Whispering Wednesday

Hari OM

विद्याभ्यास

On Tuesday for a good few weeks ahead now, I will be sharing with you a 'library list' - the study schema as devised by Gurudev to best work one's way into the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta. The English word study has been whispering away at me since deciding to embark on that list. We have that word as well as the word read. How else to describe the process of learning?

You will not be surprised to learn there are several words in Sanskrit for the process of inculcation - ah there's a good word in English! Indeed, as I typed it I realised that this was the closest we have to the word shared above, which is one of my personal favourites - VIDYAABHYAASA. It quite literally means 'knowledge practice.' Elegant, practical and fully descriptive of what we are at when we take up a subject to delve deeper into it and - hopefully - grow from that experience as we gain understanding and insight. 

Long before knowing this word itself, it described the imperative need within me to constantly seek. Though that, too, could be described by mumukshutvam - having the 'hair on fire' to gain knowledge.

Do you have mumukshutvam, the drive for vidyaabhyaasa?