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Jnana Yoga Quotes

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Jnana Yoga Quotes

“One important aspect of the Gita which remains is that even though it presents to us some diverse paths as a way of life, such as action, devotion, knowledge and meditation, it does not impose any of these paths on an individual. Rather, it leaves the choice to the people, because the followers of all these paths are essential for the smooth functioning of the world, and any en masse inclination towards only one of them would jeopardize the society by causing an imbalance in its system. The Gita also recognizes that the path that one should follow is determined primarily by the free choice of man as well as his inherent nature, which can be interpreted as a genetic inheritance he is endowed with.”

“„If action yoga suggests a change in attitude toward action, knowledge yoga requires a change in the way we think. Ordinarily, because the intellect is Self-ignorant and under ego‘s passionate influence, its concepts cause suffering. To right the inner disharmony, knowledge yoga aims to detach intellect from ego and train it to identify with and think from the Self. „Thinking from the Self“ means that impersonal truth, not personal prejudice, becomes the center of one‘s thought life, the point from which thoughts originate and to which they return. Self-ignorance manifests first as a confused and unrealistic thought life, then trickles down to disturb and delude the emotions, eventually contaminating in one‘s contact with the outer world. Because it eliminates incorrect, ignorance-born, ego-centered thoughts, reality-based knowledge produces a harmonious, clear and luminous subtle body, one suited to meditation. (p. 64)”