Shastra Quiz 29

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In Sanskrit, the word "jñānam" is derived from the root √ jña avabodhane (to know) and has three etymological meanings:

1. Jñaptiḥ jñānam—knowing, awareness, consciousness, experience. Jñāna in this sense is without any content in it. It does not reveal anything except the subject itself. It is the intransitive usage of the word “jñāna” and can be translated as “contentless knowledge.”
2. Jñāyate anena iti jñānam—that by which something is known, or that which reveals something (artha-prakāśakaḥ). Jñāna in this sense has content. It has a subject to which it reveals and an object which is revealed by it. In Vedāntic terminology, it is called vṛtti-jñāna and can be translated as “content-filled knowledge.”
3. Jñānam asti asmin iti—that which knows or possesses knowledge, meaning a conscious being. In this sense, the word “jñāna” refers to the substratum or bearer of knowledge or awareness. In other words, it does not refer to knowledge in the first or second sense but to the bearer of the first and the subject to which the second is revealed. 

The second meaning is the most general meaning of the word jñāna. The function of knowledge, taken in this sense, is to reveal an object. It reveals an object to a conscious self, an ātmā, the bearer of knowledge signified by the third sense of “jñāna” discussed above.

Jñāna in the second sense of content-filled knowledge reveals itself as well as the object to a conscious self. It is thus described as svayaṁ-prakāśa, self-luminous. The self knows what is revealed to it by this knowledge. This knowledge, however, cannot know the object it reveals. That which knows but does not reveal the objects outside it except to itself is called pratyak or svasmai svayaṁ-prakāśa, self-luminous and self-conscious. This is the characteristic feature of the ātmā.

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naiṣkarmyam apy acyuta-bhāva-varjitaṁ na śobhate jñānam alaṁ nirañjanam kutaḥ punaḥ śaśvad abhadram īśvare na cārpitaṁ karma yad apy akāraṇam

"Even knowledge that is pure and free from bondage to action is without beauty, if devoid of devotion to the infallible Lord. What, then, can be said of action, which is always inauspicious when not offered to the Lord, even if performed without any motive? (SB 1.5.12)"

Śrīdhara Svāmī comments: “The word niṣkarma (devoid of action or the consequences of action) means Brahman; and the jñāna that is characterized by freedom from bondage to karma, because it is of the same nature as Brahman, is known as naiṣkarmya (liberation). The word añjana (lit., tincture) is that by which one is colored or corrupted. It is used here in the sense of upādhi or an artificial designation of the self. The jñāna that eliminates all such artificial designations is known as nirañjana.

Even this type of jñāna is without beauty, if devoid of devotion to the infallible Lord. This means that it cannot give complete and direct apprehension of the Truth that lies beyond the purview of the senses.

Alternatively, nirañjana means “knowledge even without any upādhis.” As this verse is highly regarded, Śrī Sūta repeats it in the concluding section of the Twelfth Canto (SB 12.12.52)

When the Lord says ahaṁ vai sarva-bhūtāni, “I am all living beings,” it does not mean that the living beings and Bhagavān are absolutely one.

The meaning is that Bhagavān is immanent in all living beings. Though mangoes are wrapped in paper and packed in a wooden crate, they are still referred to as mangoes.

The Smṛti says: haris tu sarva-bhūtāni tad-antaryaṁ vyāpekṣayā

"Śrī Hari is all living beings because He is within every being"

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