I've been watching and rewatching this video of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen speaking regarding the qualities of God and the qualities of Satan, and in it he mentions "gnanam" several times. I looked up the definition on the web, and realized that in order to intellectually understand it, I need to study up on several other terms.

Jnana, in my understanding, means body-spirit-connected wisdom, but those words don't quite suffice.

From the link just above, "Jnana is the awakened, superconscious state (karana chitta) working within the ordinary experience of the world, flowing into daily life situations. It is the fruition of the progressive stages of charya, kriya and yoga in the Saiva Siddhanta system of spiritual unfoldment."

Does that mean that if I'm touching a non-alcoholic beer bottle to my teeth, and introducing a feeling that I'd long forgotten (eew, bottle against teeth), I'm experiencing Jnana? Heh. I still need to look up "charya, kriya, and yoga in the Saiva Siddhanta system" before I can be sure whether we're talking about the same type of experiencing.

lyrics: I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans. - Willie Nelson

colors: brown, white, yellow

mood: surrounded by a mess of books

chant/prayer/mantra: may wisdom reside here.


pax hominibus,
joel

Labels: Islam