Jnana yoga Flashcards
What is Jnana yoga?
The path to moksha through knowledge, seclusion and rejection of the senses.
What does Jnana yoga seek to minimize?
Activities and the necessities of life, it instead emphasizes becoming free from sensual desires that mislead the soul.
What is Jnana the anthesis of?
Karma, which is all about good actions and helping people in the world, Jnana is about negating the world.
How are sannyasins seen?
Gandhi and Nehru rejected this stage as selfish and not beneficial to India. Other admire the sacrifices made by sannyasins and give aid to them.
Why is Jnana so hard to follow?
You have to detach yourself from the world and material possessions, you need a guru and to study the shruti texts.
How does Sankara see Jnana?
Higher knowledge shows us that everything in the world is maya and that Brahman and atman are identical. To gain higher knowledge we must do yoga, meditate and withdraw from the world.
Give criticisms of Jnana
Bhagavad Gita rejected it “to engage in works is better then to renounce them.” Ramanuja said that withdrawing from the world does not help society to function.
How is Brahman seen in Jnana?
He alone is real, this is revealed through study. The deities are all part of the illusion of maya.
What are the four pillars of knowledge?
- Viveka- discrimination between the real and unreal. 2. Vairagya- detachment from worldly possessions. 3. Shatsampat- six virtues which allow you to see beyond maya. 4. Mumukshutva- intense desire to achieve liberation.
How is moksha achieved?
Intellectual knowledge is converted into practical wisdom, using the mind to enquire into its own nature. The devotee is then able to experience god, thus reaching the supreme being and attaining moksha.
