We usually associate Karma, Jnana and Bhakti Yoga with Lord Krishna’s teachings to Arjuna on the battlefield in the Bhagavad Gita. These three yogas of action, knowledge and devotion are not seen as separate paths, but as different facets of the journey.
Why is it useful to understand Yoga according to these three aspects? For a start, action is associated with the physical body, knowledge with the mind or subtle body, and devotion with the soul or causal body. Just as the body, mind and soul all function together in a human being, karma, jnana and bhakti are also interwoven. In fact it is in the integration of the three that we integrate our being. Inner Realization is only valid if it is expressed outwardly in action – what Lord Krishna calls skill in action. And how we navigate life is all about the mind and the wisdom we develop. Lord Krishna says, “People are made by belief. As they believe, so they are.” Jnana is our rudder in life, the essential aspect of existence, hence the importance of meditation to keep it in the best condition possible to guide us well. And without love and interest, no thought or action has any purpose behind it. So in these two articles we explore Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga and Bhakti Yoga, and the interrelationship among all three. We also explore the origin of our threefold existence at the time of creation, and how movement, thinking and oneness are all inherent in our soul, which has a compound existence. All three join at the midpoint of our being, the human heart, so it is here that we embark on our journey of integration through the practices of Heartfulness.
Read Karma, Jnana & Bhakti Yoga – Part 1
Read Karma, Jnana & Bhakti Yoga – Part 2
Daaji
Kamlesh Patel is known to many as Daaji. He is the Heartfulness Guide in a tradition of Yoga meditation that is over 100 years old, overseeing 14,000 certified Heartfulness trainers and many volunteers in over 160 countries. He is an inn... Read More
