Jnana yoga (Yoga)

This form of yoga is one of the essential components of raja yoga. It is primarily intended for individuals with strong intellectual interests and for whom philosophical ideas and the search for truth are of first importance and the determining factor in their way of life.

A series of meditations and logical demonstrations is provided to overcome ignorance by convincing the individual of the distinction between his true self and the veil of personality that is its present disguise. By turning his awareness inward, the individual is led to pierce and dissolve the numerous layers of the manifest personality until all strata are cut through. He then arrives at the anonymous and unconcerned actor/observer who stands beneath, at the core of his being, with whom he can subsequently identify. Seven steps are prescribed: discrimination, detachment, self-discipline, longing for freedom, hearing, reflection, meditation. The aim of this yoga is therefore to distinguish the larger self obscured by the foreground of daily habits and preoccupations. This leads to realization of the larger self – Atman – as identical with the Absolute – Brahman, that is, to self-realization through yogically induced insight into the true nature of existence.