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Gnana Yogam implies that through learning and learning alone, one develops the conscious ability to completely understand and relate to all actions that ever occurred, are occurring and will occur in the future.
Practitioners of Gnana Yogam in modern times have been the Sankaracharyas of the different Madas that were set up by Adi Sankaracharya and different branches of learning that have sprung from His teachings. Most exponents of the Gnana Yogam are endowed with extraordinary abilities in learning, and grasping, within a very short time, the vast volumes of information that have to be assimilated in order to acquire the abilities of the mind to be able to interpret the events and occurances in ones life into a meaningful sequence of cause of effect relationships.
If for example a Man, woman or Child is seen by the Gnani (one who has acquired gnanam or ultimate knowledge of the truth), the Gnani will be able to see through that person to give an accurate account of his/her, past, present and future.
Acquiring Gnanam through study of scriptures requires a highly evolved mind as well as the good fortune to be in an environment where there is no room for distraction. The combination of factors that come into play to enable the creation of that environment is indeed very rare.
The following are the obstacles in the path of attempting Gnana Yogam:
1. The endowment of an evolved mind.
2. The good fortune to have been born in a family that has no needs and yet pursues Vadantic studies. It is essential that one is born in this environment so that the parents are able to impart thier knowledge and also support the pursuit of the study of the scriptures.
3. The ability not to succumb to the distractions and temptations of the external world.
4. A good knowledge of sanskrit.
5. The ability to retain humility even though one is far beyond the general level of learning and understanding attained by most people.
6. The intent to use the knowledge only for the welfare of humanity as a whole and not for self propogation. This is very important, since the learning will not be possible unless the intent is selfless.
7. The good fortune to find a Guru who has himself attained the level of knowledge that is required to teach his/her Sishyas or students.
8. The lack of worldly ambition such as married life, children or career. One has to pursue the life of a sanyasi in order to attain the level of detachment from worldly matters. This detachment is the attribute that will enable the mind to acquire a balanced and dispassionate approach towards learning about itself and its components. Without detachment, the attainment of Gnanam is not possible.
Unles all the above requirements are met, it is almost impossible to pursue the path of Gnana Margam.
Now, given the stresses and strains of Kali Yugam, how many of us would be born and raised in an environment that meets all the above requirements? So few that we can count them on our fingers, that live among the billions of people on this planet.
This is why the Paramathma does not prescribe Gnana Yogam for the massess in the Kali Yugam.
Quote from Sringeri Mahasanidhanam - Sri Abhinava Vidya Theertham -
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Krishna Unlimited
United States
suresh