Jnana Yoga

Divers get to the bottom of the sea and fish out pearls. Our Hindu Rishis were super divers. Instead of going out to the sea for a dive, they plunged within themselves and found a wonderful treasure, much more valuable than all the wealth of the world. After such a successful plunge, one of the Rishis came out and declared, “Listen, O the Children of the Immortal One, who reside in this world or in the brighter ones, I have known the Great One, knowing whom one goes beyond death (ignorance).” Diving within himself the Rishi did really touch and reach the bottom of the universe and discover the great treasure that can take us beyond death.

The Rishi wanted to know himself. Withdrawing his mind from the sense-world, he applied it to make a vigorous search for his real self. This led him to a point where the mind was hushed into silence and the self stood revealed in all its glory. The Rishi saw who he really was. He discovered that his Self (Atman) was no other than God – the Great Spirit (Brahman) within the universe. Thus, realizing his oneness with God, he reached the goal of liberation (Mukti) and cried ‘Eureka’ in the abundance of joy. What a miracle! A man becomes God as soon as he knows himself. Well, man is not something other than God. Essentially he is God always. Only he has to discover this fact for himself. And this is all he has to do for liberation (Mukti).

The spiritual practice (Sadhana) that leads one straight to this discovery is what is known as Jnana-Yoga. Jnana means knowledge, and Jnana-Yoga stands for concentration on self-knowledge. Such concentration helps one to penetrate the depths of ignorance (Avidya) and realize that the real self (Atman) is none other than the Great One (Brahman).

This yoga is based on the Jnana-Kanda of the Vedas. The Upanishads dwell mainly on this theme. They enjoin, “Know Thyself”. And Why? Because they declare, the real self of man is verily the same as the Great One. So by knowing oneself one realizes the Great One, and becomes one with him. He becomes a liberated soul (Mukta Purusha).

These are no empty words or mere dogmas. They are spiritual truths discovered by the Rishis of the Upanishads. And they have since been verified by thousands of blessed saints and seers of this holy land.

Jnana-Yoga stands on such spiritual truths and throws open a direct approach to self-knowledge (Atma-Gnana) and hence to liberation (Mukti). It does not prescribe any code of rituals. Nor does it require one, like Raja-Yoga, to go through any quasi mechanical exercise of the body and mind. Cogitations on the essence of one’s being as revealed by the Shastras, followed by meditation on the same, are all about that comprise the Jnana-Yoga course. And this is precisely why this yoga appeals to those intellectuals who are rationalistic by nature.

No detour has to be made by the Jnana-Yogi. He cuts across the domain of ignorance (Avidya) with the sword of discrimination (Viveka) and reaches the goal by the shortest route. But, it is not easy to make such a short-cut. A good deal of mental preparation is necessary before one may take to Jnana-Yoga. One must have a pure and sound mind before going in for this course. The divinity of the self can be realized only with the help of a very fine and pointed intellect, and the intellect attains such a state only when the mind is thoroughly purified. Because of that only those who are well grounded in the four requisites (Sadhana-Chatustaya-Sampanna) are said to be qualified for taking up this yoga.

He must discriminate between the Real (God) and the Unreal (Universe). He must not hanker after anything of this world or the next ones. His senses and mind must remain entirely under his control and he must remain contented under all circumstances. He has to put up with all afflictions that may come in his way and that without any grudge or regret. He must have intense faith in himself and in the spiritual truth discovered by the Rishis. He must have concentration of mind. And, above all, he must have a burning desire for attaining Mukti and one pointed devotion to gaining the end.

Without such mental equipment, meditation on the self is impossible. By cogitation about the real nature of the self one may at best succeed in getting a hazy intellectual conception about it. Any further progress is barred simply. And compared with the realization of the Self, this conception is nothing but trash. It may enable one merely to talk glibly on the subject like an erudite scholar (Pundit). And this is about all an unclean mind may get on this loath. Spiritual illumination is far away off, attainable only by the pure ones.

To persons with the necessary qualifications, Jnana-Yoga presents only three steps namely:

Shravana (Hearing)
Manana (Cogitating)
Nididhyasana (Meditating)

The first step (Shravana) consists in hearing about the real self. One has to do this from an illuminated guide. A liberated sage alone can speak effectively on the subject and clear the pupil’s doubts, provided the pupil is also duly qualified. Such a sage has to be approached by the pupil with humility, pertinent queries and service so that he may disclose the secrets of self-knowledge. When, however, such a sage is not available, one has to be guided at least by a well advanced soul. Under such guidance one should study the relevant scriptures dealing with self-knowledge.

The second step is Manana, that is, cogitation. One has to reason out what has been heard from the guru (Spiritual Guide) and the shastras (Scriptures). A good deal of hard almost constant thinking is necessary, since one has to dwell on very subtle abstractions. And this has to be done with one pointed attention. This, in short, is what Manana stands for.

Normally, we have a lot of confused thinking, and this has to be corrected as far as possible by Manana. Although our observation and study enable us to know a good many things of the universe, it is a fact that we know very little about ourselves.

“I”, “Me”, “My”, “Mine” are the most commonly used words. I am the subject and the entire world outside is the object of my experience. The world is thus divided into myself as the subject of experience and everything else grouped together as the object of my experience. Of these two groups, the subject is surely the more important one. As a matter of fact, I am the very center of my view of the world.

In spite of such paramount importance of one’s self, we appear to have a very muddled idea about ourselves. Our very talks betray this fact. Indeed, it is most surprising to note that we scarcely know what parts of our being we precisely refer to by the word “I”. Yet this word stands for something with which one is vitally concerned and all other things come after that.

When I say, “This is a horse”, I surely mean that the horse is something distinct from me, that it is only an object of my experience. When I say, “This is my horse”, I mean that the horse, which is a distinct object of my experience belongs to me. I never confuse the horse with myself. When the horse kicks, I never say that I am kicking. So far we are perfectly consistent in our thoughts. The same thing holds good whenever we talk of any other object of our experience like the horse.

But when I say “My Body”, there is some confusion in my thought. Obviously I mean that the body belongs to me; therefore the body must surely be something distinct from me. It is an object of my experience as much as any other thing. But our ideas are not at all clear on this point. For, when I say, “I am wounded”, we betray such confusion. The wound is evidently on the body which is distinct from myself. But we forgot this fact and take the body as myself or a part of my being. When we say, “I am wounded”. Thus we say, “I am weak, sick, old” etc, when really the body passes through such states. Even our idea that I am a man or a woman is derived from such confused thinking.

So, with the Mind, we use the expression “My Mind”. By that surely mean that the mind is distinct from myself. But we do not witness the functions of our mind, just as we observe all external events? Indeed, the mind is an object of our experience like all other things. But we have no clear grasp of this idea. Else how can we say, “I think, I desire, I will”. When really the mind is doing all these things? We use both the expressions, “My mind is worried” and “I am worried” to convey the same idea. This clearly shows how we are confused about the relation of our mind to ourselves.

The body and mind are distinct objects of my experience. Yet we look upon them as parts of our being. The truth, however, leaks out when we say, “My Body”, “My Mind”, etc. Truth and Untruth are somehow mixed up in our thought. This, the Hindu Shastras hold, is primarily due to ignorance (Avidya). This Avidya covers up our real nature and shows us as something that we are not. The self same soul is present in every creature, from the smallest amoeba up to the liberated sage. The difference between them is only in the degree of its manifestation. As ignorance (Avidya) clears up bit by bit, the soul becomes more and more manifest.

On the human plane our ignorance about our real self is deep enough to make us even think that we are nothing but the body. This is our erudest idea about ourselves. With a little and imperfect discrimination we gradually come to believe that we are the body, the senses and the mind lumped together. When we advance a step farther, we find that the body is only an outer casing, in which we live in a finer state of existence, as a composition of the senses, the mind, intellect (Buddhi) and vital energy (Pranas). Proceeding farther, we see that even these are the objects of our experience. We can witness their functioning. At this stage we find that we live in Buddhi (Intellect). Normally that appears to be the seat of all creatures (Jivas).

Taking his stand on Buddhi, the Jiva claims to be the doer of all deeds (Karta) and the subject of all experience (Bhokta). This is described in one of the Upanishads through a beautiful imagery: “Know the Soul as the Rider, the Body as the Chariot, the Buddhi as the Charioteer, the Mind as the Reins, the Indriyas as the Horses and the Sense Objects as the Road Traverse”.

Really, we reside as Jivas in the intellect (Buddhi), which is a part of the subtle body (Sushma Shareera) consisting of the intellect, mind, sense-organs and vital energy. As Jivas we make contact with the gross outer world through the material body (Sthula Shareera). Again, leaving the material body alone in light sleep, we become the subject of action and experience in the dream state as well. With the entire subtle body (Sushma Shareera) we pass out of the material body at death and enter another at rebirth. Thus, as Jivas we continue living through myriad of births and deaths.

Everyday, however something very astounding takes place when we fall asleep. For, in the state of deep sleep (Sushupti) we lose all our bearings and simply vanish from the stage, as it were. In that state we do not perceive anything nor can we perform any act. We cease to exist as actors and perceivers. We no longer seem to be Jivas. We are reduced to the casual state (Karanavastha). We live with all our thoughts and experiences (Samskara) potentially present in that state. And as soon as we are released from Sushupti, we appear to spring up into existence as the subject of action and perception either on the dream stage or on the waking one.

Indeed, this phenomenon of Sushupti is unusual. It causes a break almost everyday in our continued existence as the subject of action and experience. Yet in deep sleep we cannot say that we cease to exist. It is not a total blank or void. We feel that there is a continuity of our existence even through sound sleep. When we wake up, we can say that we had a sound sleep and did not experience anything. On whose evidence do we say that? The active part of our being was not on the stage. Yet there remained something in us that witnessed the sleep state (Sushupti). This simple witnessing without any action or experience, is, therefore done by something in us that never goes to sleep. It exists always. And this precisely, is our real self (Sakshi-Chaitanya). The self is neither the doer nor the experiencer. It is the constant witness of all actions and experiences of the Jiva as the latter passes through the three states of waking, dream and deep sleep and goes on and on from birth to birth.

We are really this witnessing self. The Jiva, the actor and perceiver (Karta and Bhokta) in us, is also an object of experience. Beyond the Buddhi and distinct from it, we exist eternally as pure spirit. This is our soul. And the Hindu Shastras declare that the soul of us all is one All-Pervading-Existence. It is an infinite ocean of existence, knowledge and bliss. This is verily Brahman, the Infinite One, from whom all the worlds, gross and fine, are projected, in whom they exist and into whom they disappear during Pralaya (Dissolution).

Yes, our soul is one and undivided. Our separate Buddhis, illumined by the consciousness of the self-same soul, appear as distinct conscious entities. Like the so many moons, they shine with the light of the same sun, namely, Brahman. And, this moon of Jiva in us lights up all that we see about us in the gross or finer worlds.

Through Manana along these lines the qualified aspirant (Sadhaka) is able, in course of time, to grasp the fact that, detached from the gross and fine bodies, he stands aloof as the witness, the Supreme Self.

The third step, Nididhyasana, requires the Jnana-Yogi at the stage to withdraw himself entirely from all things and concentrate on the idea, “I am the witness”. When such concentration matures, suddenly everything vanishes from the scene and he finds himself one with the Eternal Spirit. This state is called “Nirvikaya Samadhi”.

Thus, with the help of these three steps, the Jnana-Yogi peels the universe layer by layer, as it were, and reaches its very core and comes to be blessed with the Supreme Realization.