68 Spirituality Studies 11-2 Fall 2025 1 Introduction Traditional literature places quite some importance to svādhyāya as it has a formative influence on yoga students. In modern days, AI became a popular source of information and many sādhakas also turn to AI for its advice. Thus, we analysed the traditional literature as well as testimonies of yoga teachers and their advice along with the AI related literature to assess the extent of reliability of AI in this respect. According to yoga, wellbeing is rooted in one’s state of mind which influences not only our reactions and how we engage with the world but also influences how the world affects us. This way, there is a deep interconnection between the world outside and inside. The final wellbeing that yoga points to assumes the liberation of the mind field in an effortless manner, also referred to as the “disappearance of mind” (Sa. manonāśa), by the accumulation of “inoperative imprints” (Sa. nirodha-saṃskāra) that help in the final annihilation (Veda Bharati 2015, 426–429). Traditionally, the purpose of loud or silent recitation of scriptural sentences is to engrave new pathways into the pool of learned misconceptions (Sa. vāsanās) [1] that may undermine one’s physical and mental health or bar it from right motivations in yoga training, as well as to unveil paths to discover our true nature. Svādhyāya means also to read the life stories of yogis such as that of Swami Rama (Tigunait 2001) or getting to know one’s personality structure. Furthermore, traditional texts such as the Yoga Sū tras of Patañjali (Veda Bharati 2001; Veda Bharati 2015; Jnaneshvara Bharati n.d.), Ś iva Sū tras (Vasugupta 2012) or Spanda Kā rikā s (Vasugupta 2014) are not only ordinary words that feed the intellect, but they inspire the yoga aspirant. For example, when one repeats mantras, their syllables contain frequencies that can help reshape one’s inclinations bringing about anti-fragility (Taleb 2013, 32). Today, AI extends and in certain cases aspires to replace existing approaches on how we attempt to solve the challenges of humanity including our wellbeing. The promise of technology-driven initiatives highlights how automation can spare time and effort to reach our goals. While the extent of convenience offered is seemingly indisputable, we already experience that there is a lot to lose, for example, our willpower and endeavour we invest into our self-study and self-exploration. Without such drive, our scope of agency depletes, and such dependency will foster laziness and sluggishness that slowly deteriorates our wellbeing and health. Furthermore, AI cannot expand beyond the realm of conceptualisation which is a dimension that needs to be left far behind when entering the domain of real self-study. Not to mention the risk of hallucinations and other threats that bias and alter the original message of scriptural sentences after being reevaluated by artificial means (OpenAI 2024, 44–60; Cirra AI 2025, 7). At the same time, others, like Wilber (Sandhu 2024, 1:02:06) foresee a less frightening future if we collaborate with creative AIs trained on the right data like his integral theory (Wilber and Walsh 2010) as such a conjunction between machines and humans can reduce the number of missteps that we naturally do. At the same time, the applicability of this approach is limited as one’s vāsanās can stop one to follow even an optimised advice. In this paper, our research goal is to find out whether AI can be helpful in one’s self-study and what limitations such an approach carries. Methodologically, we use a basic type of reflexive thematic analysis (RTA) on existing studies based on the benefits and limitations of AI (e.g., ethical issues, hallucinations, etc.) as well as on the traditional understanding and application of self-study. By doing so, we first extract data that is relevant for the deeper understanding of the context and requirements of self-study. Then, we identify recurring themes in this context which we carefully review afterwards. One of the recurring themes turned to be the question if an AI can substitute the role of a guru (Sa. “master”, “mentor”, “heavy”) who from an impersonal “perspective” observes the whole process of self-study. Thus, we carefully examine the main obstacles that could bar an AI to take up such a role which is mainly founded in the question of awakening to conscious responses. Although consciousness cannot be defined by language, we research various traditional and modern sources for its better understanding to determine whether a conscious AI is realistic at all or not. Our main criterion for a conscious response is based on the need to recognise that intelligence cannot come from algorithms and processes, thus cannot be computed. Then, we explore the pros and caveats of using AI in self-study as well as we suggest how contemporary technologies can help an aspirant’s initial efforts though highlighting their limited scope.
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