In the Upanishads it is said that knowledge liberates you and brings moksha, while in the Shiva Sutras you have mentioned that “Jnanam bandhaha” (knowledge can bring bondage). What knowledge can bring bondage and what is that knowledge that can bring liberation?
Different knowledge points are spoken at different times and in different contexts. There is a different context to every knowledge. You need to understand that and see it in totality, rather than understanding each in isolation.
Whatever knowledge has been given, as per the time and context, you must understand it in that context rather than generalize. Listen to the complete Shiva Sutras and you will understand what is being said. If you randomly pick up a few knowledge points from Shiva Sutras and put those in the context of the Bhagavad Gita, then you are bound to get confused and deluded. You have to listen and understand that knowledge in the context of that particular knowledge talk or series rather than mixing up any two together.
To reach a destination, someone may say, “Go straight and take the last left turn”.
Someone else may say, “Go straight and then take the last right turn”.
Yet again someone else may say, “Just go straight, do not turn left or right”.
If you mix up all three instructions, or try following all of them together, you are bound to be confused and lose your way. The directions or instructions are given depending upon where you are at present. At least become wise enough to understand this intelligently.
No doubt there is no greater purifier than knowledge. But if you get stuck in knowledge only at an intellectual, or literal manner rather than assimilating it deep within, then the same knowledge becomes a source of bondage rather than liberation.
There are three different types of knowledge:
1. Indriya-janya Jnana: knowledge which is received from the senses. 2. Buddhi-janya Jnana: knowledge that comes through the intellect. 3. A kind of knowledge that is more subtle and deep, and is beyond the intellect.
Being stuck at the lower levels of knowledge can become a bondage or obstacle in rising to the higher and more subtle knowledge. You should sit and listen to knowledge again and again with attention.
