Came across this piece written by Harish Chandra which I am producing below (lost the link). I do subscribe to what he says. Of course, the basic premise is God is the originator so if someone is questioning that premise then this piece may not be of any value. Still his comments on the intellect are interesting so please read fully. Do give comments.
- Dr Harish Chandra
B. Tech. (IIT Kanpur)
Ph. D. (Princeton, USA)
Volume I, Number 12, January 2010
Last month we had discussed three-fold functions humans are engaged in: 1) acquisition of knowledge, 2) performing karma, and 3) being communion with God. The corresponding Sanskrit terms are: Jnana, Karma and Upasana. The purpose of knowledge is to select the right kind of karma among diverse choices that we have. Performing good quality karma enables us to seek nearness to God when we attempt to sit for meditation. In this respect, one could say that karma is more important than Jnana because the purpose of the latter is to select the former. Similarly, one could further say that Upasana is more important than Karma because the purpose of the latter is to succeed in the former.
However, this view is true only in a small part. Maharshi Kapila, the author of Samkhya states:
Jnanat-Mukti
i.e., one achieves emancipation through Jnana, the knowledge. Thus, the ultimate objective of the human life, namely salvation is obtained through knowledge (Jnana). That is to say, Jnana brings the greatest reward and hence, Jnana is the most important. This contradicts the earlier observation that Upasana is the result of Karma and that, in turn, is the result of Jnana.
Supremacy of Jnana, Karma or Upasana
Let us try to reconcile the seemingly paradoxical statements about the supremacy of Jnana as stated by Kapila and its subservient status in the description that we laid out in the beginning. Kapila’s concept of Jnana is experiential knowledge about the self, i.e. self-realization and not the trivial worldly knowledge that is acquired from books and others. Self-realization is gained in the highest echelons of Upasana when the practitioner has subdued the functions of (body and) mind thoroughly as prescribed by Patanjali in Yoga treatise. A devoted practitioner when proficient in Yoga practices captures a certain flash of subtle knowledge and then begins a new life. Knowledge so gained is received direct from the omni-present and all-pervading God. It may be referred to as intuitive knowledge. This is well summarized in the trilogy of Aditi, Anumati and Sarasvati. Aditi is the universally prevalent instinctive knowledge that is present among every human being. Anumati is the intellectual knowledge that we gather from diverse sources that allows us to tread on the righteous path. Sarasvati is the state of the higher intellect that obtains the intuitive knowledge. All the three mechanisms have the common origin, namely God, the creator of the universe and knowledge, too.
Today even the great professors in reputed academic institutions lack the true spiritual knowledge. The present system of education doesn’t encourage one to obtain the sublime subtle spiritual knowledge direct from God. There is another lacuna that needs to be pointed out. A sharp intellect is fine for the intellectual knowledge (Anumati) but it is important that the same sharp intellect must be pure too and must obtain the Grace of God to deserve the flash of spiritual knowledge. This is what was missing in the last 5000 years of the world history. After the Great India war (Mahabharata) the greatest casualty was the great Vedic tradition of knowledge – the Rsi tradition – literally, the ‘seers’ blessed with the intuitive knowledge in the high state of Upasana. Then several scholars began to interpret Vedas from their sharp penetrating intellect without reaching the required proficiency in the Upasana faculty. The result was that their interpretations were faulty and lacked the depth and height of the spiritual knowledge that Vedas discussed. The greatest contrast can be seen between Professor Max Mueller and Maharsi Dayananda (1824-’83), both contemporary. The former was a representative of the modern academic intellectual tradition that emphasizes knowledge (Jnana) that may be void of Upasana while the latter inherited the true Vedic tradition of backing the intellectual prowess with purity and loftiness of Upasana. The result was that Max Mueller’s interpretation of the Vedic literature was un-inspiring but Maharshi was able to open the closed vistas of true light of the Vedic knowledge. Today’s absence of ‘Jnana backed by Upasana’ has led the humanity to all kinds of miseries and there is a vicious nature of the downslide that the decline gets rapidly accelerated. Further decline in the human quality leads to further decline. Indeed, nobody would today bother if the top scientist in a university lives a wrecked personal life, say, having extra marital relationship. The moral code of conduct may not be necessary to obtain high laurels in the modern society though such a person may not deserve the true spiritual knowledge experientially.
In summary, the three-fold human pursuits of Jnana, Karma and Upasana present echelons of human progress in a continuous sense that every day must include each of the three pursuits. A truly developed human being gradually reaches a superior quality of all the three pursuits and then comes a time that the knowledge (Jnana) is not merely second hand (from books, teachers and other external sources) but is obtained experientially by Grace of God in deep meditative moments. Generally, there is a shift in the particular human beings from gross knowledge of matter to subtle knowledge related to spirit as they progress.
The Vedas state:
Yasminnrcah sama-yajunsi yasmin-pratisthita rathanabhavivarah
Yasminscittam sarvamotam prajanam tanme manah sivasamkalpamastu. Yajurveda 34.5
Its meaning: In that mind converge the hymns (of Rgveda), lyrics (of Samaveda) and prose (of Yajurveda) as do the spokes of a wheel into its axle. The all-pervading and omnipresent God inspires it in the intellect of a noble soul. May my mind (of such immense attributes) harbour benevolent thoughts.
Interpretation: Our mind is a fantastic instrument. Besides performing karma through the five organs (for manipulation, locomotion, speech, excretion and procreation), acquisition of knowledge through the five organs (senses of sight, sound, smell, taste and touch), a wonderful memory and its ability to extrapolate events in different space-time (thinking), it can obtain true intuitive knowledge from the all-knowing (indeed, the creator of knowledge) that God is. In order to obtain true intuitive knowledge, the mind, particularly its innermost intellect (referred to as citta in the above verse) must be made receptive by:
1. subduing the functions of karma
2. subduing the functions of acquisition of knowledge through senses
3. subduing the ‘thinking’ operations [These three ensembles are collectively referred to as ‘overall subduing of the mind operations’ by Patanjali – Yoga 1.2]
4. purity of intellect by repetitive Upasana as only the proximity of God can cleanse the intellect of the inhibiting impressions (called Samsakaras).
Where Do We Go Wrong? There is a skewed thinking in the modern world that one’s intellectual ability is judged based on IQ alone. Besides IQ, EQ and MQ are important too – the Emotional Quotient and Moral Quotient, respectively. IQ refers to the intellectual strength whereas the EQ refers to the intellectual health and MQ will refer to intellectual purity. Then regular practice of Sandhya, the Vedic meditation will enable one to raise the SQ, the Spiritual Quotient. Now there is increasing awareness about EQ besides IQ because even if one is intelligent the poor balance of emotional health may not deliver intelligent solutions. For example, one could get angry unprovoked and spoil an important negotiation. Furthermore, one must be morally upright otherwise one may utilize the intellectual faculty to harm the society, say, by popularizing alcohol instead of spirituality. In the above-referred verse of Yajurveda, God has put important conditions for the humans to be able to receive true sublime knowledge from Him.
- Dr Harish Chandra
B. Tech. (IIT Kanpur)
Ph. D. (Princeton, USA)
Volume I, Number 12, January 2010
Last month we had discussed three-fold functions humans are engaged in: 1) acquisition of knowledge, 2) performing karma, and 3) being communion with God. The corresponding Sanskrit terms are: Jnana, Karma and Upasana. The purpose of knowledge is to select the right kind of karma among diverse choices that we have. Performing good quality karma enables us to seek nearness to God when we attempt to sit for meditation. In this respect, one could say that karma is more important than Jnana because the purpose of the latter is to select the former. Similarly, one could further say that Upasana is more important than Karma because the purpose of the latter is to succeed in the former.
However, this view is true only in a small part. Maharshi Kapila, the author of Samkhya states:
Jnanat-Mukti
i.e., one achieves emancipation through Jnana, the knowledge. Thus, the ultimate objective of the human life, namely salvation is obtained through knowledge (Jnana). That is to say, Jnana brings the greatest reward and hence, Jnana is the most important. This contradicts the earlier observation that Upasana is the result of Karma and that, in turn, is the result of Jnana.
Supremacy of Jnana, Karma or Upasana
Let us try to reconcile the seemingly paradoxical statements about the supremacy of Jnana as stated by Kapila and its subservient status in the description that we laid out in the beginning. Kapila’s concept of Jnana is experiential knowledge about the self, i.e. self-realization and not the trivial worldly knowledge that is acquired from books and others. Self-realization is gained in the highest echelons of Upasana when the practitioner has subdued the functions of (body and) mind thoroughly as prescribed by Patanjali in Yoga treatise. A devoted practitioner when proficient in Yoga practices captures a certain flash of subtle knowledge and then begins a new life. Knowledge so gained is received direct from the omni-present and all-pervading God. It may be referred to as intuitive knowledge. This is well summarized in the trilogy of Aditi, Anumati and Sarasvati. Aditi is the universally prevalent instinctive knowledge that is present among every human being. Anumati is the intellectual knowledge that we gather from diverse sources that allows us to tread on the righteous path. Sarasvati is the state of the higher intellect that obtains the intuitive knowledge. All the three mechanisms have the common origin, namely God, the creator of the universe and knowledge, too.
Today even the great professors in reputed academic institutions lack the true spiritual knowledge. The present system of education doesn’t encourage one to obtain the sublime subtle spiritual knowledge direct from God. There is another lacuna that needs to be pointed out. A sharp intellect is fine for the intellectual knowledge (Anumati) but it is important that the same sharp intellect must be pure too and must obtain the Grace of God to deserve the flash of spiritual knowledge. This is what was missing in the last 5000 years of the world history. After the Great India war (Mahabharata) the greatest casualty was the great Vedic tradition of knowledge – the Rsi tradition – literally, the ‘seers’ blessed with the intuitive knowledge in the high state of Upasana. Then several scholars began to interpret Vedas from their sharp penetrating intellect without reaching the required proficiency in the Upasana faculty. The result was that their interpretations were faulty and lacked the depth and height of the spiritual knowledge that Vedas discussed. The greatest contrast can be seen between Professor Max Mueller and Maharsi Dayananda (1824-’83), both contemporary. The former was a representative of the modern academic intellectual tradition that emphasizes knowledge (Jnana) that may be void of Upasana while the latter inherited the true Vedic tradition of backing the intellectual prowess with purity and loftiness of Upasana. The result was that Max Mueller’s interpretation of the Vedic literature was un-inspiring but Maharshi was able to open the closed vistas of true light of the Vedic knowledge. Today’s absence of ‘Jnana backed by Upasana’ has led the humanity to all kinds of miseries and there is a vicious nature of the downslide that the decline gets rapidly accelerated. Further decline in the human quality leads to further decline. Indeed, nobody would today bother if the top scientist in a university lives a wrecked personal life, say, having extra marital relationship. The moral code of conduct may not be necessary to obtain high laurels in the modern society though such a person may not deserve the true spiritual knowledge experientially.
In summary, the three-fold human pursuits of Jnana, Karma and Upasana present echelons of human progress in a continuous sense that every day must include each of the three pursuits. A truly developed human being gradually reaches a superior quality of all the three pursuits and then comes a time that the knowledge (Jnana) is not merely second hand (from books, teachers and other external sources) but is obtained experientially by Grace of God in deep meditative moments. Generally, there is a shift in the particular human beings from gross knowledge of matter to subtle knowledge related to spirit as they progress.
The Vedas state:
Yasminnrcah sama-yajunsi yasmin-pratisthita rathanabhavivarah
Yasminscittam sarvamotam prajanam tanme manah sivasamkalpamastu. Yajurveda 34.5
Its meaning: In that mind converge the hymns (of Rgveda), lyrics (of Samaveda) and prose (of Yajurveda) as do the spokes of a wheel into its axle. The all-pervading and omnipresent God inspires it in the intellect of a noble soul. May my mind (of such immense attributes) harbour benevolent thoughts.
Interpretation: Our mind is a fantastic instrument. Besides performing karma through the five organs (for manipulation, locomotion, speech, excretion and procreation), acquisition of knowledge through the five organs (senses of sight, sound, smell, taste and touch), a wonderful memory and its ability to extrapolate events in different space-time (thinking), it can obtain true intuitive knowledge from the all-knowing (indeed, the creator of knowledge) that God is. In order to obtain true intuitive knowledge, the mind, particularly its innermost intellect (referred to as citta in the above verse) must be made receptive by:
1. subduing the functions of karma
2. subduing the functions of acquisition of knowledge through senses
3. subduing the ‘thinking’ operations [These three ensembles are collectively referred to as ‘overall subduing of the mind operations’ by Patanjali – Yoga 1.2]
4. purity of intellect by repetitive Upasana as only the proximity of God can cleanse the intellect of the inhibiting impressions (called Samsakaras).
Where Do We Go Wrong? There is a skewed thinking in the modern world that one’s intellectual ability is judged based on IQ alone. Besides IQ, EQ and MQ are important too – the Emotional Quotient and Moral Quotient, respectively. IQ refers to the intellectual strength whereas the EQ refers to the intellectual health and MQ will refer to intellectual purity. Then regular practice of Sandhya, the Vedic meditation will enable one to raise the SQ, the Spiritual Quotient. Now there is increasing awareness about EQ besides IQ because even if one is intelligent the poor balance of emotional health may not deliver intelligent solutions. For example, one could get angry unprovoked and spoil an important negotiation. Furthermore, one must be morally upright otherwise one may utilize the intellectual faculty to harm the society, say, by popularizing alcohol instead of spirituality. In the above-referred verse of Yajurveda, God has put important conditions for the humans to be able to receive true sublime knowledge from Him.
