06:32

Escaping the Trap of Intellect

by Sadhguru Jaggi

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talks
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Meditation
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In this conversation with Sadhguru, Shekhar Kapur wonders how to cross the distance between intellectual understanding and experience. Sadhguru explains that the nature of the intellect is like a trap that one builds for himself, and then longs to escape. Yogi, mystic and visionary, Sadhguru is a spiritual master with a difference. An arresting blend of profundity and pragmatism, his life and work serves as a reminder that yoga is a contemporary science, vitally relevant to our times.

IntellectExperienceYogaProfundityPragmatismLogicDissectionHeartConsciousnessMadnessIntellect Vs ExperienceHeart Vs IntellectConscious MadnessLimitationsLogic TrapsTrapsContemporary ScienceEscapeSpirits

Transcript

You said beyond the physical,

You said you can perceive you and the universe and you did that almost as me and the universe was one and the perception of that.

So most of us can intellectualize the idea of the universe.

We can't and we can't experience it.

And between the intellectualization of it and the experience of it,

You are telling me that all of the better view and the windows that are opened,

I am getting closer to the my relationship with the universe.

Can you describe that between the intellectualizing and the experience of it and where my relationship exists?

See,

If you go with the foot scale to measure the depth of the ocean,

You will invariably come back and tell me that it's bottomless because it's impossible for you to measure the depth of the ocean with a foot scale.

You're approaching the universe with a completely wrong instrument,

The intellect.

Your intellect itself is an instrument which can only dissect and know things.

There is no way your intellect can know anything,

Perceive anything without dissecting.

Without prayer information about it,

You cannot know.

If you see anything new,

There is no way for you to know.

Now you really want to know your daughter,

Would you like to dissect her?

No,

No.

That's definitely not the way.

But with intellect,

You can only dissect her.

You can call it analyzing,

But it's dissection.

So by dissecting,

You can know all kinds of details,

But you will not know the real thing.

So whether you take a flower or a human being or a tree or an animal,

By dissection,

You're not going to know anything.

You will only know the physical parts of it.

The sum of this physical part still does not make the whole.

So you… with the foot scale,

You're trying to measure the depth of the ocean.

You will come with wrong conclusions.

So,

I mean,

The fundamental… So I'm saying keep that aside and let's talk without your intellect lets me.

Let's see.

Try,

Make an effort.

All right,

I'm going to leave my… because without the intellect,

There's no question.

No,

There are… there are questions in the universe without intellect.

All right,

Let me try.

Let me try without my intellect.

Nothingness is not a question.

No,

No,

Don't go into abstract things like that.

So I don't know what to do if I… because… The very human existence right now is a question.

There is a longing to know,

That itself is a question.

And the longing to know is being right now unfortunately channelized through a… an instrument which is incapable of knowing.

So I'm saying you have a longing to know,

It's a big question mark by itself.

Try to direct this question mark without the use of your intellect.

Don't sit there and try to dissect me,

You will not get anything.

If you cut me,

You'll only get what you will find in a frog or a goat,

The same heart,

Liver,

Kidney.

You will not find enlightenment in my kidneys.

If you want to know this,

You must keep that aside and still pursue the question.

That's what she is.

She is the question without the intellect.

No,

No,

I'm saying when you go to her,

You have to go with your heart.

You can't go with your intellect.

If you go with your intellect,

What is there?

One black form like this,

What is this?

It's nothing.

But you ask people who just walked in,

It just hits them.

It's an explosion of energy.

But if you go there with your intellect,

What is there?

Simply madness.

So is madness wrong?

I thought everybody is trying to be sane.

Okay,

So let's not be sane for a while.

Let's be mad.

The thing is,

Human beings are always trying to do mildly insane things because their sanity is so restrictive.

Their sanity is just crushing them within themselves.

So they want to do something crazy.

They're not trying to do something crazy.

They're trying to break the trap of their own intellect.

Intellect thinks logically.

Within the frame of the logic,

They feel trapped,

But they don't understand it is they who are building the trap.

Even a spider has the intelligence to build a trap for somebody else,

Not for himself.

Human beings using their fine instrument of an intellect and building a trap for themselves and they feel trapped in that logic.

Now they want to do something crazy.

Essentially crazy means something illogical,

Something does that not synchronize with the intellectual process.

Every time they do that,

Either to drug,

A drink or some other mad act that they do,

They're crossing the line of their logic and they think it's great.

I'm saying let's do it consciously.

You don't have to do any insane risky thing.

You can sit here and live that.

I'm saying someone who builds a trap for himself of his own logic,

He's truly insane,

But he thinks he's sane.

The very concept of sanity has to change.

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Sadhguru JaggiMcMinnville, TN, USA

4.5 (417)

Recent Reviews

Oleg

November 21, 2019

Great view with great examples about our intellect and humanity

Carley

June 16, 2019

I loved this! It redirected me away from a trap in a clear way. Thank you!

Paula

April 27, 2018

Yes, sometimes your brain can be your prison.

Beth

March 15, 2018

Whoa. I want to hear more!

Ann

January 22, 2018

Loved it - especially the idea that we are using our intellect to build insane worlds for ourselves .... 🙏🦋

Gino

December 7, 2017

Definitely going to sit with this for a moment...

Chris

December 3, 2017

Wisdom as always

Martha

November 23, 2017

Interesting and full of wisdom as always. Thank you.

M.P.K.

November 22, 2017

Thank you Sadhguru.

November 20, 2017

Very interesting. Especially in times we tend to think we can analize everything by logical thinking. Maybe we can, but do we understand? Instead it‘s the experience that leads to perception without thinking... Thanks gor remembering! Rapha ☯️🙏🏼

Josephine

November 20, 2017

Ask the question from the heart, not intellect. Love that. 🙏

Kate

November 17, 2017

So awesome 🙏🏻bookmarking ❤️💫🦋

Lucia

November 17, 2017

It's a pity it is interrupted when it gets really interesting...

Joseph

November 17, 2017

My concept of sanity must change!

Katie

November 16, 2017

Many thanks for sharing more of your wisdom.

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