Svadhyaya

(“study”) Study of the sacred texts,
which connotes oral recitation, since
these texts were traditionally studied by
reciting them. This is one of the methods named in the Yoga Sutras as one of
the preparatory elements to yoga, since
the text claims that such study attenuates one’s karmic hindrances and fosters
the ability to enter trance. Even in modern times the act of reciting a religious
text is seen to have multiple spiritual
benefits and, if performed over a long
period of time, to be able to transform
the person reciting.