In normal life, yoga is meant to enjoin two entities. But in spirituality, yoga is used to associate the soul with the divine. This concept is told very easily in the great book Bhagavad Gita where Knowledge, Karma, Devotion, and Meditation have been called the path of salvation which is the coordination of the cognitive, functional, emotional, and psychological forms of the mind respectively. Based on these, Shri Krishna has described Gyaan Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, and Dhyana(Raja)Yoga in the Gita.
What is Gyaan Yoga in Bhagavad Gita:
In the Bhagavad Gita, Shri Krishna, while explaining the knowledge, has divided it into two parts, logical knowledge, and spiritual knowledge. In Jnana Yoga, the basic meaning of knowledge and its relationship with karma and bhakti yoga is described. Sri Krishna has defined both forms of knowledge as follows:
Logical knowledge:
When a person discusses the nature of an object or condition on the diet of its external form, its basis is the logical knowledge of that human. Sri Krishna explained to Arjuna that both the knower and the known are present in logical knowledge. For this reason, logical knowledge is called ‘science’ or Vigyan.
Spiritual knowledge:
When a human does not see the external nature of an object and situation but tries to recognize its inner truth, the reason is his spiritual knowledge. Because of this quality, spiritual knowledge is called ‘knowledge’. In this, contrary to logical knowledge, the knower and the known are absent and rejects the concept of duality. For this reason, the primordial knower is called the real knower who accepts the presence of the soul(atman) everywhere. Due to this characteristic, meditation yogis easily believe God is omnipresent.
Wisdom of Shri Krishna on Gyaan Yoga:
In Bhagavad Gita Shri Krishna explained Arjuna about Jnana Yoga:
- The human body and soul are two different entities. Many elements in a person’s body are in the form of beauty, health and with time all of them come to an end. But this end is not real. The Sat of that body is transferred to another life through samskaras as a seed. With this, the joys and sorrows of this body also get transferred. Therefore, it should be possible for them.
- Entire existence is divided into two parts namely Sat and Asat. Sat is considered eternal and continuous, whereas the destruction of Asat is fixed, which has its beginning and end.
- Here Shri Krishna describes the soul and says that the soul is immortal. It cannot be killed by any weapon. In an attempt to remove Arjuna’s fascination, he says that no one will die in this war. Life will be as continuous as a soul. This statement removes the fear of death from Arjuna’s mind.
- Shri Krishna asks to eliminate Arjuna’s fear that even if the soul is destroyed, what is the fear of his death because its end is certain.
Even after this, Shri Krishna also removes Arjuna’s doubts in this chapter that he raised in respect of disregard of his Kshatriya religion in the event of not fighting the war. In this regard, Shri Krishna suggested Arjuna adopt equanimity.
In this way, through the messages of Jnana Yoga, Shri Krishna suggests Arjuna be equitable in every situation, whether suffering or pleasure, life or death, like a wise man. Thus in these verses, Shri Krishna removes doubts about Arjuna’s life and death and tries to prepare him for war.
