Spiritual Light -8

                                           Intellect and Devotion...

 

If intellect is penetration & probing into the reality of life and universe then Devotion by no way is the inclusion of them, because to include anything one has to seclude, separate everything at first and then only that can be firmly assimilated into oneness & this can be done only by penetrating and probing into subject and matter as deep as possible.

More ever devotion can better be called as exclusion where unnecessary intellect is kept aside and non -useful "faith" is reared through unintellectual thought process & practices resulting in surfacing serious issue among devotees, for example -Ramkrishna Paramhansa ( spiritual Teacher of Swami Vivekananda's) was punished severely by Totapuri Maharaj (another contemporary ascetic ) for his undue 24x7 entanglement with Goddess-Kali under blissful ecstasy, forgetting the reality and the truth. It is told that Totapuri Maharaj literally poked the broken piece of glass into forehead or Paramhansa to disturb the overstimulated and uncontrolled spiritual practices of Ramakrishna Paramhansa. Totapuri Maharaj first tried to reason with Ramakrishna and make him understand that his Kali is doing only those thing that he is expecting which itself proves that his Kali is his own creation and not any true god. But Ramakrishna Paramhansa was adamant to listen so finally Totapuri stabbed the forehead of Ramakrishna Paramhansa with broken glass piece to calm down the unintellectual worthless process of keep enjoying blissful state by Ramkrishna Paramhansa. This shows that undue devotion is useless and must be judged well, with intellect.
 

Even after Nirvana Gautam buddha didn't leave his body, he lived his normal life with peace and tranquillity and propounded the value of intellectuality and thoughtful devotion which in the spiritual world called as "witnessing awareness".  
 
Hindu belief system is unduly given more weightage to devotion forgetting that intellect and devotion are alternate layers of onion layered after one and another from one form of life force to another subtle form of life force. Hence it is not surprising to see that either following blind devotion or keep following blind intellect not carrying disciples anywhere in their spiritual journey.
 

Perhaps that's why western Abrahamic religion failed at identifying Christ consciousness due to only keep following blind intellect and eastern religions failed at witnessing MOKASH,/NIRVANA due to their blind devotion fellowship.
 

Every disciple of every religion must remember that science and spirituality go hand in hand, if one failed to cope up with other then disciple can't go further in any direction in his religious or say spiritual journey. Finally, let it be Atheist or Theist everyone knows the ultimate truth of life, religion and existence of God as per one's idea and belief system, but the question arises about the authenticity of those truths beyond doubt. And, That authenticity can only be provided with experience in persona, which one can get through devotion ( honest following of religious practices for Theist & honest fellowships for own ideas for Atheist), but to witness the empirical value of one's belief system or ideas, that person needs well develop intellect otherwise there will be no more difference left between "insane and religious person in case of Theist" and "Maniacal and Self righteous in case Atheist" because both are in one or other way living with delusion without any experience or factuality in their hands to prove or disprove theirs or other's claims.
 
 

So finally speaking, "Intellect" is not just penetration & probing but it is "Parameter for "Devotion" as a contemporary instrument to ascertain every deepest realm of Devotion". Let there be Atheist or Theist, both need --intellectualism and devotion as like their right and left arms, working in very good condition, to identify what is Truth and what is False, to progress spiritually.