Jnana yoga knowledge of a Vishnu avatar or Shiva or Shakti (Goddess) that is emphasized. In all its various interpretations, the paths are not necessarily mutually exclusive. A "Jnana yogi" may also practice "Karma yoga" or "Bhakti yoga" or both, and differing levels of emphasis. According to Robert Roeser, the precepts of "Jnana yoga" in Hinduism were likely systematized by about 500 BCE, earlier than "Karma yoga" and "Bhakti yoga". In the Bhagavad Gita, "jnana yoga" is also referred to as "buddhi yoga" and its goal is self-realization. The text considers "jnana marga" as the most difficult, slow, confusing for those who
Karma in the current life, as well as the nature and quality of future lives - one's "saṃsāra". "Karma" is the executed "deed", "work", "action", or "act", and it is also the "object", the "intent". Wilhelm Halbfass explains karma (karman) by contrasting it with another Sanskrit word "kriya". The word "kriya" is the activity along with the steps and effort in action, while "karma" is (1) the executed action as a consequence of that activity, as well as (2) the intention of the actor behind an executed action or a planned action (described by some scholars as metaphysical residue left in