68. Intellect Cafe

This is a compilation of short Facebook posts written over the last few years.

We have to come to terms with the fact that thought is just another aspect of our being. Only certain spiritual paths deal with thoughts and achieving intellectual clarity. But spirituality by itself does not mean intellectual clarity. I may be a simpleton and still be spiritual, and a wonderful human being. Lack of intellectual clarity does not necessarily make me non-spiritual or make me any less. Nor does intellectual proficiency guarantee any spiritual insights. Therefore there is no need to assert oneself when intellect is not sharp enough. Otherwise things will get twisted out so bad, that it may be quite troublesome to straighten them up!
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Jnana yoga is not about finding answers as such. It is about channelizing all the erratic questioning into one fundamental question, directing the scattered energy into one intense '?'. Answers given by the teachers, if any, on a variety of things, are only to plug the holes in your intellect through which energy is dissipating, through which you are slipping away.
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When water is heated in a vessel, if the vessel is not big enough, water may spill over and douse the very fire that heated it up, instead of the fire evaporating the water in the vessel. Just so, when one enquires into the fundamental questions of life, if the intellect is not robust enough, the content of your mind (read and heard) will spill over haphazardly, and douse the fire of enquiry ("Ah I know, I am the Self!"), instead of the fire of enquiry evaporating the mind leading to the direct revelation of the Truth.
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When probing into fundamental questions of life, logic eventually hits a dead-end, or becomes circular, or goes into an infinite regression. Most people coolly declare "Logic is limited" and carry on with their life. The prisoner comes to the prison walls, and casually walks away. How many refuse to ignore the wall? How many find the walls daunting and suffocating?
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Intellectual clarity includes the intimate and painful knowing of intellect's limits, and therefore an encounter with what is beyond. Without it clarity is still pending.
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"Intellect is limited" – if one is to make this statement, the limitation must be a living reality to him. Otherwise it is a case of fox and the sour grapes... or of deception where one tries to look wise by repeating someone else's words as their own... or of a messed up intellect trying to find an exit from a discussion to save itself from humiliation.
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"Jnana yogi learns to use the intellect the way a drunkard uses a lamp post – for support rather than illumination. He does not seek a PhD to validate the knowledge he has amassed. Instead, he understands that the intellect is an instrument of analysis, not perception. To perceive, another faculty is required" (Sadhguru)
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"Me and the world" continues because our attention and energies are always split. Jnana marga is to pay absolute attention to the 'I' through '?'. Bhakti marga is to pay absolute attention to That through ❤. Either way the drama ends.