Jnana Yoga (Vedanta Philosophy Lectures)
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~160,000 words · 768 passages
Cite this work
- APASwami Vivekananda. (n.d.). Jnana Yoga (Vedanta Philosophy Lectures). Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/swami-vivekananda/jnana-yoga-vedanta-philosophy-lectures
- MLASwami Vivekananda. Jnana Yoga (Vedanta Philosophy Lectures). Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/swami-vivekananda/jnana-yoga-vedanta-philosophy-lectures.
- ChicagoSwami Vivekananda. Jnana Yoga (Vedanta Philosophy Lectures). Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/swami-vivekananda/jnana-yoga-vedanta-philosophy-lectures.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
Vivekananda's lectures on the path of knowledge, given in New York and London in 1895-96 and taken down from listeners' shorthand notes.
Context and history
Jnana yoga is, among the four paths he distinguished, the one for those who arrive by understanding rather than by devotion (bhakti), action (karma) or mental discipline (raja). The core is the Advaita thesis he had from Shankara's tradition: the individual and the absolute are not two things. What is new is whom he is speaking to and how: these are public lectures for a Western audience that knew nothing of any of it, so Vivekananda explains without presupposing the Sanskrit vocabulary and argues with the European science and philosophy of the day. It is the book that put Vedanta into circulation outside India, and it is worth remembering that these are transcripts of speech, not a text he wrote.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
Society did not exist ages ago, possibly will not exist ages hence. Most probably it is one of the passing stages through which we are going towards a higher evolution, and any law that is derived from society alone cannot be eternal, cannot cover the whole ground of man's nature. At best, therefore. Utilitarian theories can only work under present social conditions. Beyond that, they have no value. But a morality, an ethical code derived from religion and spirituality, has the whole of infinite man for its scope. It takes up the individual but its relations are to the Infinite, and it takes up society also — because society THE NECESSITY OF RELIGION 21 is nothing but numbers of these individuals grouped together — and applying to the individual and his eternal relations, it must necessarily apply to the whole of society, in whatever condition it may be at any given time. Thus we see that there is always the necessity of spiritual religion for mankind. Man cannot always think of matter, however pleasurable it may be. It has been said that too much attention to things spiritual disturbs our practical relations in this world. As long ago as the days of the Chinese sage Confucius it was said : "Let us take care of this world, and then, when we have finished with this world, we will take care of other worlds." It is all very well that we should take care of this world and let the other go, but though too much attention to the spiritual may hurt a little our practical relations, yet too much attention to the so-called practical hurts us here and hereafter. It makes us materialistic. For man is not to regard Nature as his goal, but something higher than Nature.