What is #Prajna? Now, there is something called #Jnana. Jnana means knowledge. The root is the same. Now, what is the difference, let us try and understand. What is the normal way of achieving knowledge? Something that we Know, something that we have Experienced. We can experience something and if we are cognising, if we are perceiving the experience and then cognising the perception, then we say we have known something and that becomes part of the known. Now, there is the known, and then there is the knowable, and the unknowable. These two are part of unknown, right? So unknown, that which is not known today, now, has two aspects. One which is: it´s knowable. Somebody can know this tomorrow. A
discoverer, who can discover this and bring it into the sphere of our knowledge. Okay so
that´s knowable. Then there is unknowable, something that is not accessible by the intellect. We don´t mean unknowable as such, we mean unknowable by the intellect. For example, there are things which are unknowable by the instinct that belong to the intellect, so we cannot try to explain the theory of physics to our dog. We can´t explain it because he doesn´t go beyond instinct. So those things are unknowable to him. Though they´re known to me, not just knowable, but known. So this is the difference between instinct, intellect and intuition. So for us, what is commonly known using Intuition, is unknowable for a level
below the Intuition (Instinct & Intellect) . Similarly, that which is known to a level above us is unknowable to us. We simply cannot
go there. Even with our imagination. That´s why, we don´t try to imagine that stuff. For eg, a Dog trying to imagine the theory of relativity. That is the major mistake made by scholarly people while trying to understand the Yogas. Yogas are not meant to be understood, they are meant to be practiced. And with the practice comes a certain experience. Now, practice as we know depends upon the intensity and the means. Whether they´re intense means, medium intense means, low level intensity means. Hence, progress on the path of Yogas is a sum product of means and intensity. Along with your Fundamental Emotional Balance, your Bhavana Citta. That emotional balance needs to be applied first. Only after that can you apply intensity. You cannot apply intensity without emotional balance. Take an example of a person who's attempting to drive fast without emotional balance. If the person is not emotionally balanced, that is the worst thing that he could do because it’s going to be bad for himself, he’s going to have some kind of an accident because his emotions are all over the place and he’s going to cause an accident for somebody else. Even worst, because of his lack of awareness and distraction. This person then is not driving fast because of his intense awareness, he´s doing it out of an emotion. Maybe he´s seen a movie, or a videogame and he´s imitating this. He likes the emotion that he experienced when he saw that movie and he wants to replicate, replicate that emotion. Unfortunately, he neither has the skill nor the level of awareness to do this. That´s why emotional balance is absolutely necessary before we do anything that requieres any level of intensity. Otherwise we´re going to hurt ourselves or you´re going to hurt somebody else.
Take another example of a hand-hend weapon, a gun is a very intense object. With a gun you can damage yourself very badly and you can damage other people pretty badly. It´s an intense means, the means of the gun is very intense.
A hammer is another mean. A stone is another one, a knife or an axe is another one. A gun takes it to a different level. So that is extremely intense means. The emotion used to fire a gun is very intense. Therefore the level of practice needed and the emotional balance required of a person to use a gun is very high. Such a person cannot have an emotional imbalance like a normal person. He must be very very balanced.
Because he has the means to utilise something very intensely. And therefore, if he´s not an
emotionally balanced person, he should never use a gun. Simple. In that case, very few people should own guns. And that’s why in the arm forces they train you so much because you’re going to be handling very dangerous things and if you´re not emotionally balanced… well. Somebody´s angry at somebody else, they just go to the armory take a gun and shoot them. You don´t like your commanding officer you go and shoot him. because you have this gun in your hand. It´s an expression that you can use, you know.
Coming back to #Prajna. It belongs to Lokaha and Alokaha. Loka means worldy, material. Alokaha means suprawordly. Literally it means non-worldly and loka means wordly.
to be continued...