The fourth Niyam is Swadhyay. The easy meaning of Swadhyay is “study”. By study we acquire knowledge and we become learned. Swadhyay increases knowledge. Without Swadhyay, we would have been living in the bullock-cart age not in the Jet age. So, we should do Swadhyay according to our capacity and availability of time. Age and time should be taken into consideration for Swadhyay. The child of four and five years who needs to know more about parents, brothers and sisters, home environment and other elementary things, should not be given the Vedas and the Upanishads to study. The child would not benefit from the. Study go on according to the time and age.

Swadhyay has also another meaning i.e. self-study, meaning, take stock of ourselves. This self-study is the principal key to progress.