Jnana, as it is known in Sanskrit, is the intellectual and philosophical path of yoga. It shows us how to arrive at knowing the Absolute. This path is non-dualist, and helps us to discern between the real and the unreal, the permanent and the temporary. However, the intellect is only a part of Jnana Yoga, because within this path you also have the mystical path, which is needed to transcend the intellect, as the intellect only gets us halfway there. Jnana Yoga is practiced at Lotus Blau through lectures and commentaries on the classics, such as Shankaracharya and the Bhagavad-Gita, as well as more contemporary teachers, such as Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo, Ramana Maharshi, and Nisargadatta, among others. Meditation and Mouna (silence) are also practiced in the Jnana Yoga class as well.

The intellectual path of Jnana Yoga is always better to be studied with the help of a teacher, for at times it can be a very difficult path to understand. The intellectual practice of Jnana Yoga is nothing more than letting go of what we have learned, so that we may find what is already inside each and every one of us, which deals with the more abstract parts of our nature. It is difficult to explain Jnana Yoga in a few paragraphs, because of the great density of the path, but we can touch on the concept of Maya. Maya is often translated as illusion, but this interpretation is very literal. It is said that Maya is the physical reality, but in this way, we don’t want to say that the physical reality is an illusion, in the sense that it is not real, and in the sense that we are not experiencing the physical reality. The physical reality is just as real as the dream is, inside the parameters of the dream. What is the illusion is the identification with the body and mind. It is an illusion to identify with a problem. The physical world is visibly real, but it is not absolute. Maya is when we let go of our attachment to that which is impermanent. It is when we get obsessive about the desires that never seem to be fulfilled and make us suffer so much. Food is necessary, but when food is turned into an addiction, in the long run, it makes us sick and we lose ourselves, this is Maya. Wars are created for economic interests; this is Maya. We think we can love some more than others; this is Maya.
The path of Jnana is long and is very hard work, but with constant practice and the day to day experience that it brings to us, together with the practice of meditation and study, the student sees more clearly all that is not, and can walk in the direction of internal peace, in the direction of “I am”.