WHAT IS SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE?
WHAT IS SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE?
Shrimad Bhagwad Gita mentions
20 items of Spiritual Intelligence.
Spiritual Intelligence develops spiritual knowledge which manifests itself in specific behavior.
According to Bh. Gita following constitutes spiritual knowledge.
Humility;
pridelessness; nonviolence; tolerance; simplicity; approaching an Acharya;
cleanliness; steadiness; self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense
gratification; absence of false ego; the perception of the evil of birth, death,
old age and disease; detachment; freedom from entanglement with children, wife,
home and the rest; even-mindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events;
constant and unalloyed devotion to Me; aspiring to live in a solitary place;
detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of
self-realization; and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth – all these I
declare to be knowledge, and besides this whatever there may be is ignorance.
A brief description of 20 items of SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE
1. Humility: It means that one is not anxious to
have the satisfaction of being honored by others. The material conception of
life makes us very eager to receive honor from others, but from the point of
view of a man in spiritual knowledge--who knows that he is not this
body--anything, honor or dishonor, pertaining to this body is useless. One
should not be hankering after this material deception.
2. Pridelessness:
People are very anxious to be famous for their possessions and
even religion. Sometimes it is found that without understanding the principles
of religion, one enters into some group, which is not actually following
religious principles, and then wants to advertise himself as a religious
mentor.
3. Nonviolence: It is generally taken to mean not
killing or destroying the body, but actually nonviolence means not to put
others into distress. People in general are trapped by ignorance in the
material concept of life. Elevating people to spiritual knowledge, is highest form
of nonviolence.
4. Tolerance: It means that one should be
practiced to bear insult and dishonor from others. If one is engaged in the
advancement of spiritual knowledge, there will be so many insults and dishonor
from others. This is expected because material nature is so constituted.
5. Simplicity means that without diplomacy one
should be so straightforward that he can disclose the real truth even to an
enemy.
6. Adoration of “Acharya”: An “Acharya” is one who teaches by his own
behavior. Admiration, adulation and reverence of Acharya are essential. A spiritualist approaches him
with all humility and enquires about absolute truth and various phenomenons. One cannot progress in the spiritual science without
the instruction of a spiritual master.
7. Cleanliness: It is essential for making
advancement in spiritual life. There are two kinds of cleanliness: external and
internal. External cleanliness means taking a bath, but for internal
cleanliness, one has to contemplate on self and super-soul. One must reject
contemplation on the objects of sense gratification. This process cleans the accumulated dust of
past karma from the mind.
8. Steadiness:
It means that one is very
determined to make progress in spiritual life. Without such determination, one
cannot make tangible progress.
9. Self-control means that one does not accept anything which is detrimental
to the path of spiritual progress. One becomes accustomed to this and rejects
anything which is against the path of spiritual progress.
10.Renunciation of the objects of
sense gratification: This is real renunciation. The
senses are so strong that they are always anxious to have gratification. One
with spiritual intelligence does not cater to the demands which are not
necessary. The senses should only be gratified to keep the body fit so that one
can discharge his duty.
11. Absence of
false ego: False ego means accepting this body as oneself. When one understands
that he is not his body and is spirit-soul that is real ego. False ego is
condemned, but not real ego. In the Vedic literature (Brhad-aranyaka Upanisad
1.4.10) it is said, “aham brahmasmi”, I am Brahman, I am spirit. This "I
am," the sense of self, also exists in the liberated stage of
self-realization. This sense of "I am" is ego, but when the sense of
"I am" is applied to this false body it is false ego. There are some
philosophers who say we should give up our ego, but according to many others it
is not possible.
12. Understand the distress of birth, death, old age and disease. There are descriptions in
various Vedic literatures of birth. The child's stay in the womb of the mother
and its suffering, etc., are all very graphically described. It should be
thoroughly understood that birth is distressful. Similarly at the time of death
there are all kinds of sufferings, and they are also mentioned in the
authoritative scriptures. And as far as
disease and old age are concerned, everyone gets practical experience of these.
No one wants to be diseased, and no one wants to become old, but there is no
avoiding these. A person in spiritual consciousness is aware of these.
13.Detachment: Attachment
means accepting things for one’s own sense gratification, and detachment is the
absence of such sensual attachment.
14. Freedom from
entanglement with children, wife, home and the rest: It does not mean that one does
not have feelings for these, as they are natural objects of affection. But his
‘contemplations’ are more important and one naturally becomes detached from
them.
15. Even-mindedness
amid pleasant and unpleasant events: In this world one can never be fully happy or fully miserable.
Happiness and distress are concomitant factors of material life. One learns to
tolerate them. One can never restrict the coming and going of happiness and
distress. But if one is actually in the spiritual position, these things will
not agitate him.
16. Constant and unalloyed devotion to God: This quality is undoubtedly a
quality of spiritualists of high order. It
is said that the process of knowledge terminates in unalloyed devotional
service to the Lord. So, if one does not approach, or is not able to approach,
the transcendental service of the Lord, then the other (nineteen) items are of
no particular value.
17. Aspiring
to live in a solitary place: Naturally, when one is adapted to the spiritual way of life, he will
not want to mix with gross materialistic men. That would go against his grain. One
may test himself by seeing how far he is inclined to live in a solitary place
without unwanted association.
18. Detachment
from the general mass of people: Naturally a spiritualist has no
taste for unnecessary sporting or cinema-going or enjoying some social
function, because he understands that these are simply a waste of time.
19. Accepting the
importance of self-realization: According to Bhagavad Gita, one with
spiritual intelligence makes research, by philosophical
discretion into the nature of the soul. One tries to find solutions to
questions about self. “Who am I? Where I have come from? Where will I go after
death? And what am I supposed to do?”
20. Philosophical search for the Absolute Truth: In the Srimad-Bhagavatam
(1.2.11) this is explained; vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam yaj jnanam
advayam. "Knowers of the Absolute Truth have described Him in three
different ways which are identical, as Brahman (soul), Paramatma (super-soul)
and Bhagavan (The God)." That is perfection of knowledge.
Conclusion
Beginning from being humble up
to the point of realization of the Supreme Truth, the Absolute Personality of
God, this process is just like a staircase beginning from the ground floor up
to the top floor. Now on this staircase there are so many people who have reached
the first floor or the second or the third floor, etc., but unless one reaches
the top floor, he is at a lower stage of knowledge.
As for actual advancement in spiritual science, one should have a test to see how far he is progressing. He can judge by these items.
--- "Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible."― Dalai Lama
ReplyDelete--- Meditation is not to escape from society, but to come back to ourselves and see what is going on. Once there is seeing, there must be acting. With mindfulness, we know what to do and what not to do to help." ~ Thich Nhat Hanh ~
--- Veil upon veil, thought upon thought-Let go of them all For they only hide the truth. Rumi
--- There is a path from me to you that I am constantly looking for, So I try to keep clear and still as water does with the moon. Rumi
--- "Change is never painful, only the resistance to change is painful."― Demi Lovato
---- Anything which is troubling you, anything which is irritating you, THAT is your teacher."― Ajahn Chah
--- “Like a jug fills drop by drop, fill yourself with goodness.”― Buddha
--- “It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles."― Buddha
--- Nothing is good nor bad. We are the ones who give adjectives things. All circumstances help us to grow.
--- "Knowing your own mind is the solution to all our problems."― Thubten Yeshe