Chapter 4 – Jñāna Yoga (Original)

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SrI:  SrImathE SatakOpAya nama:  SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama:  SrImath varavaramunayE nama:

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krishna-leela

ramanujar-4-formsbhagavath rAmAnuja at AzhwArthirunagari, srIperumbUthUr, srIrangam and thirunArAyaNapuram

THE JÑĀNA-YOGA

OR

THE PATH OF KNOWLEDGE

BOW TO BLEST ŚRĪ RĀMĀNUJA

Memorial verse in honor of Śrī Rāmānuja:

To the feet of Blest Rāmānuja,

Do I resort as (my) Refuge,–

Bhagavad – Rāmānuja, Mercy’s Ocean,

Who, from his love of the lotus-feet of Achyuta,

Regarded everything else as trivial.

PROEM

In the Third Lecture, it was shown that Karma-Yoga (Path of Works) alone, was best fitted for the matter-bound moksha-aspirant, and that therefore this candidate was not competent, all at once, to enter on a course of Jñāna-Yoga (Path of Knowledge).

It was also shown, with reasons, that even to the jñāna-yogi, karma(works)—when performed with ideal mechanic impersonality, —(a-kartṛitv-ānusandhāna), was preferred.

It was further shown that, to persons of light and leading (viśishṭatayā vyapadeśyāḥ), the practice of Karma-Yoga was an imperious necessity (for reasons stated).
The object of this, the Fourth Lecture, is to further emphasize the necessity there is for Karma-Yoga, by declaring that it was taught (to great men) at the beginning of the Manvantara[1. The present Manvantara is Vaivasvata Manvantara. A Mahā-kalpa is the life-period of Brahmā, which is one hundred (Brahmā) years. Each day of the year is called a Kalpa. A Kalpa consists of fourteen Manvantaras.
Each Manvantara is equal to 71 3/7 Mahāyugās, a Mahāyugā being a group composed of the four Yugas, amounting to 4,320,000 human years. Fifty years of Brahmā have now passed away. We are in his fifty-first year, seventh Manvantara (presided by Vaivasvata-Manu = Manu the Son of Vivasvat). Of the 71 3/7 Mahāyugas, the present Mahāyuga is the twenty-eighth, of which the present Yuga is Kali, the first quarter of which is now closing (5000 years). The discourse between Kṛishṇa and Arjuna, was in Dvāpara, the preceding Yuga to Kali, or more than 5000 years ago.]; and to show how karma-yoga partakes of the nature of jñāna-yoga, by reason of knowlege (jñāna) underlying work (karma); —(the Lecture) winding up by a discussion of the nature of karma-yoga, its varieties, and the importance of the knowledge-aspect inherent in it.

Episodically, the Truths (viz : purpose etc.,) regarding Avatāras (or Divine Incarnations, or ‘God made flesh’) are dwelt on.

 

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