Become Fit to Experience Jnana Yoga
Gurudev Sivanandaji used to tease the so-called Vedantins and Jnana Yogis at the ashram. They would say, “Aham Brahmasmi, I am that Supreme Brahman.” Occasionally, Gurudev would touch a jnani’s arm with a little piece of stinging nettle. That person would jump up, “Oooh, oooh, oooh,” and Gurudev would ask, “What happened to your ‘Aham Brahmasmi?’” The so-called jnani is proclaiming, “I’m not the body, I’m not the mind, Immortal Self I am.” But when the nettle stings, he jumps. So Gurudev would ask what happened to “I am not the body.”
That’s why Vedanta or Jnana Yoga is good to read, but you cannot practice it. For practice you need all the other Yogas. By practicing the other Yogas, you become fit to experience Vedanta—the oneness. True Jnana Yoga—the Yoga of discriminating between the Self and the non-Self—is something you experience. It’s not something you practice. To give an analogy, let us compare Jnana Yoga to sleeping. You work so hard, get yourself tired, then go home, and prepare yourself to go to sleep. You take a nice, warm bath, put on comfortable pajamas, have something warm to drink. You get the bed ready with a couple of pillows, and if it is winter, some warm blankets. You might play some relaxing music. Then you lie down.
What will happen next? Off you go. At that point will you say, “I am deeply sleeping?” Can you even say, “This Atma is sleeping?” No. The proof that you really are sleeping is that you are not saying anything. The moment you open your mout[……]
