Eastern Wisdom and the Intelligence within Us

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Eastern Wisdom and the Intelligence within Us

That procession of this commendable cause that the Dharma foundation has taken up, I would like to say that for thousands of years, for the longest period compared to anything on this planet, this wisdom, this dimension of knowing has lived on without any kind of true organization or a certain kind of leadership, or any other kind of organized methods. Out of sheer efficacy of what it is, it’s just lived on. A time has come in the world where even truth has to be protected.

When we talk about East, we are not talking about a particular geography. This must be clearly understood. We are not talking about East and West as geographical features in the world. Any number of great minds in America have said things of great reverence and admiration for the so called Eastern wisdom. Toro, one of the greatest minds America produced, went out to say, “Every morning I bathe my intellect in this stupendous and incredible knowledge from the East.” In comparison, all our modern world and literature is puny and trivial. I think Mark Twain went out to probably gave out the best compliment to the East. When he visited India for a little over 3 months, he said, “Anything that can every be done, either by man or God, has been done in this land.” Any number of others, Upenhammer, Walden, Emerson, any number of people have said many, many things. Why?

Why is it so important? Why is it important to preserve and nurture this dimension of life? The fundamental reason why it seems to be so significantly different is because it is not a product of human intellect. It is not deductions that we made out of our intellect. This dimension comes from a profound inner experience where there is no right and wrong, there is no up and down; just seeing things the way they are. When we say Dharma, we are not talking about a religion as modern translators went about interpreting Dharma as Hindu Dharma or whatever, another religion, because they came from a mindset that everybody has to belong to some segment of humanity. They come from a mindset where humanity has to be divided one way or the other, because they come from the surface intelligence of human nature, which we call as intellect. Unfortunately, the modern societies, modern education systems have entirely dedicated themselves to the human intellect, completely ignoring other dimensions of intelligence, which definitely exist within us.

When you go by the intellect, the nature of the intellect is always to dissect and divide, because intellect is essentially discriminatory in nature, and intellect functions always with a certain identity. If you have no identity, you cannot use your intellect. So, with individual identities, either of race, religion, nationality, caste, creed, gender, when you apply your intellect, it will split the world into many pieces. The significance of what we are referring to as the spirit of Eastern wisdom is it does not come from human intellect, it comes from a deeper dimension of intelligence within us.

When I say a deeper dimension of intelligence, a simplistic way of looking at it would be whatever you had for lunch today, if you had a piece of bread, or the afternoon, this bread is being transformed into a human being. You definitely cannot do that with your intellect. There’s an intelligence here which is capable of making a banana into a human being. You definitely cannot do that with your intellect. A dimension of intelligence, which is beyond thought process; thoughts are the product of intellect is essentially always functioning from a limited amount of data that we have gathered.

Now, what we call as Eastern wisdom is not coming from a limited amount of data that we have gathered, either from the books, or our life experience, but simply by enhancing our ability to perceive life in ways that the five-sense organs cannot function. Why I’m talking about the five-sense organs is all the data that you have ever gathered, which rests in so many aspects within you, which is the food for the intellect comes from the five-sense organs. In the very nature of things, sense organs cannot the perceive the entirety of anything.

If you can see this part of my hand, you cannot see this part of my hand, you cannot see this part of my hand; this is the nature of sense perception. Even if you take a grain of sand, if you see one part of it, you cannot see the other face of it. Sense organs can only perceive in comparison. If there is no comparison, your senses are useless, because there is darkness, you know what is light, otherwise, you just would not know what is light. If light was on all the time and there was no darkness, you would not know what is light. Because there is silence, you know what is sound. If there was no silence, you would not have the idea of what is sound, so what you conceive in comparison is a distortion of reality, it is not reality as it is. Whatever we perceive in comparison is useful for our survival process, but if we want to know the nature of this existence, sense organs are not sufficient instruments.

What is light for you is darkness for many other creatures. Have you every gotten into an argument with an owl? If you did, which is light, which is darkness, where would it go? It would be endless argument. Who is right, you or the owl?

Both.

If you are saying both, either you belong to the diplomatic core, or you have a successful marriage. You have learned to say both, both, both for everything. The fact of the matter is, you are perceiving it as it is necessary for your survival. The own is perceiving it as it is necessary for his survival. If survival is all you’re seeking, your five-sense organs and intellect are sufficient instruments, but if you want to know the nature of the existence, if you want to know the fundamental laws, or Dharma, which governs life the way it happens within us and around us, then you need an inner perception, or another dimension of intelligence within you, otherwise you will only cut the world into pieces.

In the name of religions, we have cut the world into … Humanity into many pieces, because intellectually we have arrived at our own conclusions or deductions, which inevitably is bound to divide, because intellect is essentially a knife which cuts. It can only dissect. By dissection, you can know certain things, but if you really want to know someone that you love, you don’t dissect them, you embrace them. By dissection, you may know the kidney, liver, heart, stuff, but you will not know the being in any sense; you will lose it completely. Dissection is the way of the intellect, because it is a sharp instrument; it has to cut open everything that is given to it, but the East found another way.

Out of profoundness of experience you can know life. By turning inward, you can know life. When I say turning inward, you must understand that essentially the five-sense organs are always outward. You can see what’s around you, but you cannot roll your eyeballs inward and scan yourself. You can hear this, but so much activity in this body you cannot hear this. If an ant crawls upon this hand, you can feel it; so much blood flowing, you cannot feel it, because in the very nature of things, sense organs are outward bound. The moment you dedicate yourself to your intellect, you also get enslaved to the limitation of your five senses. It is in this context the wisdom of the East is of tremendous significance to the world, because it has transcended this slavery to sense perception and learnt to perceive life in a completely different way.