What to do when the mind overpowers the intelligence?
Answer Podcast:
Transcript
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Question, what to do when the mind overrides the intelligence? The mind is, by hierarchy, meant to be subordinate to the intelligence.
The mind is actually the desirer. And, the mind is not the decision maker. For making the decision, the mind needs the intelligence.
So, when we say the mind overcomes the intelligence, that means that the mind uses the intelligence for its own purposes. So, we never in that sense, entirely lose our intelligence. Rather, when we say we lose our intelligence, actually we misuse our intelligence.
So, the intelligence is higher up in the hierarchy. Now, to prevent the mind from overcoming the intelligence, there are basically two main strategies. To strengthen the intelligence, you have to weaken the mind.
Even a fight is there between two people. One is losing, the other is winning. To change that, the winning party has to be weakened, the losing party has to be strengthened.
So, strengthening the intelligence can happen in two main ways. One is through philosophical study, which gives intellectual input to the more and more stronger intellectual input to the intelligence. And then our intellectual reflexes become strong.
So, we understand this is right, this is wrong. And not just understand, we can immediately perceive in terms of, at that moment, reflexes. And other is the spiritual input, which purifies and strengthens the intelligence.
It’s one thing to know what is right and what is wrong. It’s another thing to be able to do it. So, intelligence has two functions to it.
There is discrimination and there is determination. Discrimination means the capacity to know what is right and what is wrong. And determination means the capacity to do what is right and to avoid what is wrong.
So, both are functions of intelligence. And discrimination happens, becomes stronger by swadhya, by studying scripture, by hearing the philosophy. And the determination aspect becomes stronger by sadhana.
So, when we do our sadhana well, chant our rounds and do our sadhana then, that uses the inner strength to resist the mind. That’s how we can make the intelligence stronger. And with respect to making the mind weaker, there are two main things.
One is that the mind acts on impulse. We feel like doing something and immediately we end up doing it. So, if we in general make a policy itself that I will not act on my impulses.
So, that itself can disempower the mind substantially. It’s like on Ekadashi, when we take a resolve that today I am not going to eat grains. So, even if the impulse comes, because that resolve is there, we don’t act on it.
We don’t act on the urge to eat, even if the mind gives us that urge. So, like that, if we make a resolve not to act impulsively, that can disempower the mind. But, it’s not very easy to act on that resolve.
So, disempowering the mind means we need to create internal and external blockers for acting on our impulses. External blockers means that Google did an experiment that they had these sweets, various marshmallows, other sweets in their cafeteria, in the Google and then they decided, normally they had kept that in transparent containers and they decided to shift all the sweets in Google to translucent containers. And just by that, for the next six months, the consumption of these fatty sweets decreased by several thousand calories among all the people.
So, what that meant is that the external impetus was less. What they created was that the covering was like an external blocker that was created. So, we all know what kind of impulses the mind subjects us to.
So, if we create external blockers, say, nowadays, people are especially exposed to internet. All sorts of things have come up. So, many parents are putting internet filters.
And that is good. So, whatever it may be, our particular thing, where the mind pushes us, we need to create external blockers also. Because at that moment, the mind just ambushes us and drags us.
And if there is a blocker, we can still remove that blocker. But that takes time. And during that time, our intelligence gets restored.
And that’s an external blocker. And also there is an internal pause button we need to create. Internal pause button means that something that helps us check ourselves when we feel pushed to do something.
So, that pause button can be as simple as chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra. Or that can be something even more specific, say, some verse from scripture which we really find very illuminating. Or something which some darshan of the deities, some kirtan, some song.
Something basically, there are material emotions which the mind triggers and they pull us down. So, we need something which pulls us up, pushes us up. That will be our pause button.
Instead of acting on what the mind is saying, we press that pause button. And even if that we do for a few seconds or a few minutes, that is enough for us to restore our intelligence. And so, in this way, by strengthening our intelligence through scripture study and sadhana, and by weakening the mind by creating external and internal blockers, we can actually make sure that our, over time, our intelligence wins the mind over.