Jñāna-kāṇḍa
Jñāna-kāṇḍa · jñāna-kāṇḍa, “the section on knowledge”
Grammar: neuter noun; a compound of jñāna (knowledge) and kāṇḍa (section, part): “the section on knowledge”.
Meaning: the part of the Veda that teaches knowledge of Brahman and of the ātmā, also called the brahma-kāṇḍa; it stands with the karma-kāṇḍa, which enjoins the rites, and the devatā or upāsanā-kāṇḍa, which teaches the forms of the devatās and their ārādhana.
In the scriptures: Nārada Maharshi, explaining to Prācīnabarhisha the account of Purañjana, says that the sādhaka who hears the Veda in the form of the jñāna-kāṇḍa and does upāsanā attains the Devayāna path, the path of the devas; this kāṇḍa is what the account calls Uttara Pañcāla, North Pañcāla. The karma-kāṇḍa, which leads by the Pitṛyāna, is Dakshiṇa Pañcāla (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 29).
Śrī Kṛshṇa tells Uddhava that the supreme intent of the karma-kāṇḍa, the devatā-kāṇḍa and the brahma (jñāna) kāṇḍa of the Veda is the non-difference of Brahman and the ātmā. “In the jñāna-kāṇḍa, what does the Vedic speech restate only in order to deny it? No one in this world other than Me knows its heart.” The Veda sets him out as many forms, the five bhūtas beginning with ākāśa, denies them all, and what it then establishes as the remaining principle is Śrī Kṛshṇa himself (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 21).
At its close the Bhāgavata Purāṇa says of itself that it sets forth Brahman, beyond prakṛti, from which the world is born and into which it dissolves, as the Upanishads teach it, with ātma-jñāna, direct experience and the means that reveals it; the text marks this as its jñāna-kāṇḍa (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 12, Chapter 12).
Related terms: Karma-kāṇḍa · Upāsanā · Veda · Brahman · Jñāna · Devayāna
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 29; Skandha 11, Chapter 21; Skandha 12, Chapter 12