Spiritual Forum

Intuition and Intelligence

The only reliable disciplinarian and guide for the ego-self is the true Self, or omniscient soul. "Wisdom never lies." Soul wisdom is revealed to man through the agency of intuition, direct perception of truth, not by amassing knowledge through the intellect. The seeker after wisdom should understand the difference between intuition and man's limited faculty of intelligence.

Intuition — the Bridge Between the Soul and the Ego

Thoughts and sensations are like searchlights: they throw their rays in front on material objects; they do not reveal the soul behind them. Intuition is like a spherical light, with rays on all sides, revealing the soul and also its outward projections of thoughts and sensations connected with the ego. Intuition is the bridge between the soul and the ego's thoughts and sensations. If one can for a sufficient length of time remain unidentified with thoughts and sensations, and without being unconscious, he will know through the development of intuition the nature of the soul. When one is thus perfectly calm, neither thinking or sentient, nor unconscious, yet knowing he exists—a keenness of joyful being in which the thinking, thought, and thinker have become one (unity of the knower, knowing, and known)—therein is the soul's consciousness.

The Power of Intuition

Some behold the soul in amazement. Similarly, others describe it as marvelous. Still others listen about the soul as wondrous. And there are others who, even after hearing all about the soul, do not comprehend it at all.
—The Bhagavad Gita II:29

Ordinary human beings, studying and working with material life, are circumscribed in their understanding by their sense perceptions and rationalizing intelligence. With undeveloped intuition, their limited power of intellectuality cannot truly comprehend matters of the spirit even when such truth is expounded to them. Though colossal intellects and famous theologians may be well read about the soul, they may nevertheless understand little about it! On the other hand, even illiterates given to deep meditation will be able clearly to describe the nature of the soul from their own direct experience. Intuition bridges the chasm between intellectual knowledge of the soul and actual realization of the divine Self.

Soul and Spirit and all inner truths can be apprehended only by developing the power of intuition by regular deep meditation. Intelligence and sense perceptions can perceive only phenomena or qualities of the Eternal substance; intuition alone can perceive the essence of that Substance. Therefore, it is evident that the culture of intuition by meditation must precede true perception.

In the life of every person, two forces of knowledge are operative from birth:

 (1) the power of human reason, along with its satellites of sensation, perception, conception, and so forth;

 (2) the power of intuition.

The former is developed through social institutions and interactions. The latter usually remains uncultured, undeveloped, because of want of proper guidance and methods of training.

In almost everyone, lower forms of intuition now and again express themselves in otherwise inexplicable experiences of "knowing"—those that come of themselves independent of the testimony of the senses and reason. These intuitive glimpses are so-called hunches, strong inner feelings, premonitions, "prophetic" dreams. These are sometimes the crystallized experiences of former births (for example, certain knowledge about persons or events carried over from the past that have a predictable future), and have no great spiritual value. Other such experiences indicate a little capacity for being calm and intuitively receptive; others indicate just an unusually keen but passive rationality.

All power of knowing borrows its ability from intuition. The highest expression of intuition is that by which the soul knows Itself: The knower, knowing, and known exist as one. When intuition comes in touch with matter, it passes through various stages of evolution. As the soul evolves in expression through five stages—as the various qualities of inert matter in minerals, as life without cognizing power in plants, as consciousness and sense perception in animals, as intellect and ego consciousness in man, and as divinity in enlightened man—so also the knowing powers of the soul undergo evaluational progress and refinement through these various stages of soul evolution: as unconscious response in minerals, as feeling in plant life, as instinctive knowledge in animals, as intellect, reason, and undeveloped introspective intuition in man, and as pure intuition in the superman.

In man, the conscious awakening of intuition expresses itself in five forms, as determined by the effects of the five stages inherent in his consciousness. They are as follows:

(1)

The first form of intuition, the crudest form, is the basic feeling that "I exist with a body and a mind." This feeling every human being has. This is called the intuition of—the consciousness of existence in the gross or matter plane. When one is limited to sense knowledge or inferential knowledge, he is on this crude plane of intuition. Why is this called intuition at all? Because in every thinking or sensing process, there is the immediate feeling of "my-ness." This feeling is a direct awareness; it cannot be given by any mediary in the world. Every being knows that he exists. It is a feeling that is with him even in sleep and dreams. This knowing comes from the knowledge or intuition of the ever-conscious soul.

(2)

The second form of intuition is of the pranic energy, the vital or life current that courses through every cell of the body. It is the intuition, or immediate knowledge, of the plane of the life forces that create and sustain the body. In the primary form of this intuition, one hears subtle sounds, sees subtle lights, feels subtle sensations, smells subtle fragrances, and tastes subtle flavors. These are not outward sensations; they have nothing to do with the physical sense organs. In the higher form of this intuition, one feels the pranic force in the subtlest way in every part of the body. Intensified forms of the intuition of prana/breath—for example when the yogi perceives the soul as Cosmic Sound, as noted in this Gita stanza—depend upon the succeeding stages of intuition. When one is in this second form of intuitive knowledge, or prana, he has partially or wholly withdrawn his consciousness from the matter plane.

(3)

The third form of intuition is the direct knowledge of mind—its effects and its combinations with other principles of perception and cognition—along with the separate knowledge of the subtle organs of sense. When one has attained this stage of intuition, the attention is not on the matter plane—that is, the body—nor much on the pranic plane; though some action of prana/breath may be involved in the experiences of this state. This is called the intuition of the mind plane. The consciousness in this plane may be worked on by prana, or life energy, and visions are then seen. In this form of intuition, one is not conscious of the outside world at all, or very little, depending on the depth of meditation. In the undeveloped stage of this form of intuition, one may see visions of all sorts, either fitfully generated, or voluntarily willed. For some people, it is not under control and so visions are fitfully generated. For the adept, such phenomena are voluntary and under control of the will. Visions are astral in substance, projections of prana and consciousness as lifetronic images. Visions experienced by those whose intuition is still in undeveloped stages may be little more than entertaining phenomena—glimpses into the subtle astral realms (distractions eschewed by the serious God-seeker). Meaningful visions, having true spiritual value, are engendered by the soul and Spirit through pure intuition working on prana and the God-attuned consciousness of the devotee for the purpose of elevating him to ever higher spiritual states—as for example, beholding the soul as Cosmic Light.

(4)

The fourth form of intuition is the direct knowledge of the operation of buddhi, or discriminative intellect along with knowledge of the ego. One in this stage does not feel the whirl of mind, the race of prana, or the weight and confinement of the body. He feels existent above them, an existence without any other adjunct or condition; though there may remain a doubt in him whether he is know his true Self or not. This is the intuition of the intellect plane. When this stage is high, fully developed, it is called cognitive meditation. It begets keen discernment of truth, manifesting as Wisdom.

(5)

The fifth form of intuition is the direct knowledge of bliss as depending upon no object, mediary, or condition. This is intuition bestows all-fulfilling joy, crowning divine experiences with ultimate satisfaction. In this, as in the previous states, the consciousness has been wholly withdrawn from the body plane, or at least nearly so.

Pure intuition is soul intuition—knowing the soul by the soul; seeing the soul with the eyes of the soul, so to speak. Here there are no modifications of intuition—as the intuition of intellect, or prana, or mind, or matter. The yogi in this state is above them all—knower, knowing, and known having become one. He is fully conscious of his true Self. This is the real soul-consciousness; and, in fact, it is God-consciousness, for the soul is realized as nothing other than the reflection of Spirit.

Only the highest of spiritual beings—very few in this world—have this pure soul intuition. Some have it at times, as when in deep meditation. Some are often fixed in it for longer periods, even after meditation. The more one is anchored in this consciousness, the more one feels the whole world to be akin. Stars, earth, plants, animals, man—he feels all to be pervaded by the same soul, which he feels to be himself. He is one with God.

Thus is it declared in this Gita stanza, the wonder of the soul; and that it cannot be known by the ordinary or even keen intellect, but only by those who actually perceive it through intuition. Progressively unfolding by the practice of the right techniques of meditation, intuition makes possible the experience of the various manifestations of the soul, and ultimately the realization of oneself as soul, one with Spirit.

Paramahansa Yogananda