Jnana
Encyclopedia
Jñāna or gñāna is a Sanskrit and Pali word that means knowledge. It has various nuances of meaning depending on the context. The idea of jnana centers around a cognitive event which is recognized when experienced. It is knowledge
Knowledge
Knowledge is a familiarity with someone or something unknown, which can include information, facts, descriptions, or skills acquired through experience or education. It can refer to the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject...

 inseparable from the total experience of reality, especially a total reality, or supreme being such as Siva-Sakti.

In Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...

 it means true knowledge, the knowledge that one's self (atman
Atman (Hinduism)
Ātman is a Sanskrit word that means 'self'. In Hindu philosophy, especially in the Vedanta school of Hinduism it refers to one's true self beyond identification with phenomena...

) is identical with Ultimate Reality Brahman
Brahman
In Hinduism, Brahman is the one supreme, universal Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe. Brahman is sometimes referred to as the Absolute or Godhead which is the Divine Ground of all being...

. It is also referred to as Atma
Atman (Hinduism)
Ātman is a Sanskrit word that means 'self'. In Hindu philosophy, especially in the Vedanta school of Hinduism it refers to one's true self beyond identification with phenomena...

 Jnana
which is frequently translated as self-realization.

In Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

, it refers to pure awareness that is free of conceptual encumbrances, and is contrasted with vijnana
Vijnana
Vijñāna or viññāa is translated as "consciousness," "life force," "mind," or "discernment."...

, which is a moment of 'divided knowing'. Entrance to, and progression through the ten stages of Jnana, will lead one to complete enlightenment and nibbana.
Jnana Shakti
Shakti
Shakti from Sanskrit shak - "to be able," meaning sacred force or empowerment, is the primordial cosmic energy and represents the dynamic forces that are thought to move through the entire universe in Hinduism. Shakti is the concept, or personification, of divine feminine creative power, sometimes...

is "the power of intellect, real wisdom, or knowledge".

Jñānālok is "the enlightenment that can be achieved through attainment of Knowledge and Truth".

Jnana yoga
Jnana yoga
Jyâna yoga or "path of knowledge" is one of the types of yoga mentioned in Hindu philosophies...

 is one path (marga
Marga
-Religion:*Marga in Hinduism refers to a way of accomplishing something such as yoga or sadhana*Marga , "path," the Buddhist path to enlightenment-Places:*Marga, Estonia, a village in Estonia...

) towards moksha
Moksha
Within Indian religions, moksha or mukti , literally "release" , is the liberation from samsara and the concomitant suffering involved in being subject to the cycle of repeated death and reincarnation or rebirth.-Origins:It is highly probable that the concept of moksha was first developed in...

 (liberation). There are other paths for different temperaments such as Bhakti
Bhakti
In Hinduism Bhakti is religious devotion in the form of active involvement of a devotee in worship of the divine.Within monotheistic Hinduism, it is the love felt by the worshipper towards the personal God, a concept expressed in Hindu theology as Svayam Bhagavan.Bhakti can be used of either...

 and Karma Yoga
Karma Yoga
Karma yoga , or the "discipline of action" is a form of yoga based on the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, a sacred Sanskrit scripture of Hinduism. Of the four paths to realization, karma yoga is the science of achieving perfection in action...

.

As per Hinduism, Jnana means a divine wisdom or total knowledge of everybody, everything, everywhere and every time in the entire cosmos. This wisdom can only be given by God to a qualified human being, so believe the followers of the Dualist Hindu Philosophies, while the Nondual Hindu Philosophies(eg Advaita) posit that this knowledge is available to all, and that even the "god/s" are but illusions.

Narottama dasa Thakura compares the paths of karma-kanda and jnana-kanda to pots of poison (karma-kanda, jnana-kanda, kevala visera bhanda). Liquor and poison are in the same category. According to this verse from Srimad-Bhagavatam, a person who has heard a good deal about the path of devotional service, but who is not attached to it, who is not Krsna conscious, is like a pot of liquor. Such a person cannot be purified without at least a slight touch of devotional service.

Jnanis are those who cultivate jnana, speculative knowledge about Brahman
Brahman
In Hinduism, Brahman is the one supreme, universal Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe. Brahman is sometimes referred to as the Absolute or Godhead which is the Divine Ground of all being...

. "There are two kinds of jnanis. One is inclined to devotional service and the other to impersonal realization. Impersonalists generally undergo great endeavor for no tangible benefit, and therefore it is said that they are husking paddy that has no grain (sthula-tushavaghatinah). The other class of jnanis, whose jnana is mixed with bhakti, are also of two kinds -- those who are devoted to the so-called false form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and those who understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead as sac-cid-ananda-vigraha [Bs. 5.1], the actual spiritual form."

See also

  • Advaita Vedanta
    Advaita Vedanta
    Advaita Vedanta is considered to be the most influential and most dominant sub-school of the Vedānta school of Hindu philosophy. Other major sub-schools of Vedānta are Dvaita and ; while the minor ones include Suddhadvaita, Dvaitadvaita and Achintya Bhedabheda...

  • Gnosis
    Gnosis
    Gnosis is the common Greek noun for knowledge . In the context of the English language gnosis generally refers to the word's meaning within the spheres of Christian mysticism, Mystery religions and Gnosticism where it signifies 'spiritual knowledge' in the sense of mystical enlightenment.-Related...

  • Mysticism
    Mysticism
    Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...

  • Nondual
  • Vidya
    Vidya
    thumb|[[Sarasvati]], Vidya goddess.Vidya, Vidhya is a Sanskrit name for knowledge. It is frequently used in Hinduism as honorific stemming from the Puranic conception of knowledge and learning. Vidya is an epithet of the Hindu goddess Sarasvati, consort of Brahma according to Hindu beliefs...

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