Jñāna

Jñāna is the ordinary Sanskrit word for knowledge, related to the English “know” and the Greek gnōsis. In the Upaniṣads and Vedānta it takes on a special sense: the knowledge of the self and Brahman that liberates. The Bhagavad Gītā presents the path of knowledge (jñāna-yoga) as one of the ways to the highest, beside the paths of action and devotion.

For Advaita, this knowledge is not one more piece of information. It is the removal of ignorance, and it does not produce liberation as an effect but reveals that the self was always free. The traditional discipline has three stages, drawn from the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad: hearing the teaching of the Upaniṣads (śravaṇa), reflecting on it until doubt is removed (manana), and dwelling on it in contemplation (nididhyāsana). The great sayings, such as “that thou art”, are held to be means of this knowledge.

Other schools grant knowledge a high place but not the only one. Rāmānuja argues that the knowledge scripture enjoins is a loving, steady remembrance of the Lord, indistinguishable from devotion. Modern teachers such as Vivekananda presented jñāna-yoga as one of four yogas suited to different temperaments.