This translates to: The truth is one, but the learned ones call it by many names or describe God in many ways. Look at all that we assumed to be the truth that later turned out to be invalid. What incidents meant something at that time but fizzled out later? Observe how our judgments are all just bubbles on the surface of the water. They aren’t facts and have no substance. We have judgments and think that is how it should be. Later on, we think, Oh! It was just my judgment, but not how things really are: Therefore, our imagination broadens, focuses and magnifies. That which broadens, sharpens and heightens our vision, is swadhyay. ‘Swa’ means self, and ‘adhyayan’ is study. Thus swadhyay is studying one’s self. Throwing light on our own ‘self’ and examining our own ‘self’ is essential.
By this contemplation, we bloom, and our inner being is unlocked. Then we begin to understand everything: there is one light, and that is within us. Then we find the way, and the truth dawns. We acknowledge that which is in all the holy scriptures. By throwing light on the events of our life, we will learn how we are; what concepts we have; how limited our thinking is and how vast it is now becoming. It will make us aware of the methods we employ and how our behaviour changes, and of how our sense of belongingness is and how it transforms.
Abridged from The Path to Ananda
