PERSONAL SPECIAL...................... INTELLIGENCE VS INTELLECT

INTELLIGENCE VS INTELLECT The Path to Progress  Vedanta doyen Swami Parthasarathy on intellect versus intelligence Intelligence is acquired by gaining information, knowledge from external sources Intellect is that which thinks, comprehends, reasons, judges, decides. It is designed to guide, direct the mind and its emotions, the body and its perceptions and actions Few would forego a life of luxury to pursue an existence just dedicated to studying and teaching the ancient Indian scriptures, almost definitely not someone who has just been gifted a Rolls Royce by his parents. Swami Parthasarathy, the London-educated scion of a prominent business family, did just that when he decided to devote his life to Vedanta instead of running the family business. The 87-yearold Swamiji set up the Vedanta Academy in 1988 in Malvali Hills. The Author of Vedanta Treatise, Governing Business and Relationships and The Fall of The Human Intellect believes that the ills that afflict humanity today can be attributed directly to a loss of intellect and that needs to be corrected. In an interview with CD, he discusses intelligence versus intellect. Edited excerpts: What is the key to attaining success? Whether in business or any profession for that matter, what you are looking for is success. The businessman looks for success through profits. For success, there are three main requirements. I would call it the three Cs to success. One is Concentration. Second is Consistency. Third is Cooperation. Whether it is the top-most businessman or the entrepreneur, everybody needs those. So what is concentration? The mind is all the time worried about what happened in the past or anxious of what is going to happen in the future. Anxiety destroys concentration. In the past, I have advised Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid to concentrate on the present because the moment you go near 100, it is anxiety at play. Concentration means keeping the mind on the present and only the intellect can achieve it. Everybody is intelligent, they have knowledge, but they do not have intellect. Where do consistency and cooperation come into play? Consistency is using the intellect to pursue the path, whatever you have chosen. You must keep pursuing it. The mind gets distracted owing to various temptations. Again, you need intellect. The intellect is needed to keep the mind in the present. It is needed to keep the actions going on in one direction. Cooperation is the spirit of co-operative endeavor that nobody uses anymore. Management thinks they are big. Labor thinks without his work, management cannot get work done. Both have a complex. If they dissolve that complex and understand that they are on the same team, it becomes cooperation. Is the batsmen or the bowler or the fielder who is important? It is that spirit of cooperative endeavor to understand that we are all spokes in the wheel of life. Does humanity, by its very nature, prefer a stress-free existence? Anxiety saps human energy and shuts reasoning. Therefore, you need a vacation, you need weekends. Even in this institution, for 25 years now, we start at 4:15 am when the bell rings. Everybody is doing something or the other and there is no weekend break, there is no vacation. I have done that for 60 years. There is no weekend segregation. It is not a compliment; we do not need it. Stress is created by the mental agitation and that is the cause of worry. No child is tired. Children are doing some activity, they cannot sit quietly. So a child has no worry of the past, no anxiety of the future. Why does intelligence not develop intellect? Intelligence has nothing to do with intellect. Knowledge has nothing to do with intellect. There are millions of doctors in US medical schools but only one guy found the cure for tuberculosis. What is the difference ­ that guy had the intellect. Millions of engineers have gone through engineering school, but only one guy put up the Panama Canal. How is that? Generally, people possess knowledge, not intellect. You need intellect to grow the mind. Name all the businessmen you know. You believe they are peaceful? How do you develop intellect? Intellect has to be worked upon. Intelligence you get from teachers and textbooks, schools. This is the difference. You have to work on it. People have lost the art of questioning. By the age of 12 you say you are a Christian or Hindu or Muslim. You know what is your religion. You follow that. You do not question anything. You went to school, because everybody went to school. You went to university, because everybody went to university. You got a job, because everybody gets a job. You get married; have children, because everybody follows that. Nobody questions. When you question; then you develop intellect. Does attachment make us unhappy? When you do not have intellect, you cannot control the mind. When you cannot control the mind, it gets attached. So you are attached to your community, to your children, your family. Once you get attached to your partner, in India, we keep fighting. We cannot work. In western countries, they are more vocal in attachments. Then you get attached to name, fame, power. Then once you get money, you want power. If the thoughtflow goes unchecked by intellect, it forms a thicker stream of thoughts in the same direction. Soon these thoughts transform into desire for possessing and enjoying that object or being and your mind remains agitated. In this scenario, what businesses can you do, what jobs can you do? What harmony can you maintain? There is vandalism, militancy, terrorism, depression, distress. CD vinod.mahanta