The Bhagavad Gita by Eknath Easwaran

chapter seven
╭ Wisdom from Realization
I n Sanskrit this chapter is called
“The Yoga of Wisdom and Realization” – or “The Yoga of
Wisdom from Realization.” The term used for wisdom is
jnana ; for realization, vijnana . There is room for confusion in
this terminology, as jnana and vijnana are open to differing
interpretations. Both words are from the root jna, “to know,”
which is related to the Greek word gnosis . The prefix vi added
to a noun usually intensifies its meaning; so vijnana could
mean to know intensely or to a greater degree. In this context,
however, jnana is the standard term for the highest kind
of knowledge: not scholarship or book-learning but direct
knowledge of God, spiritual wisdom. If we take jnana in this
sense, we are not left with an obvious meaning for vijnana,
a “more intense kind of jnana.” Ramakrishna takes vijnana
to mean an intimate, practical familiarity with God, the ability
to carry through in daily affairs with the more abstract
understanding that is jnana . Ramakrishna says, “One who
has merely heard of fire has ajnana, ignorance. One who has
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