[Advaita-l] Ritual Purity, Svadhyaya, and Commute

[Venkatraghavan S]

Namaste,

As others have said, this is not a ritualistic action but a jnAna sadhana
and therefore one need not worry about the ritualistic sanctification as
long as the environment is generally conducive to study. In general, when
shAstras prescribe rules for svAdhyAya they are referring to veda
adhyayana, whereas you are referring to reading a spiritual book.

However, if this is something you are concerned about, you can mentally
chant the shAnti pATha of any Upanishad - typically this is chanted to pray
for the physical, mental, emotional well being of you and the teacher, a
conducive environment for study, the removal of obstacles to jnAna etc. All
things that you need when you start on any journey to acquire knowledge.

Regards,
Venkatraghavan

On 8 Sep 2016 8:46 p.m., "Shashi via Advaita-l" <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Hello All,
>
> I have a question about ritual purity
> and Svadhyaya.
>
> I recently got a translation of
> Sri Madhusudana Sarasvati's
> Gudartha Dipika which I am excited to study.
>
> However my commute to work is a good two hours in total on the train.
>
> I thought I could
> study on the train -
> this is when I have the most
> time that until now I typically spend
> the least effectively
> but I doubt whether that's a
> pure enough environment to
> study.
>
> What are your thoughts
> on Svadhyaya conducted
> outside a sanctified place
> like a puja room or temple.
> and inside a place like a train?
> If it's ok, what does one need
> to do to be ritually pure enough
> to study it there?
>
> Shashi
>
>
>
> Sent from my iPhone
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