When intelligence can be used or misused is intelligence a power of our consciousness or a gift from the Supersoul?

Anwser Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
and forgetfulness I am the intelligence of the intelligent so is intelligence a function of the super soul of our free will or is it a function of the consciousness like I am not very clear with my question I am just trying to understand because we can use it as you said like we can very intelligently try to enjoy matter at the same time we can try to transcend and you mentioned that our best bet is to use our intelligence to seek the higher pleasure or like the higher platform I got the question so what exactly is the intelligence you know we say that it comes from Krishna so is it a gift of Krishna or is it a use of our free will so how can we understand what the intelligence is so that we can use it properly otherwise people can use the intelligence also very improperly yeah see the we can look at the intelligence in two ways one is that it is a faculty that we have and second is that it is a gift that is given by God I will reconcile both let’s look at first the faculty we have just like say we have some muscles now just by being born and having a body we have some energy level with us we can lift up certain weights but if we go and do workouts regularly we exercise then those muscles become stronger and when the muscles are stronger they can lift bigger weights so we can say at one level the intelligence is like a faculty which we have so this is a faculty which enables us to differentiate between the short term and the long term between say the immediate and the ultimate between the philosophical perspective and the material and the spiritual basically intelligence is the discerning faculty that discerning faculty is something which we human beings have been given by which we can prepare we can foresee the future and we can prepare for the future so this is a gift which we have all of us have this and depending on how much we use it it will just like how much we exercise our muscles the muscles will grow like that how much we use our intelligence depending on that it will develop so this is I could say the the intelligence as a faculty which exists independent of its purpose it is simply dependent on its use see purpose means why it is being used use means simply it is being used so you know somebody can become a can exercise their muscles and become a big body builder and then they become a thug they beat up others so or somebody can become a build their muscles and they can use it for law protection for protection of others for the purposes of law both ways is possible but muscles are muscles if you have them that makes you strong so like that intelligence is intelligence whether it is used for godly purpose or ungodly purpose so and this intelligence can be developed so there are different kinds of intelligence some people have musical intelligence some people have linguistic intelligence some people have logical intelligence there can be different kinds of intelligence also and depending on how people develop them they will become strong in that field so intelligence in this understanding is a tool whichever way you use it but there is a difference between intelligence and muscles because whereas muscles are simply simply tools which we can use for various purposes and intelligence is also a tool but intelligence is a tool which is categorically different because it is a tool that also guides us about how to use various tools my muscles don’t guide me what to do but my intelligence is a tool and it also guides me what I should do what I should not do one of the faculty or one of the aspects of intelligence or the central aspect of intelligence we could say is deciding what to do what not to do that’s not the only aspect but that is also an important aspect so from the spiritual perspective the decision making capacity in terms of what is short term what is long term that is what is the most important aspect of intelligence so the Bhagavatam often talks about how somebody might be a Brahmana but that person may not be a devotee and compared to that somebody may be low born but that person they are devotees Prahlad Maharaj in his prayers to Narasimhadeva in 7.913 says that actually that my lord if a Brahmana is proud of one’s intelligence and is not devoted to you then that Brahmana cannot deliver oneself on the other hand if there is a low born person if that person is devoted to you then what to speak of oneself that person will deliver one’s whole dynasty so here there are two different points there is we could say the content and there is the consequence in terms of content the Brahmana has intelligence and this is also his quality there are 12 qualities of a Brahmana they have those qualities but they don’t have devotion on the other hand somebody doesn’t have that content in terms of intelligence but because they are devoted to Krishna the consequences are auspicious supremely auspicious this means that there is the intelligence which is which guides us there is the aspect of the intelligence which guides us about how to use our intelligence and how to use everything else that we have not just the intelligence but everything else that we have that is the discerning capacity within the intelligence and it is that which is primarily developed by scriptural study by sadhana by swadhyaya and sadhana what happens is I earlier talked about different kinds of intelligences musical intelligence, logical intelligence linguistic intelligence from this philosophical perspective there are these two things there is discerning or discrimination and there is determination discrimination means the capacity to understand what is right and what is wrong and determination is the capacity to do what is right and to avoid that which is wrong so these are the faculties of the intelligence that are the most important for spiritual growth in fact actually they are important for growth in any field even if somebody wants to become a champion athlete they also have to be determined to keep training keep practicing wisely but let’s focus on spiritual growth right now so … … … … therefore Krishna says with your intelligence sorry with scripture know what is to be done and what is not to be done and act accordingly so scripture practically guides us in terms of discrimination swadhyaya will lead to our discrimination faculty increasing discrimination is called as viveka in Sanskrit viveka buddhi viveka is discrimination and then there is dhruti, dhruti is determination determination is what is developed by sadhana when we chant, when we associate with devotees when we connect with Krishna through purifying activities then our determination becomes stronger yes I want to do it, I will do it so it is not necessary that say a person who is not very linguistically intelligent just by practicing bhakti they will become very linguistically intelligent, by linguistic intelligence I would say that say the capacity to memorize verses, verses deal with words for some people are just brilliant at that and some people you know for them memorizing verses causes them so much tension I can’t do this now yes we all as I said they are like muscles everybody can improve their muscles by some workout but you know we also have some innate muscles and it’s not that everybody can become a big body builder just by exercise the body also has some amount of limitations to it so it’s not necessary that by the practice of bhakti our linguistic intelligence will improve or our musical intelligence will improve, not necessary or our artistic intelligence will improve but by the practice of bhakti our discerning intelligence the discrimination and determination that will definitely improve so now this is what Krishna says I will give you that so when Krishna says he is talking about in two different context one is whenever we see an intelligent person naturally we are impressed, somebody can say multiply 13 digit numbers in their head and give the product brilliant so you should understand, in India there was a mathematical genius Shakuntala Devi, she could do like this just, the calculator will take more time than her and then at least calculator will type the numbers, you just speak the numbers and she gives the answer, she asks how do you get the answer, she is not like doing calculation, oh ok this into this is sum I carry over, nothing these two numbers are given to her and the answer comes from within, that’s what she says, I just get the answer so how is that coming that is Krishna is giving that intelligence just like some people have good memory capacity some people have good mathematical capacity so when we see somebody who has a lot of intelligence we get attracted by that, what we should see is that their intelligence is coming from Krishna if this person is so intelligent how intelligent Krishna must be so I can respect that person for their intelligence but I focus on Krishna so when Krishna says I am the intelligence of intelligent people that is meant to help us redirect our attraction from those intelligent people towards Krishna now that is one kind of one kind of connection between Krishna and intelligence, that intelligence is a gift given by Krishna to them but it can be rather than getting attracted to them alone we can get attracted to Krishna, the other is the decision making faculty Krishna says in 10.10 he says if you practice bhakti then I will give you the intelligence by which you can come to me so buddhi yoga is a compound word, there are different kinds of yoga, there is karma yoga, gyan yoga there is ashtang yoga, there is bhakti yoga there is no particular process called buddhi yoga distinctively what does buddhi yoga means, it means two things compound words, it is the buddhi that enables us to do yoga it is the buddhi that enables us to do yoga yoga is, the word yoga means connection, connecting with God ultimately, connecting with supreme spiritual reality so the intelligence that enables us to connect with supreme spiritual reality that is buddhi yoga so the buddhi that enables us to do yoga that is buddhi yoga, another meaning of buddhi yoga if you take the second word as beginning the yoga that leads to buddhi that will refer to bhakti yoga so Prabhupada uses that second meaning whenever he translates buddhi yoga as bhakti yoga bhakti yoga is the yoga by which Krishna gives us intelligence and we move closer to him so for us as sadhakas we can try to exercise and develop our various intellectual faculties, whatever we have we can try to become more musical we can try to memorize more verses all those things we can try and by practice we can improve a little bit but what is most important, what is Krishna’s mercy is is decision making practice as we keep practicing bhakti right now say we are we are struggling our attachment against our attachments, say no to something and then again the temptation comes and we fall for it, again we say no again the temptation comes and we fall for it this is a struggle through which we will go through at present we may go through for a long time but at one particular point you know Krishna will give us that realization this is not enjoyable why am I doing this this is simply causing me suffering why do I need to do this let me give it up so that clear insight which comes which makes the decision so clear for us that is Krishna’s mercy so that will come over a period of time that is purification, that is realization that will also come so to summarize I gave a long answer intelligence is a faculty which we have, which we can develop by practice, just like muscles are developed by practice but intelligence is a distinctive faculty, because it is a faculty that guides us to use all other faculties, including intelligence itself so the intelligence as a faculty in terms of processing matter whether it is music or words or places, like some people have very good geographical intelligence they are driving, just go one place they remember some people they go ten times, did I come here before so this sort of intelligence and the capacity to process matter that may not change drastically for people even if they practice bhakti but intelligence as a faculty of understanding what is the purpose of processing matter and what is the purpose of living itself that intelligence is developed by bhakti so whatever I have for what I use that intelligence is developed by practice of bhakti, by which we can make right decisions and thus we can move closer to Krishna does that answer your question thank you