Study (Swadhaya) of Good Literature

Meaning: The line of Samved 1303 gives us instruction that — "With the study of the literature which inspires men's thinking towards good deeds, men and women feel joy. Imbibing good thoughts, they ultimately get the benefit of salvation."

Message: Man's mind is like a blank paper or a slate or photographic plate. The situations, events and thoughts, which come before it, get etched on it and then that type of mental ground or mindset is created. By nature, man is neither intelligent nor foolish nor good nor bad, but in reality he is a very sensitive animal. He accepts the nearby influences and gets cast in the mould of whatever atmosphere exists before his mind. This specialty of his gets him swept in situations which either led him to downfall or to uplift. The path to uplift or progress opens up only with worship of God, satsang and 'swadhaya' or study of scriptures.

There are tow meanings of the word 'swadhaya', first is the study of Vedas and scriptures which uphold the thinking in the Vedas. The second meaning is 'swadhaya' ('swa' means self and 'adhayayan' means study, which means study or observation of the self). An individual closely observing himself daily for a few moments makes it a habit to find out personal faults and also makes an effort to remove them.

The main interpretation of the word, 'swadhaya is the study of scriptures and good books. Their study is like drinking the sweet nectar, and does the work of a beam of light in the darkness of life. The study of good moral books is the basis of man's progress, whereas the reading of bad books becomes the cause of his downfall. Good books serve a man's need of good friends and through them he finds out the road of spiritual and moral uplift. The demoniac tendencies and events encourage us to adopt man, lowly beliefs and activities. To annihilate this wicked influence, the contact of saintly, great men and the study of their books act like magic. With the study and contemplation of such books, in fact, our mind establishes a sentimental unity with that great man, by which day by day there is an enhancement in our character, personality and willpower. Good holy literature has provided the opportunity to innumerable men for uplift and to be men with strong willpower. The enunciation of the holy Gita benefited not only Arjun who was the first to hear it from Lord Krishna, but has helped millions of people in achieving their objectives of life.

Today's irony is the availability of rotten, irrelevant, obscene and perverse literature at every street-corner. People buy it for its cheap entertainment. On the contrary, one must make an effort to get only the literature with good thoughts for self-study. If we employ regularly one hour's time for study, in a short time, our thoughts will become excellent.

The habit to study must be made the daily indivisible deed of our life.

Paavamaanihi swastyayanistaabhirgachhati naandanum

Punyaanshcha bhakshaanbhakshayamrutatvum cha gachhati

(Samved 1303)