Jnana Yoga - Seeing Beyond Concepts; Make enquires via contact us

The human mind has a great need to make sense of things and to reach for the comfort and security of understanding. As a consequence the world is full of concepts, explanations and theories about how things are and how they might be. No doubt this curiosity has led to great productivity in science and art as well as fuelling a rich speculation of such conundrums as who we are and why we might be here.

Of course these are indeed intriguing questions. In Yoga many people are particularly motivated to seek like this and to look for personal meaning. What is the meaning of life? How can I find the truth? etc. It is often this seeking that is at the basis of a person’s interest in Yoga and the sustained hope that Yoga practice will bring about some vision and awareness of truth.

Due to the nature of the mind however this probing for knowledge commonly remains at the level of intellect and logic; to the analysis and advancement of concepts. It is mostly these efforts that have led to the intricate and varied structures of philosophy and religious thought. Anyone who is pursuing a sincere Yoga life will be both exposed to and often immersed in the theories and ideas that struggle to shape reality. How many millions of words have you read trying to get to the bottom of these mysteries and not quite getting it?

In terms of the richness of experience there is no harm in it. Sharing the dialogue of questioning and the speculation of reason can be a stimulating and inspiring exchange. It can of course also lead to confusion and barren blind alleys but that’s another matter. However if the level of our enquiring remains at this conceptual level we are likely to simply go round and around in the hunt for satisfaction and our need to understand. Our energy is spent in thinking about the truth, in the projection of ideas and the organising of thought.

When it is like this even subtly we miss something fundamental and direct, something so close and immediate that it is hidden by its ordinariness. Hidden by our habit of looking for it through concepts and thinking. What we miss is the simple recognition of a simple and obvious fact:

Irrespective of what is happening in the moment these three statements remain a constant truth, irrespective of where you go or who you are, irrespective of time or circumstances, these three statements remain a constant truth. In truly recognising this, a profound and dynamic wisdom can be really felt and known.

Put aside for a moment all concepts, theories and ideas and recognise the dynamic power inherent in this truth. If you can do that something will occur to you. That is the recognition that all through your life experiences and events, perceptions and behaviours have been changing but there is something that has not changed, that has never dwindled and has never not been there, that something is the presence of existing itself, the state of being awake and aware, the feeling I exist.

You cannot put your finger on it but you know it to be true. On first consideration this may be beguiling because our identity is so caught up in the events and memories of the past, the vrittis and flows of experience. With some persistence however you will be able to distinguish the presence of the feeling I from the changing events that rise up in it. This presence is not common sensation but it is perceivable, it is the presence of being, it is the first (but not the last) true answer to the question ‘ Who am I?’

The ability to put this question in this way and to proceed into this deepening awareness has arisen from the methodology of two great modern seers Sri Ramana Maharshi and Nisagardatta Maharaj. What they have articulated is in my opinion a renaissance of the ancient approach of Jnana Yoga, now available to the modern world. Their contribution is immense and through guidance and support the teaching that they initiated is now accessible. Although like all things concepts surround it and its theoretical base, the practice itself of Atma Vichara is direct because it is acknowledging the immediate arising of I in the now of the enduring present moment.

This feeling I is the fullness of what you are, there is nothing indirect or second person about it. Of itself it is full of freshness and springs alive spontaneously. Realising that experientially is available to all who genuinely pursue it. In the beginning it may not be easy to disentangle from old habits and the promise of knowing the I may seem beguiling and unassailable but through the sadhana of Atma Vichara (self enquiry) it becomes indisputable as the current of love and freshness at the centre of the moment. No concept is then necessary to be that.

© Derek Thorne 2003