JNANA YOGA

Introduction:
o Jnana – knowledge
o Jnana yoga – Yoga of knowledge
o The search for reality has been to preoccupation of man from times immemorial.
o Each culture had its own approach and contribution in understanding the reality.
o It is a type of intellectual analysis.
o The upanishads, the quintessence of the vedas, says that Reality can be reached by
silencing
o all our thoughts and feeling.
o As we start calming down the mind, we move from gross to subtle states of the
mind.
o The intellect also gets subtle and sharp.
o The laws of the inner world get revealed
o Unless we control the mind, thoughts, feelings, it is difficult to evoke our power.
o There are two aspects of reality
 Manifested (unfolds first)
 Unmanifested (unfolds later)

o The process of getting at the very causal state of the intellect thus unfolds the entire
dynamics of the manifested aspect of reality first and the unmanifested aspect next.
This process of getting to the very basis of intellect through analysis is called “Jnana
Yoga.”
o Analysis forms the core of science.
o Analysis could be termed as the search for the cause of everything that we see
around us.

Approach of Upanishads:

o Nearly 4000 years ago, the upanishads had approached the problem from a totally
different direction.
o They took to the investigation of the inner world consisting of the instruments of
analysis, storing, feeling, etc.
o Jnana yoga is the science of analysing the very instrument of analysis – the intellect
understanding the structure and dynamics of the intellect itself.
o The technique evolved by the experimental scientists of the upanishads is to use the
subtle
o intellect to understand the grosser intellect by a deeper question to replace the
grosser
o question.
o The methods of Kena upanishad is to search for the root of any thought that arises
in the mind.
o As the search proceeds, the intense quest replaces all other thoughts and a state of
o questioning, featured by keen attention, is
o achieved.
 o The intensity of attention attenuates to result in ‘attention without tension’.
o This is the state of ease and calm with a feeling of lightness
o In this state, the subtler state of the consciousness unfolds, revealing the mystery
o of our inner world.
o As the process of quest leads to unfoldments, one subtler than the other, until the
path of
o search culminates in Reality.
o Reality is the causal state of the intellect, thus, the ‘path of Quest’ is a powerful and
scientific method to get at reality.
o The knowledge achieved through Jnana yoga, ‘the path of quest’, is documented in
the upanishads as two major conclusions:
o Our causal state, Reality, is a state of silence and highest bliss.
o It is from this state that the whole universe is created and hence the state of highest
knowledge
o and creativity.
o Swami Vivekananda called this state as ‘Divinity’ “Each soul is potentially Divine. The
goal of life is to
o manifest this divinity by controlling nature, internal and
o external…”
o In everyone, the divinity is manifest to different levels
o The more one grows, the more one manifests.
o The process to manifest is to control our internal and external nature and search the
very root of intellect or mind. This is the path of “Jnana yoga.”

Qualifications of an aspirant to practice Jnana yoga:

o One who endeavours to develop the following qualities is most qualified for the
practice of Jnana yoga, or the yoga of wisdom.
o These qualities are called ‘Sadhana chatusthaya’, the four fold means to liberation.
o Sadhana chatushtaya:
a. VIVEKA - discrimination
b. VAIRAGYA - dispassion
c. SHAT SAMPATH – six fold virtues
1. Shama - serenity of mind
2. Dama – Control of senses
3. Uparati – Renunciation of selfish actions
4. Titiksha – Capacity to endure pairs of opposites
5. Shraddha – Faith in God or self within
6. Samadhana – Tranquil flow of mind to God
d. MUMUKSHATWA – burning aspiration for god realisation

Practices:
o SHRAVANA – listening to the instructions from various sources like literature, scriptures,
guru, wise people, etc.
o MANANA – adopting what one heard, studied which also involves clearing doubts.
o NIDIDHYASANA – it refers to the repeated meditation on truth also called implementation of
knowledge obtained.
o AATMA SAAKSHATKARA – self-realisation.
Conclusion:
o Jnana Yoga is the path of wisdom, or knowledge, where you reach the Reality by
silencing the mind and overcoming the obstacles it presents.
o It is done by analysing the intellect using the intellect itself.