Is Self-Knowledge due to the Intellect?

The intellect is non-separate from the mind. It does not mean reasoning or rational thought as how it’s understood in English, but is something much more profound. It is referred to as buddhi, which denotes our power of discernment. It is the ability to distinguish and clearly recognise that which is real. Self-knowledge is not knowledge understood by the intellect/mind. The intellect is only an instrument of the self, though it doesn’t mean it stands apart from the self. The intellect is a discriminatory tool which allows us to differentiate between this and that. In other words, because of the intellect, we are able to grasp duality and make sense of things.  Things can only be made sense of when they are perceived to be separate from each other.

 

The atman is intensified presence which reflects itself towards the intellect, mind and body, turning itself from one to many. If these three parts such as intellect, mind and body surrender themselves completely to the Atman, then one will identify and remain as the Atman (i.e. singularity/Brahman), instead of being identified and taking on the attached identity of the body and mind (i.e. separate self). The intellect is the first part of Maya (or the most subtlest part of the mind) that the Atman shines on, and from there, it continues to concentrate on outside things such as objects and thoughts. It is the perception of objects and thoughts that creates the identity of the separate self because the thinker (i.e. ego) now perceives itself to be separate from the phenomena that it experiences. This is because the intellect is the function that creates separation. Because of placing attention on what appears to be separation, the intellect now sustains an illusion that it believes to be real.  Truly speaking, the mind and intellect are inert-matter (lifeless) and they gain their capacity to feel and know respectively when they are illumined by the conscious principle of atman. For us to truly know the atman, the intellect must be purified/sharp to reverse its attention back inward.

 

The intellect cannot be sharp from gaining intelligence. Intelligence acquired from external agencies such as mathematics, science, history is much like data being fed into a computer that only clogs up the hard-drive. This explains why even the greatest of intellectuals, professionals, scholars and businessmen, all succumb to short comings such as temperament, anxiety, stress, pain and suffering. It is the mind that sustains all this mess and further enhances duality which is the root of suffering.  When one succumbs to the illusion and strongly believes itself to be a separate self, this is what we refer to as having a dull intellect. This doesn’t mean the person isn’t smart and intelligent, but is a puppet in the hands of Ishwara and now takes on the ownership of being a doer and enjoyer. The weak intellect looks on helplessly as the mind devastates the person in the course of time.

 

On the contrary, those having a sharp intellect, with or without academic distinction, can hold the mind under perfect control and stillness and look on as they remain free from suffering.  Lord Krishna points out that, “one who restrains his senses, keeping them under full control, and fixes his consciousness upon Me, is known as a man of steady intelligence.”  The intelligence Krishna speaks of is not academic intelligence, but the inner intelligence that is known when you experience your true power as being far greater than what you originally thought yourself to be.  When one functions through the intellect, mind, body and senses, they become easily deluded because they cannot grasp the real nature, the essential character and substance, of all created things. 

 

While the intellect powers reason and is a tool that can be used as a pointer to the higher self, man’s highest faculty is intuition. This is apprehension of knowledge derived immediately and spontaneously from the atman, and not from the fallible agency of the senses or of reason. Intuition manifests in the light of consciousness and enables you to receive unshakable conviction of your true self.  This is because intuition comes from within.  It hits you immediately all-at-once through extremely powerful and sharp vivid insights that is absolutely undeniable. Intuition sees reality in its totality, while thoughts (derived from a dull intellect) breaks it up in parts allowing you to change your perception from oneness to strong separation. 

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While we can reverse the function of the intellect to analyse ourself, even this faculty must vanish for self-knowledge to arise in its pure fullness.  Self-knowledge or realisation is equated to atma-jnanam in Vedanta. It is revealed when the intellect is completely purified without a trace of impurity and stops its analyzing. This is none other than the sattvic mind. Only when the mind is pure (i.e. sattva) can the self be fully revealed. Experiencing something once or twice is not self-knowledge; it is just a glimpse. Self-knowledge is full and irreversible.  It is when the thinking mind has permanently ceased and full jnana (awareness) comes rushing in and is immediate all-at-once, never again to revert back to duality.

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Because of the intellect, there appears many worlds in the open sky, but they are as the mirage spread over by the sun for the delusion of the ignorant; while they only appear as empty air to those who view them in their true light. When one permanently views themselves in their true light, they remain indifferent to the illusion that the light shines forth, because from their view, there is only Brahman. And because this view is now held onto permanently, they can never revert back to duality since duality is no longer a perception that can be conceived of.  

 

 

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