In this chapter we look at the three basic forms of yoga — Jnana, Bhakti, and Karma — exploring how they differ and what they share in common. Essentially, Jnana Yoga is the yoga of knowledge; Bhakti Yoga is the yoga of devotion; and Karma Yoga is the yoga of action. All modes or expressions of yoga can be classified under these three disciplines. The yogi needs to understand that they are complementary. They suit different temperaments; some people may practice one form for a period of their lives and then switch to another. The subject of this book, Ashtanga Yoga, falls under the umbrella of Karma Yoga, but it incorporates certain aspects of the other two forms.
We also look at the different modes of Karma Yoga, the form of yoga most widely known and practiced in the West. This includes a more detailed look at the eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga. This knowledge will enable you to sift through all the diverse information you hear about yoga and put it into the context of your own practice.
Yoga in its various forms crystallized out of the Vedas, the oldest scriptures known to humankind. The Vedas are considered to be of divine origin. They contain eternal knowledge (the term Veda comes from the root vid, “to know”), which is revealed anew during each world age to those who are open to hearing it. Those who receive this knowledge and record it are called Vedic seers, or rishis.1
Because the Vedas are voluminous, they are divided into categories to make them more accessible. Well known are the four main Vedic texts, the Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda, and Atharvaveda; each of these categories represents a set of family lines (gotra) that was entrusted to preserve that particular set of scriptures. The Vedas are also commonly divided according to the subjects the passages deal with. These divisions are called kandas (portions). The three kandas are the Karma kanda, which pertains to performing actions; the Upasana kanda, which concerns itself with worship of the divine; and the Jnana kanda, the portion pertaining to self-knowledge. As you may have guessed, the Karma kanda became the basis for Karma Yoga, the Upasana kanda led to Bhakti Yoga, and the Jnana kanda laid the foundation for Jnana Yoga.
Jnana Yoga
The term Jnana comes from the verb root jna, to know. In fact, both the Greek word gnosis and the English word know have their origin in the Sanskrit jna. Jnana Yoga is the most direct path to recognizing yourself as a manifestation of divine consciousness, but it is considered to be the most difficult. In the days of the Bhagavad Gita, Jnana Yoga was called Buddhi Yoga (the yoga of intellect) or the yoga of inaction, because one practices it through contemplation alone. This form of yoga is the one predominantly taught in the ancient Upanishads, the mystical and philosophical section of the Vedas. In the Brhad Aranyaka Upanishad this yoga is described as consisting of three steps: shravana (listening), manana (contemplating), and nidhidhyasana (being established).2 The practitioner first listened to a teacher who had attained the illustrious self-knowledge that all is in fact nothing but Brahman (consciousness). He then let go of all his desires, such as wealth, success, pleasure, fame, and family; retired to a quiet place; and contemplated the words of the teacher. After due consideration, he recognized the eternal truth of the teaching and was then permanently established in that truth.
From this short description, you may understand why this path is considered short and direct but also very difficult. It is short because there are very few steps involved. After finding a teacher, there is really only one step: the contemplation, in a solitary place, of your unity with the Supreme Self. It is a difficult path for many reasons. It requires that a self-realized teacher accept you as a student. Such teachers were considered hard to find even in the ancient days, and they are much rarer today. It then requires that you completely let go of all attachments to wealth, success, pleasure, fame, family, and so on. Modern Western teachers who prefer to communicate to their students that they can “have it all” do not drive this point home enough. Traditionally this highest path was taught only to renunciates and ascetics, those who had taken a vow to forsake all the worldly attachments mentioned. The reasoning was that one had to let go of all external attachments if one was to surrender all one’s inner attachments in the process of merging with the Supreme Self.
Also, the path of Jnana Yoga requires an intellect so pure, powerful, and intense that from the mere instruction of a self-realized teacher it can understand and accept the truth and become permanently established in it, free of duality. Such intellects are exceedingly rare. Understanding is easy, but what about remaining grounded in the truth even in moments of doubt, when one faces one’s inner demons?
For this reason the path of Jnana Yoga is considered fit for only a select few. As the ancient Vedic text the Samkhya Karika puts it, only those whose intellects are entirely free of erroneous cognition can attempt it.3 There are only a few Indians today who consider themselves fit for Jnana Yoga, and we may take this as a sign of the great humility and maturity of the Indian culture. On the other hand, many modern Western practitioners believe they deserve everything, including spiritual liberation, immediately and without having to give up anything. Thus they tend to view as a nuisance the preparations and qualifications that are asked of traditional Indian students.
Jnana Yoga was popularized mainly by the great Shankara, who lived some two thousand years ago.4 Shankara is considered a jagat guru (world teacher), a name given to rare teachers of high stature who appear every few centuries or once in a millennium to reinterpret the scriptures and restore their original meaning. This had become necessary in Shankara’s time; even though Jnana Yoga had been taught long before Shankara by rishis (seers) such as Vasishta, Yajnavalkya, and Vyasa, it was no longer understood properly because of changes in society and conventional language. Shankara wrote many great treatises and commentaries to present the ancient teachings again in their proper form. From today’s perspective, Shankara’s achievements look so gargantuan that many view him as a semi-divine or divine manifestation; in fact, he is often seen as a manifestation of the Lord Shiva himself.
In the twentieth century, Jnana Yoga was again popularized through the great example of Ramana Maharshi. Because Ramana was such an exceptional individual, he, too, was seen by many Indians as a divine manifestation — this time of Lord Skanda, the second son of Lord Shiva.
The ancient teacher Shankara and the modern teacher Ramana had many things in common. Both held that true knowledge (Jnana) can be attained only through Jnana Yoga. However, both taught that those who cannot attain Jnana directly — which includes all but a few individuals — can go through a possibly lengthy preparation period and emerge ready to undertake Jnana Yoga. This preparation could consist of either of the other two paths of yoga, Bhakti Yoga or Karma Yoga.
Bhakti Yoga
Bhakti Yoga is the path of devotion that grew out of that portion of the Veda that deals with worship (Upasana kanda). It is based on the realization that most people have an emotional constitution rather than the cool, abstract, intellectual one that lends itself to Jnana Yoga. Also, it accepts the fact that it is much more difficult to realize consciousness as the impersonal absolute (called nirguna Brahman, the formless Brahman) than to surrender to a divine form (called saguna Brahman, Brahman with form).
Bhakti Yoga’s path to freedom is reasonably direct but somewhat lengthier than that of Jnana Yoga. The term bhakti is created from the Sanskrit root bhaj, to divide. Unlike Jnana Yoga, which views the self of the individual and that of the Supreme Being as one and the same, Bhakti Yoga accepts the eternal division between the self of the devotee and the omnipotent self of the Supreme Being.
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