YOGIC CRITERIA OF KNOWLEDGE

Those who are incognizant of Yogic principles, often are under the erroneous impression that Yoga is somehow less coherent and systematic an enterprise than official science. On closer examination, however, Yoga proves to be perfectly logical and practical and thus scientific. As a scientific system, Yoga bases its teachings on three universally accepted criteria of knowledge, which are recognised by the vast majority of Mankind. These criteria are, in order of importance: Personal Experience (Anubhava) Reason (Anumana) Testimony or Tradition (Agama) The first and most important of these is Personal Experience, that is, knowledge acquired directly, either through the senses or by the extrasensory means, commonly referred to as Intuition or Spiritual Intelligence. The second is the sphere of knowledge acquired through Reason or Logical Inference. The third is that form of knowledge which is acquired neither directly nor internally but indirectly and extraneously - from sources other than oneself - which may be anything from public opinion to the teachings of one's Spiritual mentor or scriptural authority. (An example of the practical application of these Yogic criteria may be seen in our answer to the question on Karma and Reincarnation.)   <<_ Back to Advaita  | ||Yoga Council Home  ||||Questions & Answers _>>