The Masking Of The Intellect

When I ask anyone, what do you want in life, the answer is happiness. When I ask, happiness for how long, the answer is infinite happiness for ever. What is this state of infinite happiness? When we try to define happiness, one way could be a state where the mind is absolutely peaceful without any worries for an extended period of time. During our waking state, we enjoy the world, but at the same time are worried over something or other. Even as I enjoy the lovely Switzerland, there is a worry in my mind about the work I have to do when I get back. How about in my dream state? Sure, I am happy when I dream of dating the lovely Miss Universe. But how long is the happiness? As soon as her well built 220 lb boyfriend comes, my joy is gone! Now, let us look at deep sleep. Do I care what happens when I am in deep sleep? Someone may call me a donkey and I wont even know. Do I have worries of work? Absolutely not! So, here is a state where I am peaceful and without any worries. What if the same state of peace and lack of worries exists in waking state? Would that not be bliss?

All of us who have been students of spirituality are aware that this state of bliss is not somewhere far off. We ourselves are that Infinite state of happiness referred to as Brahman. If we are Brahman or that infinite happiness, why do we experience worries or distress? It is the innate Ignorance that is a characteristic of Brahman that creates the illusion of being separate from Brahman and creates all these worries and distress. Now, how can we remove this ignorance? Can we go to the market and buy some ignoricide to kill ignorance? Obviously not!.  The only way to remove ignorance is by using our intellect. I can almost sense most people telling themselves, this is something we have and patting their back! Well, intellect is not same as intelligence acquired by reading a book or going to college. Intellect is that ability to discriminate between what is real which is the Brahman or state of bliss and the unreal world full of illusory happiness and worries. This sounds rather woolly. Let me give an illustration.

A man parachuted from an airplane and landed in a dense forest. As he tried to figure out the terrain, wild animals started chasing him. He started running fast and to his dismay saw a witch with wide open mouth waiting for him. Dismayed at this, he ran in another direction, stepped over some leaves which unfortunately were covering a pit and fell down. head downwards and legs up. As he was falling, his legs got entangled in some creepers and he did not fall. As his eyes adjusted to the pit, he looked down and saw a huge cobra at the bottom of the pit. As he looked up, he saw two rats gnawing away at the creepers holding his legs and preventing his fall to the cobra. As he was falling, he had disturbed a beehive and now the bees were stinging his body. However, there was a smile on the man's face. From the beehive, honey was dripping and falling on his lips. As he savored the sweetness of the honey, he was smiling.

You may wonder at the absolute foolishness of the man. But let us ask ourselves. Are we not like that man? We get parachuted into the jungle of life when we are born. As we try to make our way in this world, we are pursued by various diseases. As we continue in life, the evil witch of old age is waiting for us. The cobra of death is waiting for us and we are held on to life. The 2 rats of day and night rapidly eat into our lives and with each passing day, we are nearer to death. We are stung every moment of our lives by desires, worries, failures etc. But we forget all this and smilingly enjoy that honey of some happiness. Is this not absolute lack of intellect?

In most of our cases, unfortunately the intellect is clouded which is sad because that is the only instrument we have in our search for bliss. It is like being given a knife to cut a fruit, but unfortunately the knife has lost all its sharpness. What is it that clouds our intellect and makes it practically useless? It is the various desires that we have that clouds the intellect. The degree of masking of the intellect depends on the level or type of desires.

The following are the broad categories of desires and related masking of the intellect:

1. Tamasic desires: These are the hardest set of desires which are difficult to give up, almost impossible. These consist of addictions like drinking, gambling to name  a few. For those inflicted with tamasic desires, the search for infinite bliss through the intellect is almost impossible. Their belief is that their addiction itself is their source of bliss. It is not just a belief, but a firm conviction that they are right in pursuing their desires to get happiness. Several lifetimes may have to be spent before these desires are exhausted and the individual even has a chance to realize that an instrument called the intellect exists and it can be used to pursue true bliss.

2. Rajasic desires : These are also intense desires, but not an addiction like in the earlier case. There is an intense desire to acquire wealth, power. For individuals with these intense desires, there is a glimmer of hope. It is like seeing smoke. You know fire is somewhere around and once the smoke settles, one can see the fire. Similarly in these individuals, with the right type of practice, the intellect can be awakened and sharpened to search for the infinite bliss.

3. Satvic desires : These are the desires to serve humanity, do good etc. For such individuals, the intellect is almost available to pursue the infinite bliss. It is like dust covering a mirror. It is easy to wipe the dust off the mirror  and be able to see oneself in the mirror. Similarly satvic desires clouding the intellect can be wiped out relatively easily and enable the intellect to pursue the shining Self.

In conclusion, all of us are basically immortal and blissful. It is only the intellect that has the capability to pursue the path to realize this immense bliss. The clouding of the intellect can be removed through sustained practice. The paths are many to cleanse the intellect. One can pursue the path of selfless action also called as Karma yoga or follow the path of absolute devotion with an attitude of gratitude, called as Bhakti yoga or pursue the path of understanding the difference between the real and unreal through the path of Jnana yoga. There is no single guaranteed path for success. Each individual has to find a correct mix of the above three in their individual exercise of cleansing the intellect and acquiring the state of infinite bliss.



As readers may be aware, 3 of my books on spirituality are available on Amazon.com.

I invite readers of my blog to try any of the books and give me feedback so that I can make changes in the next edition.


1. My Humble Understanding  Of Spirituality


My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality

2. Attain Infinite Bliss

Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide

3. The Spirit Of Spirituality

The Spirit Of Spirituality

The mystery of Death

This is one of the articles in a book I have written on spirituality. The book is available on Amazon.com.



The Spirit Of Spirituality

----------------------------
Death is one taboo word across almost all cultures. The fear of death is overwhelming for almost everybody. At the same time, there is a curiosity as to what happens after death, leading to an army of so called experts, 

who help communicate with the dead. But what is death? Is there life after death?

There can never be a conclusive proof whether there is life after death or not. We obviously cannot attach a tracking device to a person about to die and track what happens after he dies. We can go by anecdotes of people who have experienced near death and try to understand what death can be and what could be beyond death. There are several books about this and one of the interesting books I read is “many masters, many lives”.

How about asking Mr. Death himself as to what happens after death. For this, I would like to introduce you to a young boy, Nachiketha, a character in the Hindu mythology, who as per the story I am going to tell, met Death and asked him the questions that trouble us and got back satisfactory answers.

Nachiketha is a young boy who is watching his dad performing a ceremony. As part of this, his father is giving away a lots of alms, cows etc. as charity. The boy repeatedly asks his father as to whom he will be given off to.  The father as it is stressed with the ceremonies angrily tells him that he will give off Nachiketha to Death. The innocent boy thinks that is real and walks all the way to the home of Death.

Death is away from his house and so Nachiketha stays outside the house without any food or water for 3 days.  Death comes back after 3 days and sees that his guest has been without food or water for 3 days. As per Indian customs, it is a great sin to keep a guest hungry. So Death asks Nachiketha to ask for 3 boons. Nachiketha’s first request is that his father should be peaceful. The second request is that Death should teach him about the secret fire sacrifice which is beneficial to the whole world. Death readily agrees to these two. The third request is that Death should tell him the secret of what happens after death? Is there life after death?

Death tries to tempt Nachiketha with offer of gold, horses, kingdom etc. and tells him not to ask the third question. But Nachiketha is totally focused only on that question. Finally seeing Nachiketha’s resolve, Death gives in and tells him the secret of death and life after death.

Now, what is death? I have covered in an earlier blog about our transitioning from infant to child to youth to adult to old age. Once I become an adult, can I again become an infant? The infant in me had to die for the child to come. The child had to die for the youth to come, etc. But has death really occurred. I am still around. Death is only a transition from one state to another. So after old age, when the physical body falls, there is a transition to another state. In this material world, we do not have the equipment to see the transition when the physical body itself falls. But that does not mean transition did not happen.

I have covered in various blogs that our reality is consciousness or Brahman, which never dies. Just as energy can neither be created nor destroyed, the consciousness can neither be created nor destroyed. It is always there and hence there is no death for my true essence. A wave arises and seems to die. But is it dead? If it thinks it is just a wave, it dies. However if it realizes it is the ocean, there is no death. Similarly for me as a conscious being, whose essence is consciousness, there is no death.

But we take birth again and again to meet our unfulfilled desires. For more details, please refer my blog on Karma, the inexorable law of the universe. What happens between death of one body and birth in another is a transition. What happens between our end of a day and sleep, till we wake up next day? There probably are good and bad dreams and then probably a phase where there is no dream, but just deep sleep. Similarly, when a body dies, till the next body arises, there is a phase where the individual could experience good or bad, this being heaven or hell respectively. Just as no good dream or bad dream lasts forever, heaven or hell do not last forever. Depending on the type of actions/desires and their relative strength, we take a new birth in a new body to fulfill those desires.

Is death to be something to be afraid of? We are afraid of death to our loved ones because their departure would leave a void in our lives. We want an ailing parent to keep on living even though they suffer, because we are afraid of losing that source of happiness for us. So our fear of death of loved ones is actually a fear of losing a source of happiness. Isn’t this selfish in a way? How about fear of our own death? What are we afraid of? We are afraid that we can no longer get pleasure from the series of objects of desire we have accumulated, our house, car, family etc. When are we the happiest? It is when we do not have any worries and that is in deep sleep. During deep sleep, if someone called me stupid, would I know? If I was abused would I know? Does the office tension bother me? Does my nagging wife bother me? Isn’t this in a way, bliss? Now, during this state, if I die, would I know I am dead? So if I don’t know I am dead and if death can be blissful and provides a gateway to another life where more of my desires will be fulfilled, why should I fear death?

When can I really conquer death? The answer is obvious. When I realize I am consciousness which has neither life nor death, there is no concept of death and hence no fear of death.

As readers may be aware, 3 of my books on spirituality are available on Amazon.com.

I invite readers of my blog to try any of the books and give me feedback so that I can make changes in the next edition.


1. My Humble Understanding  Of Spirituality


My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality

2. Attain Infinite Bliss

Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide

3. The Spirit Of Spirituality

The Spirit Of Spirituality