Jnana, Bhakthi, Karma, etc.

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It is often said that Jnana and Bhakthi lead to the same end; however, on deeper

inspection -- true thinking and feeling should be one and the same -- thinking

without feeling and feeling without thinking become neither thinking nor

feeling, but merely superficial displays of "ego".

 

Bhakti, Karma, Jnana are just means to the same end. Each charts out for us a

route towards God. When the highest knowledge dawns on us, the final release is

obtained.

 

If you know something (not just 'intellectually'), you must feel it, and if you

feel it (not just cry about something because everyone else seems to be crying

about it), you must know it.

 

The existence of God can only be realised by persistant effort, personal

experience and intensive feeling.

 

When you remove the artificiality and separation between thinking and feeling,

then you must be truly thinking/feeling. Now we come to the question of Karma

yoga -- that is, doing actions while rejecting 'doership' of actions (not a

conscious rejection,. this leads no where, but an unconscious 'innocence' of

having done the action itself). How does karma yoga lead to the same as bhakthi

or jnana yoga? Well, consider -- a true action (as we said earlier) must be

spontaneous or it is only a reaction to something else. If an action is

spontaneous, it has no cause, therefore it is not "ego-centric". Thus, there is

no question of "I did this" but an absolute innocence -- in such a state of

mind, the only thought is "the work is done"... where the question of "who did

the work" is completely ABSENT. Only in that state of mind, is the work truly

'karma yoga' as such.

 

A man who is restlessly engaged in intense activities and who works with

disinterestedness and non-attachment, may be termed a Karma Yogi in the real

sense.

 

A work done with conscious knowledge that "I did this" and verbal rejection

(e.g., when you tell other people "I didn't do anything at all, it's all His

will") is not true "karma yoga" -- that's just false humility, and ultimately

you are fooling only yourself. Therefore, to follow any of these paths will lead

naturally to mental silence -- where the mind doesn't constantly claim ownership

of this and that. The thought of "I did this" should not even come into your

mind. If it does, it is a manifestation of the underlying "ego" structure in

your mind. Recognize this ego structure when it pops up, and let it go. To be a

true karma yogi, you must become like a child -- children don't claim that they

"did this" or "did that", they simply do things and let things "be done" for

spontaneous reasons. Without such an 'innocent' state of mind, you are only

feeding yourself the illusion that somehow you have done some great work, and

you are pretending to have rejected your doership. This rejection of the

doership should neither be 'verbal' nor 'intellectual' it must be natural.

Hopefully, i'm being clear here?? Annihilation of thoughts shouldn't be the aim

per se, it should again be the natural end result of one's "natural way of

being".

 

Thoughts and feelings rise in the minds of the ordinary people like waves on the

sea. But the mind of a yogi is like a waveless sea. This placid state is due to

his mastery over the self.

 

Note the above quote says "this placid state IS DUE to mastery over the self."

-- it doesn't say "this state of thoughtlessness is FORCED" -- the two have a

very DIFFERENT meaning and consequence. When you are 'innocent' you lose this

constant "need to intellectualize" things -- you simply understand without any

words necessary. And you are able to explain without depending on your 'memory'

-- because the knowledge is absorbed, not just memorized. This is jnanam as

opposed to 'memorized wisdom'. If we are not careful about this difference, we

can easily fool ourselves into believing we are wise, when really we are nothing

more than the product of our memorized beliefs.

 

Have you ever considered WHY children are able to 'learn' so quickly? While

adults require much more effort and strain? take the example of language -- a

child will pick up its mother tongue rapidly and can learn many languages

quickly; while an adult must struggle and struggle for years to do the same

thing, but will never achieve the same level of competency in speaking the

language as the child does eventually? Have you ever considered why our mother

tongue comes so easily to us? While, other languages we learn later on in life

are so difficult to remember? -- clearly, we are learning in TWO different ways

here. As children, we learn 'innocently' that is we subconsciously seem to

absorb the knowledge, as adults, we learn 'consciously' and 'deliberately' --

this implies memorization. Two different neural pathways must be in use in order

to achieve this. So, if we really want to "understand" something, not just

"memorize" something -- we MUST try to be innocent; or we lose quickly the

ability to "understand" the underlying essence. The following quote needs more

consideration -- so we'll hold off discussion of this for the next email

discussion -- because again, "what is REAL meditation?" is the question we must

answer here.

 

Deep meditation leads to intuition and helps to attain and oceanic calmness of

mind. Meditation is the basis of all attainments.

 

So, in conclusion the three paths -- jnana, bhakthi, and karma -- are not really

3 different paths at all -- because they are essentially ONE and the SAME. They

only appear different from a superficial standpoint, that is, from an

intellectual or 'verbal' standpoint they are different. In actual practice, one

who is a karma yogi, is automatically a jnana yogi, and is automatically one who

has intense bhakthi. In ZEN bhuddism for example, there is a concept known as

"the way" -- that is, have you ever done an action (e.g., played a sport) when

an action is simply "done" ? it just happens naturally, but if you try to repeat

it consciously, you cannot do it. This is "the way" -- and bhakthi has to do

with faith in "the way" of things, not mere verbal or intellectual repetition,

but an innocent "trust" that god will take care of the details of the work.

 

 

 

jai guru datta.

 

 

 

The end of wisdom is freedom.

The end of culture is perfection.

The end of education is character.

The end of knowledge is Love.

 

 

 

 

______________

 

Carolin wrote:

 

As Yogananda was following the path of Bhakti, and Ramana Maharshi that

of Jnana, and both got where they were by a lot of thinking, but also by

very deep feeling, is it necessary for any devotee/disciple, no matter on

what path, to as well think as feel very deeply? and is it then still possible

to clearly distinguish between different paths and label them as "Bhakti",

"Inana", "Karma Yoga", Dhyana Yoga etc? - and what does it mean that on one hand

one should not hold back the thinking process until understanding takes root

firmly, on the other hand so many of Swamiji´s sooktis say that annihilation of

thoughts should be the aim? probably in the first place only judgemental

thinking should be

annihilated by and by (e.g as to what is dharmic or not, what is stupid or

not),

not that kind of thinking needed e.g. for driving a car, learning a foreign

language, writing a shopping list etc.? moreover does it mean that it is

artificial and thus of no avail if one tries to withhold the thought process and

instead mechanically repeats quotations of some sort or the other, as long as

understanding has not taken root firmly yet? Do you mean to say that until I

haven´t understood that even trying to be good and be "dharmic" is some kind of

wish, i.e. still ego,and that pleasing others and being bullied by them in the

name of dharma is no better than bullying others myself? till I have

experienced, not only blabbered that it is of no avail to entertain any wish or

desire or fear whatsoever, not even the wish to constantly change things and to

"improve the world"?

jai guru datta

 

 

 

______________________________

The centipede was happy quite

until a bird said, in fun,

"Which foot goes after which?"

This raised his mind to such a pitch

he lay distracted in a ditch

considering how to run.

 

 

 

 

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