Episode Transcript
My name is Ken Hanuman and I've been practicing Raja Yoga meditation for over 40 years. In these episodes, I will share the experiences and insights I've gained from meditation and how I've integrated them into my everyday life and all my relationships. Welcome to the Spiritual Relationship Podcast. A spiritual intellect can help you to transcend the sorrow of the world. Hello everyone. Welcome to the Spiritual Relationship Podcast. My name is Ken Hanuman, your host, and today's topic is the Intellect or the Spiritual Intellect. Last week episode, we spoke about the mind. We said that the mind is a function within consciousness- the soul. The soul has three main faculties. One is the mind, the intellect, and then you can say memories, deep subconscious, sanskars. So today we're talking about the intellect because in meditation we need to differentiate the mind from the intellect. Meditation is turning your vision inwards, and you're looking at the mind. You're looking at emotions and feelings and imaginations and the desires, moods, all these things are going on in the mind. Thoughts are always there. We overthink a lot, these days. But, there are many things, that we want to change. So how does that occur? That actually comes from understanding how the intellect works and actually the thoughts that are coming up because they're there, they're recorded in you from past experiences. But the one thing we have control over is education or knowledge that can change the intellect or empower the intellect. Then the intellect is that function that can observe the mind can evaluate what is going on. it can question assumptions and beliefs, can critically think, can solve problems. You have the ability to choose after all that analysis, to choose what thought should come into action or not. There's so many things that the intellect can do, and we do it every day, right? But we don't think twice. Like why we think the way we think. We just assume that's who we are. The time comes though that if we are having difficulty with handling situations or we have problems in relationships and we wish, we don't have to break relationships, we would like to enjoy the ones we have with the children, your wife, your husband, whatever, you know, looking at the world. There's are a lot of things happening and I would like to be able to still have a calm mind and a peaceful mind. I would still like, to have happiness in spite of what is going on. The secret, the key is actually the intellect, because this intellect it's an amazing thing. The moment we come to any kind of realization and deeper understanding, the intellect gets, something new to work with. When you look at things like addiction or a behavior that you've been practicing for many years, and those habits can become so strong. That you don't even question them anymore. Maybe an example could be anger. If I grew up as a child, seeing people using anger and getting what they want, the control, I have been using that maybe without much consequence, and we are we just keep using it. It becomes a part of our personality trait. You might see people using it a lot in relationship. Let's say for instance, something doesn't go your way quickly. People get into a rage and they shout and scream and they threaten, and that's how they gain some control over whatever they want. But the thing with that is that it could also damage relationship and trust friendship. Every habit, every negative habit will have consequences. We're all aware of that physically too. This is an old example, but I'll use it. Everybody's familiar with it, I guess. smoking. You initially, you might not really want to do it. You might feel the intellect might say, Hey. It's not a good thing or you can get sick or your parents won't like it. You might be punished if you keep, if you, if you do this, because you, but now your friends are pressuring you to do it because they're doing it right. They want you to be one of, one of the group and you feel like you wanna get accepted. So you said okay. And you try it. Some people, they smoke their first one and realize this is not for them. Doesn't taste right. it's doesn't taste right. But they're also, you get a good feeling maybe, or you feel good in the group. And the next time they offer you one, you said, okay, and it goes from there and you repeat it. So the intellect that was opposing the action and telling you not to do it starts to die away or starts to go to sleep. And there might be something always saying, you know, is that a good habit? You can't stop it, right? It becomes addictive. the intellect goes to sleep. Every time we perform an action over and over and over, we develop a habit. The intellect doesn't. From the impulse to doing something, it goes straight to an action, and then sometimes you turn back and say, why did I do that? Why did I say that? You know, why I became that angry. and some people end up in jail because they did something wrong, like hitting somebody, pulling a gun, whatever. It's, it's really amazing how habits, an, impulse, in addiction, how it seems to run your life and you have no control. So a good intellect combines knowledge with wisdom so that you can improve both your life and the life of others. In meditation, we speak of spiritual intellect. Because what is meant by spiritual intellect it's like a sense that your life is part of something greater. You're not just living with in your own little tiny world, taking care of yourself. Like you, you belong to the world. You belong. You have some kind of a spiritual enlightenment with a higher power with with God, or with with a greater power. Then also inside of you, there's an intuition or inner wisdom as your mind gets calm and you the, the bad habits. They calm down. They allow you some peace, you have some calm within. You begin to understand that there's an inner wisdom within you that you can learn to trust. And in your silent moment, you would actually come up with solutions to problems and how to face challenges. That wisdom there is is always available to you. It's actually hidden by the overthinking and the over emoting and the loss of control that we have. Over our mind and intellect. So this is, this is what meditation does, and this is why we're saying this is spiritual. This is a spiritual intellect. And the amazing, thing about creating a space between you, the intellect, and observing an emotion like an emotion. To be able to look at something without getting drawn into it, without being controlled by them. So this is what this is what meditation does for, for the meditator, the one who has this introspection and this ability to go inwards and to be able to differentiate the soul or the awareness from the physical, the body, or from the surrounding, and create a calm inner space within that you, that is your inner sanctuary in which you are reminding yourself that you are a spiritual being, a being of light with the, with the original nature of peace and love and goodness. Feeling of benevolence, care and mercy. These are, these are your innate qualities and these are things that you need to access. And even though there might be thoughts coming to say that's not, so, you keep practicing that. And the benefit and the self-evidence that this is true is that the mind and intellect, the mind that is the habits, the the negative emotions. Powerful instinct to continue, doing things that are negative and causing problems. When you access that calm and when you start to feel that peace and your intellect, your intellect gets a chance to awaken and to be able to analyze something clearly and say, you know, this behavior. These words or this, way of speaking or whatever is, is not right. It's not bringing me happiness and it's not helping anyone either. So is that how I want to continue living my life or is there something more. There, there's a greater potential in me. To contribute, um, to creating peace and happiness within myself and others. So the intellect is an, is an ability, is a function within you. And I, I just hope from this episode that you start to, to the practice now in your meditation would be to, okay, these are the thoughts that are coming up. These are the feelings and emotion that's the mind. Then I'm looking at these thoughts and I like this one. Or I could make this thought better. This, there's a thought that comes up and say, Hey, you're wasting your time. And the intellect says, no, I am gaining this. This is my, this is what I'm learning. This is what I think I wanna be. This is how I like to use my time. This is more beneficial. See two different thoughts and it's while you are, one is coming up, maybe impulsively and the other one you're creating and you are able now to, to sort of make that world the way you want it to be. You are in control there. You are creating new thoughts, you are making new decisions, you're evaluating things in a way that brings about progress within you. So this is a very quick, lesson on the intellect. As you know, we have free classes online, and in the description below, you'll see links to meditation commentaries, and for class online, free online classes, everything by the Brahma Kumaris, Raja Yoga Everything is free. We offer this as a service to the community. So with that, I would like to close for today. Our next topic will be on memory, how they're formed, and if they can be changed, how we can we do that. So until then, remember that your natural nature is peace, protect it. So thank you for listening, and goodbye for now. When you walk into a room, life gets little, you. You.
