Jnana yoga enhances insight and brain activity – but too much can create agitation
By meditating on the formulas of yoga philosophy, you can access deep insights very quickly and easily. This practice sharpens the mental capacity for focus and intention. But jnana practice is a double-edged sword, for it is very exciting. As a result, jnana work like this can spark the mental forms (vrtti-s) we were trying to get rid of in the first place. It must therefore be balanced with grounding asana and pranayama to provide what the Buddhists call ‘tranquilization’ (shamatha) as an antidote to too much visionary theory (vipashyana).
There is another, more subtle danger involved in the exploration of yoga philosophy: confusing ‘knowledge about yoga’ with ‘yoga knowledge.’ Knowledge about yoga is inherently discursive, that is, it is involved in the word-image stream that constitutes the ‘internal dialogue’ of the mind or manas. Yoga knowledge, on the other hand progressively goes beyond the conventional, dualistic structures of verbal knowledge. Under these circumstances, it is all too easy to fall into the trap of literalism, where one mistakes the representation (knowledge) for the reality (experience), the finger pointing at the moon for the moon.
Don’t confuse the map (finger) with the territory (moon) – you’re either deluded or in samadhi
Despite the dangers of literalism, it is important to encode records and signposts for future participants in the tradition. In a well-integrated, responsible tradition, meditators cannot exist without scholars to guide their explorations – and scholars require meditators to explore their theoretical constructs. As the ancient Theravadin monks observed, both meditative and intellectual specialists are essential to the tradition’s evolution.
Despite the obvious importance of yoga philosophy to the yogic project, it has a strangely tense relationship with the practice of Hatha Yoga in the west. At the root of this tension lies a conviction that the best way to enter the stream of yoga is through physical actions of asana and pranayama – the most direct means for bringing unruly and distracted minds under control. Yet this tension is really nothing new. As early as Svatmarama and his foundational book on Hatha Yoga, the Pradipika, we are admonished that Yoga is not achieved merely by reading books nor by talking about it (HYP I.65-66).
Can this scholar attain liberation by his books alone?
In an even more concise and unequivocal statement of the problem, Shri Pattabhi K. Jois (founder of the Ashtanga Vinyasa style of yoga) says that ‘yoga is 99% practice, and 1% theory.’ Here is a warning to avoid the illusion that you can access yogic capacities solely by thinking about them, rather than acting on them. As the saying goes, ‘painted cakes do not satisfy hunger.’
“Yoga is 99% theory and 1% practice” – are you going to contradict him?
Yet the same charge could be leveled with some justice at great yoga athletes who know very little of their tradition. Do they really understand the purpose of yoga practice? In some cases, the answer will be a definite ‘yes.’ In others, the question must remain in doubt. Certainly, however, it is much easier to grasp the insights of the yoga tradition when you see the nature of the project. So again, artists and scholars must assist meditators in giving life to the multimedia yogic world taking shape presently.
