tapas - any religious discipline with reference to speaking, action, and so on. Then cleanliness - śaucam, where the internal is neutralising hatred and other painful emotions by bringing the opposite value or emotion to the mind. And external śaucam is with regards to the environment, body, etc. ksānti - accommodation. arjavam - alignment between thought, word, and deed. āstikyam - acceptance of śāstra as a valid means of knowledge.
We can see jñānam and vijñānam here from two aspects. First is with reference to dharma, it is knowledge of what is right and wrong, which is derived from śāstra. We all have knowledge of dharma but mere jñānam is not enough. It should be assimilated knowledge - vijñānam. Any assimilated value becomes you, and being not separated from you. But mere knowledge of a value, if it is not assimilated, remains an ideal for others to follow, and not for oneself.
Second is with reference to ātmā. These two terms, jñānam and vijñānam used in connection with the knowledge of ātmā, have been a source of misinterpretation. Certain people say that you should first gain indirect knowledge of ātmā from the śruti and then you should “experience” that ātmā. In fact there is no ātmā to be experienced, ātmā is the basis for every experience to be possible. Experience alone doesn’t make you realise. You can only learn from it to the extent that you can interpret it properly, and that depends on what you already know. It is not possible to interpret any experience beyond the understanding you already have.
Śruti doesn’t say that you have to realise Brahman, but you are Brahman, which is an entirely different thing. If Brahman is understood as an entity other than me, it is indirect. But there is no object called Brahman, nor there is any understanding of Brahman other than ātmā - the self.
Therefore knowledge that I am Brahman has to be immediate knowledge - vijñānam, it can never be indirect knowledge- jñānam. In spite of having this knowledge, there are some doubts which have to be taken care of by analysis - manana. And if there is a habitual error that makes me take myself other than Brahman, it has to be removed by contemplation - nididhyāsana. This will make the knowledge clear and free of doubt, vagueness, error, and any habitual orientation. Such a clear knowledge is called vijñānam.
All these attributes that we have seen belong to brāhmana. Now you can understand why a brāhmana is the one who is considered qualified for Vedanta. It is said in the Mundakopanisad 1.2.12, that a person, who is brāhmana, discovers in himself a dispassion towards the general pursuits. After examining carefully the experiences gathered through action, he understands that what is not created is not going to be accomplished by action. Because whatever one’s goal in life is, it will end at the satisfaction of oneself. This satisfaction is centred on oneself, which is not the result of action. What action can do is only invoke the satisfaction, which is the nature of oneself. When it is nature, it should always be there. Therefore for the purpose of knowing this nature of fullness, he approaches the teacher who knows the method of unfolding this knowledge and who abides in it.
All the activities of a brāhmana are meant only to create this understanding. Therefore we can see all these tendencies of brāhmana are supporting the life of withdrawal, seeing the solution of samsāra is centred on the self, not outside. This is called spirituality.
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