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Religions of the World I: Hinduism

Jnana Yoga
The path of knowledge

Jnana yoga is the path of the intellectual, the pursuit of a philosophical understanding of the nature of reality.

The goal here is "self-realization". The "self" one is to realize is not your own self (ego) but the real Self - the universal Soul (Brahman) of which you and everyone else is but a small part.

• Directs the mind to spiritual ends

• Six major philosophical systems developed within Hinduism. Some are essentially scientific or rational rather than religious or metaphysical. Of the later:

Samkhya (400 BCE - 400 CE) is a dualistic system based on a more sophisticated understanding of the Vedic concepts of Purusha and Prakriti - the relationship between spirit and matter (the dualism) and how they combine as the source of everything else in nature.

• The Bhagavad Gita outlines three gunas (attributes - recall Brahman Saguna and Nirguna, with and without attributes) of nature/matter (Prakriti) which are also part of human nature: (Gita: 14:5-20, 17:2-22)

• Sattva: "light" - purity, wisdom 

• Raja: "fire" - passion, activity

• Tamas: "darkness" - sloth, inactivity

The three Gunas relate to the Three Yogas of wisdom, work and concentration or lack thereof (Gita chapter 18):

• Sattva is the primary force in the nature of the Brahmin (the priest) and the Jnana yogin (the philosopher). Their path of purity and wisdom is to develop true knowledge rather than false (BG: 18:20-22, 29-32).

• Rajas is the primary force in the nature of The Kshatriya (the warrior) and the Raja Yogin. These are men of passion. Raja yoga is the attempt to control the physical passions and the senses so as to move beyond them. (BG: 18:26-28, 33-35)

• Tamas is what drives The Vaishya and Shudra, the Karma yogin. They are most susceptible to laziness, the desire for inactivity and simple pleasures. Thus Karma yoga and the requirements of Caste duty help them to overcome, to counteract, sloth and wrong doing. (BG: 18:23-25, 36-40)

Another philosophical system is Vedanta, "end of the Vedas," based on the metaphysics of the Upanishads.

• Advita Vedanta: The most significant and influential Hindu philosophy fully expressed by Shankara in the 9th century CE.

• Advita means "non-dual". In contrast to Samkhya, Advita is monistic in holding that Brahman is all is there (believing in only one ultimate essence behind everything). This world, everything, is really Brahman but we think it is other than Brahman.

• The appearance of the universe and the things in it is Maya (illusion) and we are living under Avidya (ignorance) so long as we take this world to be what it appears to be rather than for what it really is: Brahman
  The classic example used by Shankara is that of a rope which we mistakenly take to be a snake.
  So, too, this world, the self (Atman) and even the gods are not what we think they are: In ignorance we identify ourselves with our physical being rather than with our spiritual essence. Illusion and ignorance reinforce each other and it becomes a vicious repeating cycle which blinds us to awareness of our true nature as one with Brahman.

• In reality, all is Brahman. To come to this realization is to achieve enlightenment and thus release (Moksha) from the illusion of Samsara which is as a game, the play of the gods - Lila (game, play).

• Later forms of Vedanta allow for continued worship of the gods through a "qualified dualism" wherein the one and the many are in some sense one and yet also distinct from each other.