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The Library Of Spiritual Science

Jnana Yoga uses the intellect as a tool to understand that our true Self is behind and beyond our mind. It is, however, a mistake to think the Source could be found with the intellect alone. For the purpose of Self-discovery, Jnana Yoga probes the nature of the Self through the question "Who am I?" Thus Jnana Yoga may be called the Quest for the Self or the Inquiry into "who we are."

Who practices Jnana Yoga?

Some seekers, who do not require tools like Jnana Yoga, already have a strong belief in God and Spiritual survival and require no other system than to believe in God and love God with all their heart. That is the path of main stream Religion and that of Bhakti Yoga. Other seekers feel they need to do good and self-less deeds. That is also the path of Religion as well as the path of Karma Yoga. Some seekers have their belief but need a more systematic approach. Generally, they like systems like: Raja, Ashtanga, or Kriya Yoga. At times, seekers feel they need more outside assistance; they are good candidates for Religion, Shaktipat, and Siddha Yoga.

Finally, there are seekers who want to believe but have a greater need to understand; they have lots of questions and need all of them answered. These seekers are the best candidates for Jnana Yoga. Jnana Yoga is not alien to other systems or religions. One could say that the beginnings of Jnana Yoga are found in Vedanta, the philosophy of Vedic Scripture. These writings are even older than the Bible and there are scholars who see the origin of all major religions in these 'revelations of Truth.' The relationship between the Bible and Vedanta was also pointed out by Ramana Maharshi, who once said that the whole Vedanta is contained in the two Biblical statements: "I am that I AM" and "Be still and know that I am God."

Is Jnana Yoga a mere intellectual exercise?

Definitely not. Practically all questions may be answered intellectually but not final questions like:

Who or what is God? Or, who or what is the Self? The answer to "who is the Self," must be the Self by 'It-Self'. The answer to "who is God", must be God by Him\She\Itself. As a first result of Jnana Yoga or introspection, we can intellectually realize that God's nature must be pure Beingness or pure Awareness, or we may realize that at the center of our Being is pure Beingness and that this is the real Self - but to know the Self we must be the Self. To know Beingness, we must be Beingness or pure Awareness. This could be compared with an orgasm: We may hear in detail what it feels like but to really know what it is we must have the actual experience. In order to have the experience of God's omnipresence, we may intellectually realize, what Jnana Yoga and Religion has taught all along, that we should not produce a single thought in the otherwise pure Awareness (Psalm: "Be still and know that I am God"), but to be still is not an intellectual exercise; that is done with Meditation. The meditation in Jnana Yoga is to concentrate on the answer to the question: "Who am I?" Or, to simply hang on to the first of all thoughts which is "I". That might sound strange and egotistical, but every thought we produce is added to "I", is following the "I".

Thus we may say: I see you, I do this, and so on. First comes I - then everything else. If we concentrate on "I" until the thought can be held, then we are already at the root of all problems and errors. In time, even this thought will disappear leaving nothing else but pure Awareness. That is the omnipresence of God. It should be quite clear that we still continue to exist without thinking.

We must also realize that such a thoughtless condition must be possible. However, if one simply tries to stop thinking just for a moment, we encounter the resistance of our ego. Since the ego cannot consist of anything more than thoughts, it is constantly weakened by our meditation, as long as we really try to stick with our Mantram, which for a Jnana Yogi may simply be "I". The best promise of the Jnana Yoga system is the possible culmination into Sahaja Samadhi; that is when the natural condition of the Self continues even during regular activities, free of worries and anxiety.

Shankara and, more recently, Ramana Maharshi are the classic authorities concerning Jnana Yoga. Like Hatha- and Radja Yogis, Jnana Yogis also acknowledge the relationship between breathing and thinking. However, they found out that breathing slows automatically through the concentration on the "I-AM." Through persistent probing, fixing our attention on the source of our Being, we regain our real Self; we remember who we are.

The inquiry, as the result of practising Jnana Yoga, leads us towards clear Awareness by removing our attention from that which we are not. Along with Bhakti Yoga (Devotion), Jnana is listed among the best approaches for becoming aware of the eternal Self (God).