Jnanam - Essential Values or Qualities of the Mind

The values necessary to prepare the mind for  knowledge (that is Vedanta) are set out in the Bhagavad Gita in response to a question by Arjuna.   The 13th Chapter of the Bhagavad Gita begins with this three-part request for instruction addressed by Arjuna to his teacher , Lord Krishna.  Arjuna said:

Oh, Lord, I would like to learn about :prakrti (insentinency or matter) and purusa (sentinency or spirit): ksetra (the field, which indicates the body, or insentinency) and ksetrajna (the knower of the field, which indicates that which is consciousness of the body), Jnanam (knowledge) and jneyam (that which is to be known).

(In some Gita manuscripts the opening verse is not found).

In answer to the third part of this request , Lord Krishna lists 20 qualities of the mind which He terms 'jnanam' or knowledge:

Amanitvam	- absence of self worshipfulness
Adambitvam	- absence of pretence
Ahimsa	- non-injury
Ksantih	- accommodation
Arjavam	- straightness
Acaryopasanam	- service to the teacher
Soucham	- cleanliness
Sthairyam	- steadiness
Atmavinigrahah	- mastery over mind
Indriyarthesu Vairagyam	- dispassion towards sense-objects
Anahankarah	- absence of egoism
Janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi- dukha-dosanudarsanam	- reflection on the evils of birth, death, old age,   sickness, and pain
Asaaktih	- absence of sense of ownership
Anabhisvangah putra-dara-grhadisu	- absence of fast attachment to son, wife, home   etc.
Nityam samacittatvam istanista-upapattisu	- constant even-mindedness in the occurrence of   desirable and the undesirable
Mayi ananya-yogena bhaktih avyahicarini	- unswevering devotion to Me characterized by   non-separateness from Me
Viviktadesasevitvam	- resorting to a quiet place
Aratih-jana-samsadi	- absence of craving for the company of people
Adhyatma-jnana-nityatvam	- constant application of the knowledge of the   self
Tattva-jnana-arthadarsanan	- keeping in view, the purpose of knowledge of   Truth

Knowledge as used here does not mean knowledge of Self but stands for those qualities of the mind which must be present for the mind of the seeker to be prepared for the knowledge of the Self.   Knowledge of self in this case is indicated by jneyam - that which is to be known.  Jnanam, indicates those qualities of mind which must be present for the Vatsu, the Truth (that which is ultimately Real; that which cannot be resolved into anything else), to be known.

For values to be personally valuable they must be discovered through knowledge(seen as valuable by the value holder) and not simply impressed from without.  Therefore, the term 'jnanam' is quite appropriate.  The list of values constituting jnanam is long but the qualities are interrelated, defining a harmonious frame of mind in which knowledge can occur.  Each of the terms used by Lord Krishna highlights a certain attitude, the value for which must be discovered personally in order that the attitude becomes a natural aspect of the seeker's frame of mind.

Although the primary purpose of jnanam values (as told by Lord Krishna to Arjuna) is to prepare the mind for self-knowledge, when the total value of these values is understood one sees that these attitudes have the highest personal values for everyone.  The jnanam values, impartially, bless and make more effective both the mind of the everyday struggler who seeks fullness in the pursuit of artha (securities) and kama (pleasures)   and the mind of the mumuksu-jijnyasu (the seeker of the knowledge for the sake of liberation) who, having discerned the futility of limited ends and means, seeks fullnessthrough the gain of Self-knowledge - through the study of Vedanta.

-Swami Dayananda Saraswati

Excerpted from "The Value of Values" by Swami Dayananda

Published: 11/01/98