Intellect and Intuition
In intellectual analysis truth
is distorted and falsified to some extent, for here existence gets separated
into the subject and the object. Without duality there is no intellectual
function, and with duality there is no knowledge of reality. The intellect
breaks up the unity of being into a system of isolated terms and relations. The
predicate is differentiated from the subject and then dovetailed into the
subject itself by being made an adjective of the latter. The unitary existence
is thus divided into a primary and a secondary aspect, which occasions false
perception. An aggregate of an infinite number of particulars cannot give us
the Absolute. Sense, feeling, thought and understanding, together with
volition, are below the level of intuition.
In intuition there is no
adjectival predicate required to qualify the subject, for it is knowledge of
existence in essence. Logical knowledge takes one away from insight into the
truth of things; it gives us a superficial glimpse of the manner in which
objects appear to us in the world. Man’s powers of knowledge are not adapted to
comprehend reality. It is intuition alone that is capable of bringing the
various particulars together to form a harmonious whole and enable the self to
enter the portals of Reality.
Intellect and intuition are
not really opposed to each other. Intellect is lifted up and universalised in
the purified state of intuition. Intuition does not negate intellectual
perception but transfigures it in a higher perception. The purpose of the
intellect is fulfilled in the illumination of intuition. While intellect gives
us a shadow, intuition takes us to the substance. Intellect functions on the
belief in the partiteness of things, but intuition enters directly into the
whole object, right up to the essence. What intellect achieves is
understanding, while that which is gained in intuition is practical wisdom. The
intellect functions on the wrong basis of the assumption that the results
achieved by the process of the distinction of the knower and the known are
fully trustworthy. The complete synthesis of knowledge would be a union of
principles where the intellect is overcome, where reason rises above itself and
where differences are obliterated. This achievement is not possible as long as
the seeker rests contented in the human consciousness. The moral urge within
him to reach perfection points to the existence of a knowledge which is
unlimited in every way. There can be a fulfilment of this aspiration only in
Aparoksha-Anubhava (non-mediate experience).
Reason always bases itself on
sense-perception. The test of truth is not verifiability by sense, but
non-contradiction and agreement with the revelations of the deepest source of
knowledge.
Intuition in its highest
reaches is not knowledge of being but knowledge
as being. Self-knowledge is the
summit of intuitive perception, and it is inseparable from self-existence. It
is the only true and direct knowledge. All else is relational, mediate,
inferential and presupposes the characteristics of knowledge as attained in
intuition. It is the light of the Self that flashes forth and overshadows all
knowledge which man is acquainted with in the world. The possibility of an
intuitive knowledge is demonstrated in the metaphysical acceptance of the
absoluteness of the Self. There is, ultimately, only one ‘I,’ the universal
Self asserting itself everywhere in creation. This Self is at the back of all
thought-processes, all rational knowledge, all psychical operations.
Strictly speaking, we should
not equate Self-realisation with intuition in the sense of any kind of
perception, even if it be the highest perception, for Self-experience is being
itself. Swami Sivananda remarks: “Knowledge through the functioning of the
causal body (Karana-Sarira) is intuition.” “Atma-Jnana (knowledge of the Self)
is above intuition. It transcends the Karana-Sarira. It is the highest form of
knowledge. It is the only reality” (Mind and Its Mysteries: p. 83).
The universe is presented as a
collection of fragments due to the discursive and dividing activity of the
intellect. An intuitive knowledge of an object bestows supreme power on one
over that object. The intuition of Reality is, verily, omniscience, and
omniscience is at once omnipotence. This is to attain to existence, knowledge,
power and freedom in their completeness.
Inspiration, revelation,
insight, intuition, ecstasy, divine sight and supreme bliss are the seven
planes of knowledge. And there are four sources of knowledge, viz. instinct,
reason, intuition and super-intuition or Brahma-Jnana. Instinct is found in
animals, birds, etc. In birds (for example) the ego does not interfere with the
free divine flow and divine play. Hence the work done by them through their
instincts is more perfect than that done by human beings. Have you not noticed
the excellent work done by birds in their building of wonderful nests? Reason
is higher than instinct, and is found only in human beings. It collects facts,
generalises, reasons out from cause to effect, from effect to cause, from
premises to conclusions, from propositions to proofs. It concludes, decides and
comes to judgment. It takes one safely to the door of intuition and leaves him
there. In intuition there is no reasoning. There is direct perception of truth.
We know things by a flash. Intuition transcends reason, but does not contradict
it”.
Intuition is the voice of the
inner man, the faculty by which the individual tries to apprehend itself in
eternity.
The knowledge of the
limitations of reason is an acceptance of there being a knowledge transcending
reason. Knowledge of a boundary implies the knowledge of what extends outside
the boundary. The aspiration for infinite knowledge, the urge for perfection,
points to an experience which speaks, in the language of silence, of its
supremacy over all things known to man. Intuition is, as it were, the antenna
by which the Absolute feels its own self in the objects of the universe.
Intuition heralds the coming of the experience of Brahman. It establishes in
the universe a divine family, and fulfils the promise of a universal
brotherhood of all created beings. A feeling of kinship with all things is
possible only on the foundation of the perception of oneness. Perfect knowledge
has the characteristic mark of uniformity, for it depends on self-accomplished
and truly existing objects. Whatever is permanently of one and the same nature
and endures without undergoing change in the history of time is acknowledged to
be true. The knowledge of truth is perfected knowledge. In it a mutual conflict
of opinions is not possible, for it is rooted in what is equally true to all
persons and things, everywhere and at all times. Intuition is the golden key to
blessedness.
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