him. Bhṛgu then left that place and went to Lord Vishnu resides.

There he went up to the Supreme Lord Vishnu, who was lying with His head on the lap of His consort, Sri, and kicked Him on the chest. The Lord then rose, along with Goddess Laksmi, as a sign of respect. Coming down from His bedstead,  bowed His head to the floor before the sage and told him, ‘Welcome, brahmana. Please sit in this chair and rest awhile. Kindly forgive us, dear sir, for not noticing your arrival.’…. [Not only that] Vishnu says “Please purify Me, My realm and the realms of the universal rulers devoted to Me by giving us the water that has washed your feet. This holy water is indeed what makes all places of pilgrimage sacred. Today, my lord, I have become the exclusive shelter of the goddess of fortune, Laksmi; she will consent to reside on My chest because your foot has rid it of sins.”!!

Bhṛgu comes back and declares Vishnu to be the most established in neutral mind, and hence the winner!  There are several takeaways from this complex story.

The first  and the most salient point from this story is that Bhṛgu actually dared to travel the road necessary to answer his own question.  Vishnu, or any one of the trinity could have killed him, right?   That’s the chance he took to answer his own questions, which is one of all our fundamental dharmas – to answer to ourselves honestly and completely.  On that point, Krishna also coaches Arjuna the same, in Gita (3.35)

श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुणः परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात्।

स्वधर्मे निधनं श्रेयः परधर्मो भयावहः॥३५॥

Śreyānsvadharmo viguṇaḥ paradharmātsvanuṣṭhitāt|

Svadharme nidhanaṁ śreyaḥ paradharmo bhayāvahaḥ||3.35||

“One’s own duty though imperfect or deficient, is far better than following another’s duty well. Losing possessions, including own life, is better than the alternative when one is doing his own duty; following another’s duty is fraught with great danger.

Others’ theories could be better organized than our own.  But the process is to use that information as the starting point, but not to disregard our own thinking to follow that theory as given.  In yogic lore, this is called “anumana”, or starting inference. And continuing with that exploration process is our dharma.  Bhṛgu exemplified this.

The second is the way Vishnu tames the apparent ego that he saw in Bhṛgu, with a soft conciliatory approach.   In the real world, we see this all the time.   The ego wants to establish its place in the group; we hear a lot of that rah-rah… We see Bhṛgus coming into meetings and gatherings all the time;  how we perceive that and react is critical. Complex story with a lot of nuances…

After all that drama also, in Gita (10.25), Vishnu-incarnate Krishna declares that he’s Bhṛgu among Rishis!  The Rishi who kicked him!

Looking at it from the other end of the pipe, what kind of a person will have the guts to go and kick “God”?  Yogis’ answer is: only those who had transcended the primal pair of desire and fear polarities.   This primal pair runs our lives.  We most probably will not be able to do what Bhrigu did, even if an opportunity presents itself.  That’s precisely yogis’ point, and the reason why Krishna (Tat) equated himself to Bhṛgu (a Twam).  Our (mis)-understanding of our “selves” is at the root of this issue.  Hence yogis say that exploration of “self , aka brahman”, or asking ourselves the question “who am I” is the question of highest merit.   With that as the supreme goal, Swami Vivekananda exhorts:

“Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached.”

This ties into our previous yama discussion, particularly on “Satya”.  Satyam,  ṙtam, and brhad are three aspects of brahman (tat).  Satya is related space, rta is related to time (or flow) and brhad is related to vastness.   We have also discussed that not understanding or not bothering to know the flow of the Universe (ṙta) is not an excuse.  All our lows in our lives is a direct result of not being in line with these aspects.  Hence explore until the goal is reached, in order to lead a fulfilled life.   This has been a very ancient message.

On top of that, this process of Tapas <–> Svādhyāya –> Divine can take several lifetimes.   In this regard, Arjuna asks Krishna, what if he fails on this yoga-trail, for which Krishna tells him that there’s no such thing called failure on this trail (2.40):

नेहाभिक्रमनाशोऽस्ति प्रत्यवायो न विद्यते। स्वल्पमप्यस्य धर्मस्य त्रायते महतो भयात् 

Nehābhikramanāśo’sti pratyavāyo na vidyate| Svalpamapyasya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt

“Here ( in Yoga), there is neither unsuccessful effort nor decrease or diminution. Even a very little bit of this process (dharma) protects (you) from a great danger.

So, not to worry, even if we were to miss a some stretches of this practice, there’s no falling behind.  Do it only when we can.  Physical part is only a  part of it, but not all of it.  The progress carries over.  Patanjali encourages us to continue with this exploration as this will lead to the divine, unitive states that we want to experience:

स्वाध्यायादिष्टदेवतासंप्रयोगः॥

Practice self-study, discover the divine. —Patanjali’s Yogasutra,  2.44

What’s this “divine?  We want to know about the prize a little bit, right?  The attention turns to that “divine”, and the next Niyama – “Iswara pranidhana…”…   Let’s collect yogic thoughts on this next.

May we all be blessed with a “vibrant and churned” mind_/\_/\_/\_