Jnana yoga also called Jnanamargam. It is one of the different spiritual ways of Hinduism that feature the path of knowledge. It is also popularly known as the path of self-realization. Jnana yoga is one of the 3-classical paths for moksha (path of liberation or salvation). The other two ways are bhakti yoga (way of loving devotion) and karma yoga (way of action).
Later, a new movement of Hinduism included Raja yoga as a 4th spiritual path, but it is not completely accepted as different from the other three paths.
Jnana yoga is a spiritual practice that gives knowledge of questions like who I am and what I am amongst others. According to studies, meditation reflects within the self, and it is a relationship with the metaphysical notion of Brahman in Hinduism.
History of Jnana Yoga
Table of Contents
Jnana yoga is an ancient practice of the Vedic period. It was one of the earliest established concepts of yoga. It is mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads. Ancient Upanishads tells about realizing that self is about ultimate energy.
Jnana yoga also mentioned in Bhagavad Gita as a way of self-realization. It tells about the difficulty of the route because it is about formless reality, which could be taxing. Therefore, it is preferred by only intellectually oriented people.
The Four Pillars of Knowledge
Viveka
Viveka is a method of willfully, purposely, and ceaselessly utilizing your wisdom to differentiate between the genuine and false, the eternal and the temporary, and oneself and that which isn’t.
Vairagya
Next, comes Vairagya, where you separate yourself from common belongings and practices. You ought to be unconcerned with that which is transitory.
You should put your inner self aside and recognize the truth about things. Information possibly day breaks when you are liberated from all attachments.
Shad-Sampati
- Shad-Sampati have six methods that help to balance your emotions and mind to train to perceive beyond the illusion of your world.
- The first one is Shama, which also refers to keeping calm. This practice helps to keep peaceful and less react to outside stimuli.
- Dama refers to keeping away from the impact of your senses and making mind strong.
- The update refers to abandoning all, which is not your duty. It refers to keep simple without needless distractions.
- Titiksha refers to face unfavorable situations and tolerates pain and suffering.
- Shraddha refers to belief and trust in your teacher, yogic path, and scriptures.
- Samadhana refers to focus on a single mind.
Mumukshutva
Mumukshutva is extraordinary energy for freedom from the chains of affliction. It is to offer yourself totally to the way of self-acknowledgment to the point that nothing else matters.
Now learn about particular 7-stages of wisdom, which you will know from the Jnana yoga process.
Jnana Yoga: The Seven Stages
To feel one with a definitive truth isn’t a simple task. When you traverse obstacles and difficulties, will you reach? Have a look at seven stages recommended by the Upanishads.
Subheccha
The Subheccha is a stage of Jnana Yoga. A professional must long to discover the reality. What’s more, to do that, you should contemplate different sacred texts, learn under the direction of a master, and examine with similarly invested individuals. Traveling, watching, and thinking about significant encounters will clear your approach to self-acknowledgment.
Vicharana
Once you get the required knowledge, the expert must question and ask about it. The practitioner must search into the nitty-gritty of it and understand its true meaning. He must verify his knowledge of himself and reflect on his existence, past life, and future by meditating.
Tanumanasi
All the study, learning, and meditation will open the path for the practitioner, and he now understands what he has to do to achieve oneness with the fact. In this stage, nothing should hold him. He should use his judgment to concentrate on his soul and go forward without any worldly desires disturbing him.
Sattvapatti
During the time deep focus, the psyche gets pure. Want and bluntness drop your thoughts, and you observe your way to acknowledgment with transparency. There is no place for illusion in this stage. The mind only sees reality.
Asamsakti
The pure truth makes you withdrew and sacrificial. You turn inward and find pure well-being there. Your environment and activities don’t influence you any longer, and you move through the area of the illusionary world.
Padartha Bhavana
When the illusion of an imaginary world collapse, you will see reality. You will see things as they are and not what you imagine. Here you are involved in self and realize that your soul is the only true aspect, and other things are imaginary.
Turiya
Here, you consider yourself to be unified with the unique vitality. You understand the genuine condition of self and discover freedom in the way that all are unified with the superior vitality and not separate elements.
How to do Jnana Yoga?
- Sit over a yoga mat and make yourself comfortable. You can also sit with a cross-legged position like Sukhasana or in the Ardha Padmasana position. Keep your legs cross on the mat to form Ardha Padmasana.
- Now extend your legs straight forward of you and then flex your right knee. Lift the leg using the right hand and keep it over the outer side of the left thigh.
- Flex your left knee and keep it opposite to another leg. You may also try to sit in Padmasana pose.
- You can also sit over the yoga mat in crossed leg pose and extend legs straight in the front direction. Bend the right leg at your knee and then lift it upward by using the right hand and keep it on the outer side to the left thigh. Now flex your left knee and keep it on out of right thigh using the left hand.
- Vajrasana is another pose, in which you sit over the yoga mat.
- Stoop down on the floor to make the upper portion of feet reach the ground. Your knees, lower legs, and toes should reach the floor and should be held level to one another. You can put your hands on your knees.
Furthermore
- When you have accomplished a comfortable position, close your eyes, and attempt to focus on your relaxing. Breathe in and breathe out profoundly and proceed with it for quite a while.
- Completely focus on your breathing and free your body from the thought, surroundings, interests, and feelings. Make an effort to avoid thinking. Keep away all the thoughts from your brain.
- Once you remove all thoughts and get relaxed, your brain will be calm and away from all sounds and disturbances from your surroundings. It is your beginning for Jnana yoga meditation.
- Jnana yoga makes you aware of the true self. You can ask yourself questions and try to know the answers from the inner self. It also helps to know more about yourself and understand the true you.
- This yoga is about knowing and searching your true inner feelings. You will understand yourself better after this yoga.
- Try to find fasts in yourself. Focus on the question at one time and answer with questions and move to next.
- You have to stay in Jnana yoga meditative pose for as much as you feel comfortable. During the initial stages, you can feel difficult to concentrate and get disturbed by outer factors. But this practice will help to concentrate on your inner self and become relax and calm. As you reach the final stage of meditation, you can end the session.
- As you end the session, remember a few things. Do not open your eyes quickly after doing meditation. Instead, you can try palming. Do it with closed eyes. Rub your palms together, which create the heat and warm. Place your warm palms on your eyes, then open eyes slowly. Release your sitting pose, and it’s done.
Jnana Yoga: Benefits
Ancient Vedic writing mention that yoga refers to four ways out of which Jnana yoga is thought to be the most complex and challenging one. A practitioner of jnana yoga requires to acquire more intellectual prowess and will power to discipline your mind and transform it different habit and thoughts.
It also called wisdom yoga, and its main goal of Jnana expert is to get the liberation from the lust or Maya and join with the atman or inner self. Jnana practitioner uses different mental methods to attain this self-knowledge that is about delving deep into the duty of mind and directing self-questioning sessions.
Think of keeping yourself in front of the mirror and analyzing the self-image. It is about how do you feel yourself? How will you interpret your knowledge and appearance? Judge your decisions and thoughts before questioning others.
Since yoga practice involves mudras and meditations, less focus is seen in physical aspects. You can try doing jnana yoga in a customized way. Deep meditation is one of the primary requirements of Jnana yoga. This yoga path requires to follow four pillars and seven stages. You will need a particular location or place to practice the jnana yoga. Find a peaceful place to perform this yoga. Here are the benefits of Jnana yoga.
Relief from Stress and Depression
You can prevent scattered energy in yourself by doing breathing and meditation. Your whole focus is on the inner self, removing the temptations and guide ness for the outer world. It helps to pay attention to things and qualities of nature. It also enables yourself to stay positive. Jnana yoga practice benefits by reducing the worldly stress by systematic approach from 4 pillars and self-awareness stages.
Liberate from Selfishness and Ego
As you learn about yourself, your way of liberation from sick behavior gets you closer to conscience. It helps to make you understand that you are one part of this whole universe, like every being. Therefore, your aim to leave selfishness and ego grows sharper. As a result, you treat every creature with a huge feeling of oneness.
Increase Decision-Making Ability
Your mind is focused on self-analyzing and self-assessment of your actions and thought processes. It helps to judge your moves and decide about right and wrong things. Jnana yoga techniques of meditations make you become a wise decision-maker, which helpful for everyone around you or people affected by the judgment.
Emotional Control
Understanding the reality of how your emotional underflow or overflow can influence others, including you, you show signs of improvement hold of your feelings through a habitual act of Jnana Yoga. As this Yogic Path includes a rundown of Stages and pillar that utilizations precise and successive strategies to influence your conduct and feelings, you can without much of a stretch figure out how to communicate your sentiments at the opportune time and right spot to the perfect individual.
Better Problem-Solving Capability
With improved perceiving and concentration abilities, your senses are coordinated inwards. While going to various circumstances, your capacity to control your manner of thinking and getting a result from all viewpoints get improved. Addressing why, what, and how of a specific situation, you can come at all the potential solutions of an issue you face.
Differentiation In Good and Bad
Jnana Yoga Meditation Techniques bless you with the capacity to isolate the waste from the wheat. With a clearer vision and observation, you are bound to recognize and detect what’s genuine and so forth. This standard likewise applies while deciding, perceiving individuals and their intentions, and even day by day life dilemmatic circumstances.
Closeness to the Divine
As this yogic practice is more willing to enlightenment and spirituality, the techniques of your practice during Jnana yoga and meditation are divine and healthy. These characteristics conform to the ones chosen by ancient practitioners such as Tapasvis and yogis to connect with the supreme power, universe creator, and the divine. From selfless acts and meditation taught through jnana yoga, you combine habits and godly traits that help to get closer to the divine.
Expert’s Advice
Is Guru Important In Jnana Yoga?
The Jnana yoga guidance by Guru is necessary to initiate the yoga process and guide through it.