Jnana is ordinary knowledge, knowledge about living in the world. Special knowledge is wisdom. Love is giving and forgiving. Selfishness is getting and forgetting. Love is expansion and selfishness is contraction. (CWBSSB, p. 96)
Jnana is not mere intellectual gymnastics. It is not a flight of imagination. Neither is it a mere concoction. It is a continual experience of the reality of the Atma. ‘Only one in million makes an attempt to realise the Atma. Even among them only one in a thousand understands the process of realising the Atma. Among the thousands of such people only one reaches Me. Those who have achieved self-realisation and merged in Me are very few indeed’, said Krishna to Arjuna. (SSB 1979, p. 104)
Jnana alone can grant self-realisation; Dhyana can confer concentration of the faculties; through that concentration, Jnana can be won, even while in the body. The Brahman activated the body through the five vital airs or pranas; it condescends to reveal itself in that same body, as soon as the inner consciousness attains the requisite purity. For the Atma is immanent in the senses, inner and outer, as heat in fuel and as butter in milk. (UV, p. 24)
To know the Self, Shastras are indispensable; all that is inferred from Shastras are only indirect experiences; direct perception is impossible, by any means other than sadhana. Direct understanding alone is Jnana. (JV, p. 58)
Since Brahman is all-pervasive, it is One and only One. It is Indivisible and Indestructible. Realising this is ‘Jnanam’, the ‘Highest Wisdom’. . (JV, p. 21)
Jnana means understanding but it is not just an intellectual feat.
‘Eating does not mean the placing of food on the tongue’.
More accumulating of learning is not Jnana only Sadguna is Jnana.
(Prema Vahini, p. 10)
Absolute Truth is beyond the reach of Time and Space, it is aparichchinna, that is, indivisible. It does not begin, it is always and ever existent; it is the basis, the fundamental, the self-revealing Knowing it, experiencing it, is Jnanam. It is Anirdesyam, that is, it cannot be marked out as such and explained by some characteristics. It is Adrishya, that is, invisible to the eye. . (JV, p. 24)
Jnana is the final goal and gain of karma; Jnana is the treasure that is won by man’s efforts to purify the mind and to earn the Grace of God; Jnana not merely grants ananda but is itself the seat of ananda. (GV, p. 50)
For the achievement of Liberation, Jnana is the direct road. (GV, p. 51)
To feel that the Lord is away, afar, separate from you - that is called Paroksha jnana. To feel that the Lord who is immanent in the Universe is in you also as the Atman - that is Aparoksha Jnana. If all activity is moved by the dedicatory spirit, the Citta of man can be rendered pure. (GV, p. 67)
What is Jnana? The awareness of Sva-swaroopa (one’s real nature) is true knowledge. Devotion is the means to achieve oneness with this knowledge (when Self-knowledge becomes one with the Self). Jnana implies freedom from all thoughts. The Jnana-Marga (the path of Knowledge) calls for the control of thoughts by appropriate efforts. Whether one takes to the Jnana-Marga (the path of Knowledge) or the Bhakti Marga (the path of Devotion), the resulting illumination is the same.
For instance, the light of the sun is reflected by the moon. The light from the sun is warm and effulgent. When the same light is radiated by the moon, it is cool and soothing. It is the same light that is present in the sun and the moon. The principle that illumines both the sun and the moon is the Spirit (Atma-tattva). The sun’s light has been compared to Jnana and the moon’s light to Bhakti. Jnana is effulgent, while Bhakti (devotion) is blissful. Thus Bhakti and Jnana are the beginning and the end of the same process. (SSS Vol.24, pp. 3-4)
Jnana is God. Jnana is Atma. Prakriti (Nature) is Jneyam (the thing to be known). Man is a combination of Jnana (God) and Jneyam (Nature). (SSS Vol.24, p. 13)
jyotisam api taj jyotis
tamasah Param ucyate
jnanam jneyam jnana-gamyam
hrdi sarvasya visthitam
(Bhagavad Gita 13:18)
Three concepts have to be understood: Jnanam, Jneyam and Jnanagamyam (knowledge, that which is to be known, and the fruit of knowledge). These have been expounded under different names in Vedantic parlance. The primary requisite in the quest for Jnana is Asakthi (intense yearning). The second requisite is the undertaking of spiritual exercises. Thereby one achieves the fitness for acquiring the knowledge. (SSS Vol.24, p. 19)
na hi jnanena sadrsam
pavitram iha vidyate
tat svayam yoga-samsiddhah
kalenatmani vindati
(Bhagavad Gita 4:38)
na hi jnanena sadrsampavitram iha vidyate (In the world, there is nothing as sacred as Jnana, the highest knowledge). There is nothing more precious in the world than true education. It reveals the divinity that sustains the universe and promotes the welfare of mankind materially, mentally and socially. Only through education do we understand creation and the truth about humanity. Those who realise the nature of the divine can know the relationship between Nature, society and the infinite potential of man. Instead of being subject to Nature, man can acquire, through education, the Knowledge to utilise the forces of Nature. Thereby Sat-cit-ananda (Supreme Being-Total Awareness-Divine Bliss) can be experienced. (SSS Vol.20, pp. 223-224)
Love everybody just as you love Swami, because Swami is present in one and all. There is the same divinity present in all beings.
Ishvarah sarva-bhutanam
hrd-dese rjuna tisthati
bhramayan sarva-bhutani
yantrarudhani mayaya
(Bhagavad Gita 18:61)
Ishvarah sarva-bhutanam - One who realises this truth can achieve anything in life. Once, a great sacrifice (Yajna) was being performed by King Janaka. Great scholars were present in the event. Not only men, but several women also, Yajnavalkya, Gargi, Narada, etc. the king asked the assembly to pose any questions they wanted. Gargi asked as a woman whether she was permitted to ask questions. Janaka was wisdom incarnate.
‘Advaita Darshanam Jnanam,’ (knowledge of non-duality is true wisdom). There is no differentiation of man and woman in true wisdom. Hence anyone is free to ask. Then Gargi addressed Yajnavalkya, you are preparing to leave with cows given to you by the king. You may do so after answering my questions. First question -what is the basis of all the objects in this universe? All the scholars present were astonished that a woman could dare to put such a bold question. ‘Akasha is the basis for all that exists,’ he replied. She then asked, ‘What is that which transcends the skies pervades the earth and extends below the earth?’ ‘The substance that pervades all these is Akasha only,’ replied Yajnavalkya. All were astonished at the discrimination and wisdom of Gargi. All of you know, Narada is mischievous. He went and asked Gargi ‘Respected lady, what is your life’s ambition?’ ‘My only desire is to attain divinity,’ she replied. ‘It is impossible,’ replied Narada. ‘Why?’ asked Gargi. Narada replied, ‘Moksha and the attainment of divinity are not ordained for unmarried women.’ Divinity does not pertain to bodily form, of man or woman. Narada said, ‘The moment you are married, you will attain Moksha.’ Gargi said, ‘That is impossible, for I have surrendered my entire self to God already.’ Such being the case, do I have no possibility of attaining Moksha?’ As this dispute was going on Janaka intervened and said, ‘What is the problem? Just get married!’ She thought for a while and considered the contents of all the Upanishads and Shastras. She then said, ‘OK then, I shall have a one day wedding.’ Even Narada was perplexed as to what this one-day wedding meant. Gargi then said, ‘A wedding is a wedding, be it for a day or a hundred years. So I shall have a one day wedding, who is ready?’
One of the sages present by name Sringi agreed. Tadeva Lagnam Sudinam Tadeva, Tara-Balam Chandra-Balam Tadeva, Vidya-Balam Daiva-Balam Tadeva, Lakshmipater amghri-Yugam Smarami - as the Mantra was being chanted, the sage tied the knot and immediately Gargi broke the string and discarded it and promptly attained ultimate liberation. Thus Gargi attained her goal without transgressing her vows, or any of the Shastric injunctions. Janaka said, ‘Gargi, for one whose entire life is devoted to the fulfilling of the divine will, how can Moksha elude? You are destined for Moksha. You are indeed a great scholar. Today I shall get myself coronated by your hands.’ Such temporal relationships are temporary and far from permanent. (DD on 14.10.99, pp. 6-7)