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The Threefold Path: Svādhyāya, Manan, and Abhyāsa

A discourse on the threefold spiritual path of svādhyāya, manan, and abhyāsa, and the obstacles to self-realization.

"Everything that you experience, what you hear, and what you learn is the milk. You develop this in your intellect, but then through the instrument of your viveka (discernment), you churn it all... and then the butter comes, the cream comes."

"When the mala, vikṣepa, and āvaraṇa are removed, then you will see within you the God."

A spiritual teacher explains the classical path of study (svādhyāya), deep reflection (manan), and practice (abhyāsa), using the analogy of churning milk to get butter and then clarifying it into ghee. He details the three obstacles—impurity (mala), disturbances (vikṣepa), and the curtain of ignorance (āvaraṇa)—and prescribes their remedies: positive deeds, meditation, and satsaṅg, respectively, to ultimately realize the divine within.

Svādhyāya is study. Manan is deep reflection. When you want to gain the butter from the milk, you have to churn it for a long time. Then the butter comes out. Everything that you experience, what you hear, and what you learn is the milk. You develop this in your intellect, but then through the instrument of your viveka (discernment), you churn it all—your experiences and everything—and then the butter comes, the cream comes. The best part of the milk, sages say, is the butter. But I don't understand. Nowadays, doctors say, "Don't eat butter, it's not good." I like to eat butter so much. And now, I don't even see what the butter looks like. All my disciples, they take all the butter away. They say, "Master, you ate enough butter. Now it's our time; we eat the butter and you drink the buttermilk." When you already have children, then the best thing goes to the children. That's butter. Manan. Manan means deep reflection. Then you will get the best result of everything. Then abhyāsa. Abhyāsa, practice, is very difficult. Practice is a tapasyā. Tapasyā is a fire, so though the butter is there, it is still not pure. We put it on the fire to make ghee out of the butter. And that is sādhanā (spiritual practice). And svādhyāya—there are two kinds of svādhyāya: read the best books which can inspire you. Studying in school and learning is also svādhyāya. We call it vidyārthī. Vidyā and artha, these are two. Artha means prosperity. And vidyā is knowledge. The rich ones are those who have the prosperity of knowledge. Artha, dharma, kāma, and mokṣa: these are the four puruṣārthas (human goals). The second real meaning of svādhyāya: when you are reading books and studying in schools, that's called adhyayana, vidyādhyayana, vidyārthī. And when you make the svādhyāya, then "sva" means the self and "adhyāya" means the chapter. Now read the chapter of your life. When you can't concentrate, then they say, "I can't pass." You go for a time, somewhere alone. In nature, in the forest, or on the beach, and think of your life. Many things will come out. You will see what is written in your chapter of life: svādhyāya. So "sva" means the self and "adhyāya" means the chapter, the chapter of yourself. "Sva" means yourself, your own, and "adhyāya" means the chapter, that golden chapter of life. Everything will reflect on your inner mirror. And everything will be reflected in your inner mirror, like a screen or monitor. Like a screen, everything you can see. You can see everything. You can read your thoughts. You can read your thoughts. That's why meditation technique is developed. Meditation technique is developed to see what is within you. And if you see God through meditation, it means God is within you, not outside. But there are three things which are the obstacles. Mala, vikṣepa, and āvaraṇa. Mala is impurity. When the water is not clean, we don't see what's lying at the bottom. Impurity. Impurity of our thoughts, impurity of our actions. Impurity of our feelings. Our conscience, our mind, our intellect, and our actions are impure. Then you can't see your real scepter; you can't make svādhyāya. We have to remove that impurity through positive deeds. This is karma. Positive thinking, tolerance, love, understanding, heart. And vikṣepa: the vikṣepa are the disturbances. The water is clean. But there are so many waves, restlessness. You don't see down. In order to see the bottom, you have to use a frame to break the waves. Put a glass window on the water; then you can see, because at the bottom, the ocean is very calm. Waves are on the surface. Vikṣepa means the disturbances. Many kinds of disturbances: health disturbances, family disturbances, social, political, emotional, financial—many, many things. They cause restlessness, sorrows, and troubles in our mind. But it is said a yogī is like the great Himalayas. It doesn't matter how strong the storm is, the Himalayas don't move. So you are best, solid, your Mūlādhāra is so strong, nothing can move. Your foundation is strong. Āvaraṇa is a curtain. Why do we use the curtain on our doors and windows? So that someone doesn't see in, or you don't see outside too strong light. Our curtain, that āvaraṇa is like this wall. We cannot see through the wall. So mala, vikṣepa, āvaraṇa, these three principles, should be removed. So mala, vikṣepa, āvaraṇa, we can clean and purify through positive deeds. Vikṣepa we can control and purify through meditation and tolerance. And āvaraṇa of ignorance we can remove through satsaṅg. Through the satsaṅg of the masters and through the holy books. When the mala, vikṣepa, and āvaraṇa are removed, then you will see within you the God.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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