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Swadhyaya Movement

Religious movement

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The movement focuses on the Upanishadic mahāvākyas (great teachings) related with Vedic belief that God is within oneself, every human being, all living beings and all of God's creation. It encourages voluntary self-study, self-knowledge, community discourses and action with a responsibility to God in oneself and others. Its temples typically highlight the deities Yogeshwara Krishna, Parvati, Ganesha and Shiva in a Vriksha Mandir ("temple of trees") setting. The sun is considered a deity, Surya. Prayers are performed in the Smarta tradition's Panchayatana puja format, attributed to Adi Shankara. Community members participate in bhavabhakti (emotional devotion to the divine), krutibhakti (actional devotion by voluntary service to the divine in all of God's creation), and bhaktipheri (devotional travel to meet, work and help the well-being of community partners). The movement members treat all men and women in the organization as a Parivara (family).

According to Pandurang Shashtri Athavale, swadhyay means the study, knowledge, and discovery of the "self". The "Self" or the "I" is the indwelling spirit underlying the ego, intellect, and the mind. Swadhyay involves studying, discovering, knowing, and understanding one's true and inner self and paying respect to others. It is not a sect, cult, creed, tradition, or institution. It does not require any membership or vows. Swadhyay is about individual transformation through spiritual awareness. It is an attitude of the mind.

Swadhyay emphasizes the concept of an indwelling God. "God dwells within", i.e. "God exists within me and within everyone else". All are children of the Divine. Hence, Swadhyay establishes the Divine Brotherhood under the Fatherhood of God i.e. "the other is not ‘other’, but he is my divine brother." Blood relationship is extended to a relationship through the Blood Maker. The concept of the traditional family is extended to the Divine Family. This is a natural extension of the concept of an indwelling God.

History

Pandurang Shastri Athavale was born in a Maharashtrian Brahmin family in colonial India. While he was in his early twenties, he began to deliver discourses on the Bhagavad Gita in Mumbai, India. He argued that both the liberal welfare-centric approach and socialism were incapable of bridging the gap between the rich and the needy. He rejected charity handouts, arguing that this creates a dependent relationship, attacks human dignity, and robs the recipient's sense of self-worth. He sought another way for liberating oneself spiritually, economically, and socially. He believed that the foundation and values for such a search were in the ancient texts of Hinduism. He began preaching these principles from the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita in his community, particularly in the downtrodden segments of society he called Agri, Bagri, and Sagri. This initiative began Athavale's Swadhyaya movement in 1958. His followers call him "Dada" (older brother).

The movement refuses any support or assistance from the state or non-governmental organizations (NGOs), relying entirely on the volunteer activity of its members. It has between 50,000 and 100,000 centres ("kendra" locations) and between 6 and 20 million followers in India, Portugal, USA, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East.

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PinyinRomanization scheme for Standard ChineseHindusAdherents of HinduismTraditional Chinese charactersStandardized set of Chinese charactersLiteral translationWord-for-word translation of a textReligionSocial-cultural systemTheologyStudy of the nature of deities and religious beliefs