First, we were introduced to the antaHkarana.
Second, we understood a little more about the ahangkaara.
Third, came a little more on manas.
Today, it is the turn of...
Let's split hairs a little bit. Intellect is not to be confused with intelligence. To be clear, intelligence is the ability to seek out and acquire new knowledge/skills, but the intellect assesses the where, how, what and when of it all. One can be extremely clever about pink-lesser-spotted-rarely-seen-flying-pigs, but unless one has the intellect to assess the importance of this knowledge and work out a logical application for the knowledge that makes it useful to society, those pigs ain't gonna soar.
One needs not only to have that river of thoughts called mind, and the driving ego which makes one explore the possibilities of life, but it is very useful to have a monitor keeping check on the mayhem. This is the logical, clinical, 'cool head' known as buddhi.Buddhi does the abstract. In collating and sorting out the thought-stream, it can bring out our full creativity. Intelligence brings up ideas from 'gut feeling', intellect formulates concepts from adjudged experience and calculated risk. If we nurture our intelligence and hone our intellect, the creative potential becomes enormous. Even to making pigs fly.
It is the buddhi which does the deep-dive enquiry, which keeps us steady in our study, anchored in our work and motivated in our meditation. If we exist too much in our mind/intelligence aspects and ignore the intellect, we may be overwhelmed with the world and its inputs. We can become chaotic, undisciplined and we end up losing our sense of purpose. If we exist too much in our intellect, seeing only ever the facts, we will often be disappointed and life becomes dry and brittle. Finding a balance between these two is one of life's goals.
All this is good and well, but what about the observer of all this, the "I" which never ages, which somehow knows there's more to the story?..
I like this line and the little angel piggie
ReplyDeleteIf we nurture our intelligence and hone our intellect, the creative potential becomes enormous. Even to making pigs fly.
Hugs HiC
love that flying pig.. I am always in my mind and am fact based. all my life I have been practical and focused on facts and I am living proof it does become chaotic... whoo boy have I had some chaos in the past. I am better now, but still when things get out of control, and don't go the way they should, I lose it.
ReplyDeleteI love the vision of flying pigs. So, if I manage my facts well, they can fly all the time! I am not sure where I fit in that continuum. It's interesting to think about. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteAs I go through life I increasingly realise that there is a big difference between 'intelligence' and 'wisdom'. Just pondering now the relationship between the definition of intellect as you explain here, and wisdom. Bertie is saying I can think about this as we walk by the shores of Loch Torridon, and it's definitely time to go out before darkness falls again!
ReplyDeleteCheers, Gail
Hari OM
DeleteEXCELLENT question! In fact, the word buddhi, in Sanskrit also gets used to mean 'wisdom'. For the purposes of this article, wisdom would serve just as well for intellect. We are born with a native level of understanding and (for most of us) the ability to learn and adapt. How much we do this builds the 'muscle' of mind and intellect. This is why it is so important that education is flexible too. Sadly, this fails many... Every single person has the potential but there are not so many who reach it. Even with the knowledge of it! Yxx