Why we cannot realise through the intellect
When we are operating on the intellectual level, we do not reach Truth. We can get closer to the goal, but, beyond a certain point, we end up simply orbiting It. The jñani, the man of knowledge, studies philosophy until he knows that everything is logical and has enough faith in the system to do the spiritual practices. He recognises that the purpose of the philosophy has now been fulfilled, so he tries to forget everything he has learnt, and concentrates on acquiring knowledge by the direct route, through spiritual practices, straight from the heart.
Why can we not know everything through the intellect? With the intellect, we can only know the object. However, we want to know the subject, our own soul. You have not seen your face, so you do not know it 100%, or you could say you only know it relatively i.e. there is some knowledge, but automatically also some ignorance. You can only see and study a reflection in the mirror, a certain manifestation, not the original. You do not know your face, but you are your face. You cannot know Brahman, but you are Brahman. Real knowledge is not knowing, it is being. If you say, "I know something," this is about an object. We are not studying the object, we are studying the subject. We do not want to know the known, we want to know the knower. The intellect is the wrong instrument. It is like trying to measure the length of your swimming pool with weights for weighing fruit.
We cannot describe something through the intellect. We can only describe what it is not. Someone gives you a sweet and asks what it tastes like. You can definitely say what it does not taste like. It does not taste like chicken or fish. You cannot definitely say what it does taste like. It tastes sweet. What does this mean? Chocolate is sweet. Sugar is sweet. An apple is sweet. However, if the questioner himself eats a sweet he understands immediately. It is like describing the frame of the picture, but not the picture itself. Just as many pictures could fit into a certain frame, many types of food fit into the description, ‘sweet’. Sometimes people feel uncomfortable with philosophical explanations, when they have to admit they were logical. That is because they understand only with the intellect, without having realised them in their hearts. If you understand with the heart, you always know intuitively that you are correct. If someone’s knowledge is only intellectual, he will believe some of the time, but his faith will sometimes disappear. He may also need time because his past experience does not contain such explanations, and concepts sometimes need time to be absorbed properly.
Why must we forget everything that we have learned, at least while doing spiritual practices? It is good to try to forget all we have learned, because a mind full of information, thoughts and busy intellect is more difficult to dissolve in meditation. The mind acts as a barrier. We want to see the soul, a coin at the bottom of the lake, the mind system. This is only possible when there are no waves, thoughts. When one has heard enough logical philosophy, negative doubts are just weaknesses of the mind, manifestations of the ego’s fear of losing control. They must be overcome, but it will take courage. The mind and intellect are tools of the individual ego, so when there is the possibility of these being surrendered, the ego senses its impending destruction and reacts with these tools. In meditation, first disappears the consciousness of the body, then the mind or thoughts, but the ego, the ‘I’ consciousness is still present. It is only when that, too, disappears that we will enter samadhi. The intellect, the apprentice, starts the work, but he only has the skill to do a certain amount. Eventually, the master, the heart, the seat of intuitive knowledge gained from samadhi has to take over.
Let us imagine that you do not agree that everything in the philosophy is correct. Firstly, it is true that it is not correct. We are trying to know the subject when, logically, we can only describe the object with the intellect. When speaking intellectually about our real identity, we are investigating the subject from an outside point of view, coloured by outside experiences, when it should be investigated from its own point of view. Of course the explanations will not be perfect. What is the purpose of philosophy? It will not lead us to Truth, so its only use is to give us the motivation to do the spiritual practices that will lead us to Truth. So many different philosophies have been developed, when there is only one Truth, because different people are motivated into doing spiritual practices in different ways. The philosophy gives the intellect a frame in which it feels comfortable, doing spiritual practices. Ultimately, our questions will only be fully answered when the answers manifest in our own hearts after nirvikalpa samadhi. Then we will have no more need of frames.
Secondly, so what if you do not agree with everything in the philosophy? Every serious philosophy teaches that real spiritual knowledge is not gained through the intellect, but through the heart. The intellect will certainly have to be pushed aside one day as intellectual knowledge is imperfect, so why not do it now? If your philosophy is all wrong, but you do the practices honestly and sincerely and with great perseverance, perfect knowledge will manifest in your own heart anyway. You will know yourself that all that you had been taught was wrong, except the one thing that was definitely right - that perfect knowledge comes to you through spiritual practice, not the intellect. If you follow that one teaching, you have already been told the most important philosophy; you have not been cheated.
The intellect can help at the start, but it will only take you a certain distance. If you have a splinter, ignorance, which is part of the relative world, in your finger, you use another splinter, relative knowledge to work it out, but ultimately, both will have to be thrown aside, as the goal is to transcend both splinters; Ultimate Truth is beyond all relativity.