‘Jnana yoga is a path of yoga that involves self-study, meditation, and contemplation to attain knowledge and self-realization. It is also known as the "path of knowledge" or "path of self-realization".’
Words are powerful. Just practicing yoga is absolutely amazing and profound, understanding why you practice and gaining more information from the yogis can allow more depth, reason and meaning to your practice.
Why should we study or contemplate the philosophy of yoga, is the practice not enough for awakening.
There’s two sides to this coin, as we practice we are allowing the inner wisdom within to arise. We also can deepen this venture within, by being guided to a place that is unknown and alien to us initially. Simply, how does one experience beyond thought, and being guided can mean the world of difference in the experience, instead of staying in the dark.
Awakening is beyond mind, it is beyond concept, it is in the experience of self. Even so, concept and grasping these concepts can play a vital role in the discovery of self and the universe.
Allow words to expand you, use the imagination, allow the words to guide you to realms unseen, unknown, then the path reveals itself.
Here is one of my personal experiences. When I started teaching, way before any appropriation problems, and before any great search engines. I had many Indian students, I ended the class with “Hari Om”. I asked them, what does this mean, only knowing from a western perspective of the light or god within me, greets the light or god within you. They agreed, that was a good translation, adding: I honour the god within you, which is within me. I don’t think just repeating Hari Om would have brought this wisdom, I cannot say that with certainty though. In itself it is powerful and can cause unseen vibrational changes. I found that my transformation was excellerated by the process of introspection and Jnana yoga.
“Hari Om is sometimes considered to be a shortened version of the mantra, Hari Om Tat Sat. Om Tat Sat can be translated as "Supreme Ultimate Truth" or "all that is." In this case the prefix Hari refers to God in the physical form.”
I considered this deeply, to understand to see that all beings are god. That is not a concept that I grew up with, it was foreign to my mind. Then it struck me that, I am searching for the god within me, and if I can’t see the god in others, how will I ever see the god within myself. Does seem to be a cliché now, luckily the inner understanding is always authentic.
Words cannot bring the wisdom, words can only awaken the wisdom, wisdom is remembered by the words. The understanding and knowing is always within you.
Whenever I hear a concept that is beyond my remembering and understanding for now, for example when my teacher continued to say that the hatha practice is to be effortless. What, effortless!, how? I visualise myself placing this concept as a little seed in the back of my head. I haved watched this understanding expand within me, changing and growing constantly.
Allow yourself to discern whether the info you are receiving is of the right alignment and vibration for you. Discern for yourself that knowledge is of a higher vibration to what you yourself can understand at present. This will guide you to your own inner truth.
Enjoy the meditation on Chidakasha, I have added this meditation as another example. At the end of the meditation it states that “you can detach yourself, your awareness, from the mind and its perceptions, from the body and its perceptions. Become aware of the inner state of silence, quietness and immobility.” One might not initially grasp what is meant with detach, or what to detach from, what are the perceptions of the mind or the perceptions of the body. These are the teachings one can find in the yogic tradition, and they will be understood at as many different levels as there are consciousnessess contemplating the teaching.
Find more meditations from me on InsightTimer.
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