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The Art of Personal Sādhana

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    jñāna

    Root: jña Devanāgarī: ज्ञान Translation: knowing; knowledge; higher knowledge Similar words:jña, jñāni, jñāta, jñātṛtva, jñeya, prajñā, saṃjñā, saṃprajñāta, vijñāna, saṃvid Opposite words:ajñāna, ajñāta, ajñāni Related concepts:indriya, bhakti, vidyā, yogin, mārga, cakṣus

    Appears in

    Yoga Sūtra:

    Chapter 1: 8 , 9 , 38 , 42
    Chapter 2: 28
    Chapter 3: 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 22 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 35 , 52 , 54
    Chapter 4: 31

    Sāṃkhya Kārikā:

    44 , 23 , 64 , 69 , 67

    Bhagavad Gītā:

    Chapter 3: 3 , 41
    Chapter 4: title , 10 , 28 , 41 , 42
    Chapter 5: 17
    Chapter 7: title , 2

    Gītārtha Saṃgraha:

    1 , 2 , 3


    Click here for complete Saṃskṛta Index

    Commentaries around

    “Wrong perception is a false knowing without support.”
    – Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 8

    “In Sūtra 1.8 Patañjali defines Viparyaya as a false knowing.
    How can we discern a right perception from a wrong perception
    and can a false knowing be both Kliṣṭa and Akliṣṭa?”
    – Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 8

    “Vikalpa is a particular kind of Citta Vṛtti in which understanding
    arises from the spoken word. Is this kind of understanding valid or not?
    Patañjali, in the definitive Mahābhāṣya commentary on Saṃskṛta grammar,
    states that the essence of the spoken word is not separate from the fact
    or object it refers to. Objects themselves cannot express their various aspects;
    only Śabda can present them to us. Śabda can convey nuances
    of meaning that only a special faculty of the mind can grasp.
    Such an ability to comprehend is not given to everyone.
    The essence of this Sūtra is that Vikalpa is the mental activity by
    which what is spoken is understood to mean what it represents,
    even when the actual thing is not present.
    Thus when we hear the word Sarpa we know it means snake
    even though there is no snake present at the moment.”
    – T Krishnamacharya on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 9

    “Imagination is knowledge
    that comes from words
    empty of substance.”
    – Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 9

    “In Sūtra 1.9 Patañjali defines Vikalpa as an
    understanding arising from the spoken word.
    How do we discern whether Vikalpa is actually what arises
    from the spoken word from what was said to us, or what
    arises from the spoken word in how what was said is heard?
    In other words how to discern if there is any difference
    between what is said to us and what we imagine we hear?”
    – Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 9

    “Jñāna Dhyānam is the dynamic yoking of
    the two qualities of Abhyāsa and Vairāgya.”
    – Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 12

    “In Jñāna Dhyānam the
    most difficult exercise
    for the mind is the one
    of not exercising the mind.”
    – Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 13

    “Knowledge from the past prevails and
    influences me to either judge or inquire.
    Assuming my knowledge and my
    memory and I proceed is Asmitā Kleśa.
    Assuming that I may be wrong and
    wishing to find out more is Asmitā Jñāna.
    However to hesitate completely or
    question everything is Asmitā Kleśa.”
    – TKV Desikachar on Yoga Sūtra Chapter Two verse 6

    “The Das Indriya or ten senses of experience and action,
    whilst seen as belonging to the Bāhya Aṅga or five external limbs
    in the eight limb Aṣṭa Aṅga Yoga of Patañjali,
    are also the gateway to the Antar Aṅga or three internal limbs.”
    – Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter Two verse 54

    “The ten senses or Das Indriya are the gateways
    between our inner and the outer experiences,
    in the twin roads of the worldly phenomena
    that we call sensory knowing or bodily action.
    The five senses that transport knowing from
    the outer to the inner are called the Jñāna Indriya,
    or the senses through which we perceive the world.
    The five senses that transport action from
    the inner to the outer are called the Karma Indriya,
    or the senses through which we act out into the world.
    The coordinator of this remarkable interface is Manas,
    often referred to as the eleventh sense or internal organ.
    The identifier in this remarkable process is Ahaṃkāra.
    The discerner in this remarkable trinity is Buddhi.
    The source of perception within this remarkable play
    of knowing and action is known as Cit or Puruṣa.”
    – Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter Two verse 54

    “Pratyāhāra is not feeding the tendency of the Citta
    to automatically form a positive, negative, or neutral
    identification with whatever stimuli the senses present to it.
    From that, we can begin to understand how their external gathering
    activities stimulate our conscious and especially, unconscious choices.
    From this, we can begin to understand how the impact
    of this sensory knowing can lead us to travel in different directions
    and trigger different levels of response, often without us being really
    conscious of how deeply their input stimulates our psychic activities.
    From these responses, there will be the inevitable re-actions,
    again quite possibly unconscious and multilevelled,
    according to our psychic history in terms of our memory,
    habit patternings and deeper memory processes.
    From those initial insight, we can begin to understand
    and interact in how we can resist unconsciously slipping
    into the trance states that can so often culminate with
    the  Kleśa manifesting fully in the entrancing dance of
    Udārā Rāga, or Udārā Dveṣa, or Udārā Abhiniveśa,
    the potent and profligate children of Avidyā.”
    – Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter Two verse 54

    “Jñāna Yoga – The Yoga of Knowing
    Or linking to that we need to understand
    to help refine the outcome of our actions.”
    – Paul Harvey on Bhagavad Gītā Chapter Four

    “Jñāna is like a sword to cut away Saṃśaya.”
    – T Krishnamacharya on Bhagavad Gītā Chapter Four verse 41

    “What good is the sword of wisdom (Jñāna Asinā),
    to cut away the chains of doubt (Saṃśaya),
    if the holder is too weak to bear it.”
    – T Krishnamacharya on Bhagavad Gītā Chapter Four verse 42

    “Jñānam is the wisdom of ‘I am that’.
    Vijñānam is the discernment that ‘I am not this’ ‘I am not that’.”
    – TKV Desikachar on Bhagavad Gītā Chapter Seven verse 2

    “Jñāna is one who understands
    what is to be given up and
    what is to be sought.”
    – T Krishnamacharya on Bhagavad Gītā Chapter Seven verse 19

    “Jñāna Yoga is where we
    hear or read somebody’s words,
    delve into them deeply,
    discuss them with people,
    engage in reflection,
    until finally all doubts are cleared.
    We see the truth,
    we merge with the truth,
    and that is Jñāna.”
    – TKV Desikachar Religiousness in Yoga ‘Various Approaches to Yoga’ Chapter Seventeen Page 239

    “A teacher who knows us very well might give us a Mantra
    which has a particular connotation because of the way it has been arranged.
    It that Mantra is repeated in the way it has been instructed,
    if we are aware of the meaning and if perhaps we want to use a particular image,
    Mantra Yoga brings about the same effect as Jñāna Yoga or Bhakti Yoga.”
    – TKV Desikachar Religiousness in Yoga ‘Various Approaches to Yoga’ Chapter Seventeen Page 240

    “The Hindu Veda classify Dhyāna into three major but not water-tight divisions:
    1. Karma – actions, the details, precise actions and results of rituals, such as the how and where you sit; considered most important for  Dhyāna.
    2. Jñāna – inquiry, into anything from the lowest to the highest, such as God, myself, Prāṇa, Brahma, etc; recognising absolutely one object of inquiry, not many.
    3. Bhakti – trying to connect myself with the highest force; to accept the absolute power of God – that he is Master and Teacher, the only reality.
    Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra, the definitive text on Yoga, classifies Dhyāna in different yet similar terms.”
    – TKV Desikachar Madras December 20th 1988

    There is always Rāga, it just depends where we are in ourselves in terms of a spectrum of being.
    Thus Rāga can express itself within the spectrum of being as either a state of Jñāna Rāga
    or a state of Kleśa Rāga or, as happens mostly, somewhere twixt the extremes of the two.
    Either way according to TKV Desikachar’s teaching, progress is not possible without the drive of the emotional forces, they are the horses that pull the chariot.
    As to which of the two paths (Jñāna Rāga or Kleśa Rāga) we find ourselves veering towards depends on our skill as a charioteer, coupled with our understanding of the nature of the forces/horses,
    as well as the essential nature of the ‘food’ we ‘choose’ to feed them on.
    Hence Desikachar’s quote:
    “Each person has two forces Rāga and Dveṣa.
    They are there to serve you, not you them.”
    – TKV Desikachar on Bhagavad Gītā Chapter Three verse 34

    Links to Related Posts:

    • T Krishnamacharya Yoga Sūtra Study Quotes Collected and Collated
    • TKV Desikachar Yoga Sūtra Study Quotes Collected and Collated
    • Paul’s Yoga Mālā – A Thread of Pearls from Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra
    • Paul’s Yoga Sūtra Study Keywords – Collected & Collated into Chapters
    • Paul’s Yoga Sūtra Study Questions – Collected & Collated into Chapters
    • Compendium of Quotes from TKV Desikachar on the Yoga of T Krishnamacharya……
    • Everything is there within Awareness…….
    • Learning to Chant the Four Chapters of the Yoga Sūtra……
    • Religiousness in Yoga Study Guide: Chapter Seventeen Theory: Various Approaches to Yoga Pages 237-249
    • The breadth, depth and potential of Desikachar’s teachings on practice……
    • Though there are many different aspects to formal ‘home’ practice……
    • To help guide our Dhyānam Sādhana the Indian tradition offers precious……
    • Yoga can be a mystery to be resolved or a question to be solved……

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    Related

    This glossary with its similar, opposite and related concepts categories, supplemented by textual references and additional commentaries around the key word, is a both work in progress and constantly ever-expanding in terms of further cross-references, textual cross links and commentaries.
    As it continues to develop your comments and suggestions on your experience and how it may be enhanced are very welcome via this link, thank you.
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