Self-Study Connects Us to Our Highest Ideal

📝Reflection

Sva-adhyāya joins sva "self" and adhyāya "repeated reading beside," that is, "reading toward oneself." For the ancients it meant reflecting on oneself through the repeated reading of sages' words; for us today it is self-reflection and dialogue with good books. Iṣṭa-devatā means "the most revered ideal" — no need to narrow it to one faith; it is the highest self one longs to become. Patañjali's insight is this: the deeper we look into ourselves, the more we connect with the ideal we most wish to become. However much we study others, our own path stays hidden. Only one who reads toward the self walks toward the highest star within.