BOOK
NINE Gyan or Jnana
Knowledge-Enlightenment The
term "Gyan" or "Jnana" is derived from the Sanskrit root
"gna," which is equivalent to the English word "know." In common speech, Gyan or knowledgeis taken
to meanthinking at the intellectual level, embracing within its fold all
knowledge recorded in and derived from books, ancient or modern, spiritual or
secular. No doubt this is a king of
Gyan or knowledge; and whileit is an elementary kind, it is very extensive,
varied and singnificant as far asit goes.
We have
need of it. A part of it, called
scriptures, includes the theoryof the science of spirituality. All scriptures--the vedas and upanishads,
the Bhagavad Gita, the Smritis, Shastras, Puranas, and the Six Schools of
Philosophy; the great epic poems, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata; the Holy
Bible, the Holy Koran, the Adi Granth Sahib, and all others--form part of this
branch of knowledge and come within the range of Apara Vidya, or the knowledge
that comes through the senses. They
form a wonderful recod of the spiritual experiences of the rishis, prophets and
saints of old, and inspire in us a longing to have similar experiences of our
own. They also contain ethical life;
and if followed scrupulously, they lsy a solid foundation for a spiritual
superstructure. So far, so good. But beyondthis they ae of no avail. Apart from the Apara Vidya,
or Gyan at the level of thinkingand writing, there is a subtle and higher type
of knowledge which is gained at the supra-mental level. It is independent of the knowledge gained
through the ordinary senses as it is intuitive and a direct experienceof the
soul. Hence it is called Para Vidya, or the Knowledge of the Beyond. In all religions it is spoken of as the real
Gyan, or true knowledge. It is gained by
the spirit or soul when it reflects back upon itself. It is an outcome of self-analysis by a regular process of
invesion or looking within. It is a
thing of actual experience and realization within one's own self, and gradually
leads to self-knowledge dawns, all doubts and all differences vanish; one views
the world in an altogether different setting, like a person standing on the
summit of a hill, looking at the landscape around andbelow him stretching out
in an endlessundulating series. He
finds himself looking on the great panorama of life in its variegated forms--a
center, a hub of the creation itself.
The past, the present and the future unroll themselves before him like
an open book, and there is nothing that he does not know, nor does he feel the
want of knowledge in himself. Now dawns
upon him the answer to the great question--"What is that, the knowledge of
which makes everything known?"--that has been asked by man since the world
began. True Gyan or knowledge, then,
lies in knowledge and experiencing the Ultimate Reality, in the Light and Life
of which we blindly live, move about, and have our very being rooted, and yet
know it not. It is a great irony of
fate, that we know so much about th world and worldly surroundings as to have a
surfeit of them, but next to nothing of the vital motor-power called the
soul--the Living Spirit, the life spark of consciousness that enlivens us and
is our very life--our real self. So there is a vest
differencebetween Apara and Para Vidya.
The former keeps on expanding as we proceed, but with no way out. The
poet Tennyson describes it aptly: Yet all experince is an arch
wherethrough Gleams that untraveled
world, whose margin fades Forever and forever when I
move. It is a kind of wilderness
through which there is no way out. Even
a person with all his wits about him is sure to be lost in its labyrinthine
maze. Like a flogging horse, he may
kill himself with sheer exhaustion, but cannot possibly get through. Such is the terrible path on which we
trudge. On the other hand, Para
Vidya has boundless possibilities,unfolding new realms of celestial splendor as
the pilgrim soul proceeds on the Path.
It is a very pleasant journey, for the wayfarer has with him a sure
companion, an unerring guide who knows the Path and its dangerous turns and
twists. He takes him aloneis safety,
shows him especially beautiful senses and makes him acquainted with everything
on the way. His companion has a radiantly
smiling face and a divine dignity, and imparts to him disrectly that first-hand
knowledge of the Beyond of which the pilgrim may have read I books. With all its trpas, turns and slips, the
Path moves through a belvedere of uncommon splendor and affords a sure way out
to a haven of rest and repose. The
journey's end is nothing but the Kingdom of God where peace and quiet reign,
the New Jerusalemor Holy City. Thus
real Gyan or knowledge deals with Realized Truth. In the Bhagavad Gita, we
come acrosstwo terms: Gyan and Vigyan.
The knowledge of that One live principle, called Paramatma or God,
actively operating in all living creatures that appear and disappear like so
many bubbles, is called Gyan; and the realization that the said live principle
is the material and efficient cause of all that exists is known as Vigyan. A person possessed of Gyan or Vigyan then
actually sees nothing but God in His creation and creation as established in
God; that is to say, the two as identical and not separate from each other--God
in man and man in God-which is akin to the pantheistic view of religion
(identification of God with the Universe). The Gurbani or the
scriptures of the Guru (the Granth Sahib) have nowhere indentified
book-learning with Gyan. On the
contrary, the term Gyan is used to indicate the Sound Principle (as is evident
from the terms employed: Shabd, Naam, Sach, Kirtan, Dhuni, etc.) whichis
continually reverberating is fullness in each individual. The Word or the Master is
ever sweet, It is the true knowledge and
true meditation, Rare is the soul that may
taste Its sweetness, For the grace of the Master
makes It sweet. *1 GURU
AMAR DAS Know ye the true knowledge
and meditation to be the Dhuni (Sound) Divine, Blessed is the ever-green
tree with the immense shade. *2 GURU
NANAK We have need, great need,
for knowledge on the intellectual leave, and that we get from scriptures and
discourses of Master. We cannot
practice spirituality unless we first know its theory: what it is, its
technique, how it can be practiced, obstacles in the way and how to overcome them,
etc. We cannot therefore ignore the
theory aspect of Para Vidya, for theory always precedes practice in every
branch of knowledge. But after having
learned the theory, we must put the theoretical knowledge into practice so as
to make it our very own. Theory by
itself cannot satisfy the innate craving of the spirit which must be fed on
manna or the heavenly food--the Bread of Life--to satiate her hunger and
supplied with the Water of Life to quench her thirst. Theory and practice, therefore, go cheek by jowl and are
interdependent. But to achieve the
goal, one has to work for it and this rquirs stilling the mind and intellect
before anything else. After full
comprehension of the theory, nothing remains but to gain practical experience
of it at the level of the spirit, far above the level of the senses and sense
organs. We have thus to separate the
two by a process of self-analysis or transcension of the body consciousness, a
practical demonstration of which the Master gives in the laboratory of the body
at the time of initiation. Jnana or true knowledge with
the Master is the Word and it comes through practice of the Word, He aloe achieves it who
accepts and follows the instructions of the Master, with alhis heart and
soul. *3 GURU
RAM DAS Jnana and mediation on Sach
(Truth) have a very deep meaning; No one knows of their inmost
secret and greatness. *4 Jnana, meditation, the
Divine Song (Dhuni) and the Sound (Bani) are all one, All, all repeat the same
ancient story of the wondrous and the speechless One. *5 Practice Jnana, meditation
and Harmonya by absorption in the Sound (Shabd), Be ye one with Him Who is
beyond all limitations, peerless and without fear. *6 GURU
NANAK If you wish for a dip in the
sacred pool of Naam, that pool is verily within you; A tre pilgrimage for the
soul is Shabd which is replete with Gyan.
*7 GURU
ARJAN The Master has applied to my
eyes the collyrium of Gyan, The light became effulgent
within and the darnkess vanished. *8 GURU
AMAR DAS Jnana with the Master is
Naam and he makes one steady in it, One who is destined, gets it
by devotionto the lotus feet of the Master.
*9 GURU
RAM DAS With the manifestation of
Lightone becomes enlightened, The Light of Jnana has now
been implanted in me by the Master; By drinking the ambrosia of
the Word (Naam), the mindis fully at rest and devoid of fear. *10 GURU
ARJAN With the dawn of Jnana,
there is lightoneevery side, In His boundless grace, He
has accepted a filthy worm like me. *11 RAVIDAS This knowledge then is
self-luminous. When it comes, there
dawns a everlasting Light in the initiate's soul. From then on, he walks in God's kindly Light which accopanies him
wherever he may be. This is true
devotion and grants one full protection from all harm. The scriptures tell us that
Jnana is characterized by the Light Principle.
Guru Amar Das, speaking of Jnana as taught by the Master, describes it
as "Eternal Light within," which serves as an alter for ceaseless devotion
and grants one the full fruit of Naam: The Master's Jnana brings
forth eternal Light within, It keeps one absorbed in
ceaseless devotion: the greatest gift of the all-pervading Word. *12 The devotee of the Master
knows the Sound (Shabd), And rests in the ambrosia of
His Word (Naam). The Master's Janan is
refulgent high, And it drives away the
darkness of ignorance. *13 GURU
AMAR DAS The company of a Sadh is the
company of Truth and the congregatin sings His glory, The scintillating Jnana sheds
luster within, dispelling all darkness born of ignorance. *14 With the practice of Naam
(Word), one is rid of all sorrow and pain, for It brings is supreme bliss, The Jnana of the Master is
all ablaze, filling one with Light to the deepest depths of the soul. *15 Those with a writ of the
Lord in their forehead do met a Master Saint, And have all their doubt and
distrust driven out by the blaze of Jnana.
*16 GURU
RAM DAS Guru Arjan also tellsus that
with the dawn of Master's Jnana within, comes the advent of Heaven's Light both
within and without, enveloping all; and the mind gets satiated and is freed
from all illusions and delusions. One
is thus led to the inexhaustible Fount of the Waters of Immortality, drinking
which he becomes desireless and losing all fear of death gains Life
Everlasting. With Heaven's Light, all
things get truly lighted as a result of the Jnana from the Master; By drinking the Water of
Life, the mind grows still and becomes fearless. *17 GURU
ARJAN In scaling the spiritual
heights, the pilgrim has actually to pass through the light of the stars, the
moon and the sun. This knowledge or
Enlightenment comes only when the spirit takes its course in the Sukhman or
Shahrag, a central norrow channel between the two eyebrows. To hail the light of the
moon and the sun within, as the soul rises into the astral world, is described
by the scriptures as the Path of Jnana or True Knowledge. In spite of fire in the
core, how charmingly fragrant is the vegetation, And so with the boisterous
waters of the greats seas when confined within their bounds, The real sun and the real
moon are both within the human body, And yet one rarely gets to
know true Jnana, the very soul of all that exists. *18 GURU
ARJAN Guru Nanak, in Jap JI,
Stanzas 35 and 36, while teling us at length of the Realm of Divine Knowledge
(Gyan Khand) with countless gods, goddesses and deities, beautifully sums up
the description: Divine knowledge illumines
in the realm or knowledge, Whiledivine symphonies play
unending music, and joy and bliss reign supreme. Heaven's Light always serves
as an unfailing friend in moments of dire distress, both without and within;
and one walk steadily in it, in life and after. In sukhmani Guru Arjan has devoted a full ashtpadi, a hymn in
octave or eight stanzas, to this Light and the way it guides and leads the soul
when it quits the body. This Light is
there in the Sukhman, but one cannot get access to it without the help of a
Master: The Light of Jnana is a
powerful aid both within and without, Commune with It, O mind! As
It destroys all affliction and sorrow.
*19 GURU
ARJAN The Light of Master's Jnana
is a peerless jewel that grants salvation, O Nanak! he may give It to
whomever He wishes to grant the honor of His Court. *20 GURU
AMAR DAS The Light of Jnana has been
manifested within, I have easily won the gift
of the Word. *21 GURU
ARJAN Make a vintage of Jnana, and
ferment it with meditation on the fire of His love and reverence, The Sukhman is bubbling over
with the Water of Life, drink ye to thy fill.
*22 KABIR The Master is knowledge
personified; and this knowledge he imparts to a rare gurmukh, i.e., one who
completely surrenders himself to the guru.
A Satguru can manifest the Light which is capable of granting
Nirvana. It is an inner science and one
has to work for it under the guidance of a perfect Master; no one has ever got
it without him. Ask of Brahma, Narad, ved
Vyas, and others, All testify none can have it
without a Master. *23 Water stands in a pitcher; a
pitcher without water is of no consequence, The mind is wedded to Jnana
(knowledge), but True Jnana (Flaming Sound) never comes without a Master
Saint. *24 GURU
NANAK O Mother! One cannot get the
Light of Jnana without a Guru, One may try all means; he
cannot get to the Lord. *25 GURU
ARJAN Without the Master, one
cannot contact the Word nor find the Path, The Light of Jnana is the
true essence, for It leads Godward. *26 Without the Master, one
cannot have the Light of Jnana or inner peace, O Nanak! Without the Word,
the worldly--wise forfeit the human birth.
*27 GURU
AMAR DAS I offer myself as a
sacrifice to my Master, who has united me with the Lord, He has applied to my eyes
the collyrium of Jnana by His Word, And with these eyes I now
see the world in its true colors. *28 GURU
AMAR DAS The Master alone can give
the collyrium of Jnana That shows the all-pervading
Power of God. *29 GURU
AMAR DAS The Master has given me the
collyrium of Jnana that has dispelled all darkness, With the grace of god a
Saint is met, O Nanak! One witnesses the
Light within. *30 The Light of True Knowledge
is the greatest gift of a Master-soul, The Master has given me the
greatest gift of Jnana by creating in me a craving for the Word (Naam), He has linked me with Truth
(the Power of God), a treasure-house of supernatural powers that grow from more
to more. GURU
ARJAN When with spiritual
discipline ( Simran and Dhyan, constant remembrance and concentration) the mind
gets stilled and is at rest, then enlightenment comes. Rare indeed are such souls in the world; all
those who are full of passion, anger or egoism, as most of us are, annot have
it. With it comes perfect satisfaction. Mind is controlled and the soul awakens from
the lethargic sleep or ages. All
desires come to and end, and one gets absorbed in his own self, and is gifted
with all-pervading pervision and transvision, and rises into cosmic
awareness. All karmas are burned
away. Death, the last enemy of mankind,
loses its sting; the minions of death cannot come near such a jivan-mukta or
liberated being. These benefits cannot be
had by outer intellectual wrestling. Adorned with the kindly
Light of God, the spirit becomes acceptable to the Lord Consort. The wandering wits learn to
live under control and delight in Truth, And one drinks the Jnana Ras
(the exhilarating vintage of Naam) and desires nothing else. *32 With all our washings of the
body we cannot keep it clean, But the elixir or Jnana (
the Word) purifies both the mind and the body.
*33 The collyrium of Jnana
destroys all fear and makes you see the Reality, And you gain omniscience
with the stilling of the mind. *34 Devotion to the Master
creates love true and eternal, And the gift of Jnana gives
knowledge of the three worlds. *35 GURU
NANAK Awakened into the Light of
Jnana, Kabir is dyed in the color of the Lord, All the world over are
deluded; my mind is now meta-morphosed by the all-pervading Power (Ram). *36 KABIR How can one control the
wandering wits? The mind can be stilled
through the grace of the Master, and with Jnana he returns to his Native
Home. *37 GURU
AMAR DAS Flower blossoms into fruit
and then fades away, All actions are for Jnana
and then fall off. *38 GURU
RAM DAS Nanak says: He alone wakes
up into into Reality Who applies the collyrium of
Jnana to his eyes. *39 Jnana is a supreme
embellihment for the bride (Soul); Blessed is the birde that
loves her Lord. *40 GURU
AMAR DAS The wild elephant of the
mind is controlled and domesticated by the mahout of a Guru, by means of the
Rod of Enlightment. The Light of the
Guru, variously called Shabd, Naam or Dhun, forms a link between the soul and
the Oversoul, and once this is firmly grasped, one can easily transcend to the
Mansions of God. Ye have put off the old man
with his deeds, and put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the
image of him that created him. *41 ST.
Paul The agency that regenerates
or transforms out nature is the Holy Spirit.
The experience which He must bring to us is called the New Birth, the
Resurrectionor the Second Advent. If any man be in Christ, he
is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become
new. *42 ST.
Paul Jnana or Enlightenment comes
as a gift from God: Thy glance of grace gives
one right understanding, And brings one to the crest
jewel of Jnana. *43 Seek not Jnana in the world
for verily ye shall not find it, With the writ of the Lord
one gets, and not by one's endeavors.
*44 GURU
NANAK Inside the body is the Jnana
of the Master, a crest jewel that grants salvation, O Nanak! with His glance of
grance, he may grant it to whomever He may like, and make him acceptable. *45 GURU AMAR DAS Those
who are devoted to the Satguru are honored and accepted in His Court, The
Light of Jnana dawns in themto whom He may grant it. *46 GURU
ARJAN Having once been gifted with
Enlightenment (or Jnana or Divine Knowledge and Experience), one must practice
it from day to day so as to develop it and not lose the holy Light of Heaven by sheer
neglect in the mighty swirl of the world.
Jesus Christ, in unambiguous terms, warns us against this danger of
losing the peerless gift from God and His Elect, the Godman: Take heed, therefore, that
the light which is in thee be not darkness.
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