THE CRISIS OF INTELLECT : Part 3 of 5

The crisis of intellect – Part 3 of 5

The attitude that abrogates for itself the role of an upholder of Dharma very often slips into egoism. This is the second type of the crisis of intellect, as we have already seen. Dharma is so subtle a concept that only a godlike person like Krishna can declare that He is the One  who has come to establish Dharma and so he will not tolerate such and such an act of adharma. Even an avatara like Rama who had every right to flaunt the observance of dharma did not do so; he did not have the slightest egoistic pride  that could lead him to proclaim that he was making the greatest sacrifice for the sake of dharma. His humility even prevented him from going beyond the simple statement, even in intense debates about the dilemma of right and wrong that ‘Having been told by my mother and father to do what I am doing, how can I do otherwise?’ (mAtA pitRRibhyAM ukto.aham katham anyat samachare.  Valmiki Ramayana Southern Rescension: 2-104-22)

Take that colossus of humility, Jesus Christ. Never did so perfect a man walk on earth who gave love so naturally that no one could resist loving him intensely or feeling the force of his love. Never was there such a carpenter who carved the lives of millions of men for centuries after his day. And yet, never was there a person whose concern was not that people should know what he was but that people should know God and His love for His children. Never was there such a colossus  and yet the most humble of mankind!

It is humility and surrender to God’s Will that is most important and must be emphasized in the context of any crisis of intellect  which expresses itself as an emotional intoxication in the belief that one’s way of doing things is the right way.  Rama and Jesus knew what they were doing was the right thing but there was not an iota of arrogance in them. It is easy to say that everything happens according to God’s Will but extremely difficult to live by this belief. Surrender to God’s Will is not a pose but an attitude. When things happen which are not to one’s taste and wishes, in spite of all the best efforts one has put in and the precautions one has taken, the weak react by grumbling and apportioning blame, the strong by throwing their weight around, criticizing all and sundry and protesting noisily.  But the truly religious man will take it as God’s Will and submit to the flow of the current. While the self-conceited man will feel that his initiative has been lost the truly spiritual man will concede that the initiative had never been with him; it was always with Him alone.  It is not our will, our mind, or our intelligence that works out things for us. The agent provocateur is within us.  Every action is His.  (More technical explanation of this is in verses 13, 14, 15 of Ch.18 of the Bhagavadgita.) The only action that should be ours is to surrender our Will to Him. A nineteenth century Christian hymn says: ‘Oh Lord, take my Will and make it thine; it shall no longer be mine; take my heart, it is thine own; it shall be thy royal throne!’ In spite of any such prayer, this surrender of ours or God’s taking over our Will He never does for us according to Hindu Bhakti Yoga literature, because the wise say it has to come out of our free will.  He creates only the circumstances for us to surrender to Him.  If we don’t voluntarily give ourselves to Him, in thought and deed, He allows us, in His infinite mercy, to be tossed about by the waves of birth and death in the ocean of samsara and take our own time to come to Him, perhaps after going through every labyrinth of the crisis of intellect. Finally when one reaches the ultimate limit of spiritual progress with the help of intense sAdhana (spiritual practice) he experiences the nirguNa (attributeless) nature of the Absolute and remains in oneness in that Absolute. And then, all the ideas, such as you and I, subject and object, bondage and liberation, vice and virtue, merit and demerit, etc. are all annihilated.

(To be continued)