Ātma-jñāna
Ātma-jñāna · ātma-jñāna, “knowledge of the ātmā”
Jñāna has other meanings too: see all meanings of Jñāna.
Grammar: neuter noun; a compound of ātman (the Self) and jñāna (knowledge): “knowledge of the ātmā”.
Meaning: the knowledge and direct realisation of the ātmā, the Self, which leads to moksha.
In the scriptures: the munis ask Vyāsa how men, when dharma has failed at the end of the yuga, come again to the Kṛta yuga. Vyāsa answers: as dharma is gradually ruined, people lose their good qualities, śīla is destroyed, life wanes and strength decreases; the body loses its colour and the pain of disease comes. Through that vairāgya (dispassion) arises; through that they strive for ātma-jñāna and attain it, and people become devoted to dharma again. So, rising and rising again, they reach the Kṛta yuga (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 231).
Brahmā tells Nārada of the Ātmatīrtha on the Gautamī, where Bhagavān Śiva is called Jñāneśvara, the Īśvara of knowledge. Datta, the son of Atri, asked his father how he could realise Brahman, and Atri sent him to the Gautamī to praise Maheśvara, from whom he would receive jñāna. Datta praised Bhagavān Śiva as Somanātha, and Bhagavān Hara, pleased, offered him a vara. Ātreya asked: “This is the vara I ask, O Īśvara worshipped by the devas: ātma-jñāna, moksha, great bhakti for you, and the greatness of this tīrtha.” Saying “Let it be so,” Śiva withdrew from sight, and from then on the wise know that tīrtha as Ātmatīrtha. One attains moksha by bathing there and giving dāna (Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 47).
Related terms: Ātmā · Jñāna · Vairāgya · Moksha · Ātmatīrtha
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 231; Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 47