Can I think my way through to enlightenment?

Is it possible to philosophize one’s way to enlightenment? This is a common concern voiced by intellectuals: university professors, doctors and other well-educated persons. They wonder if they can use their intellect—let their thoughts lead them to the pinnacle of human achievement—to God-Realization. The answer is both Yes and No. Mostly No.

Throughout history, human beings have struggled to grasp the Truth, understand the Divine and attain Enlightenment by thinking. Thinking toward self-realization, however, has generally failed miserably. We are the authors of great books and sublime philosophies, inventors of the light bulb and the nuclear bomb. We can cure countless diseases of the body and even ward off negative feeling through drugs. Yet, thinking, and making our thoughts manifest, has not brought us lasting satisfaction and happiness, the longing for which underlies all human endeavors. In fact, in most Western countries—where intellectual abilities are valued highly, the overall satisfaction with life is lower than in less developed places. We are accomplished at producing material prosperity but have failed at securing the most prized commodity in the world—the joy of living one’s life.

Nobody yet got to absolute truth through thinking because thinking is a product and produces only permutations of sense perception, thought and imagination. The best thing that comes from thinking is scientific relative truth and creative truth or art. (Artistic endeavors do require some intuitive ability.) Fortunately, we may tire of mental gymnastics and dare to recognize the limits of the intellectual process. If we come to understand with Socrates that "we know that we know not," then we have taken our first truly spiritual step.

Analytical thinking does solve mundane problems. Yet, for every question it answers, several more questions appear—like mushrooms after an autumn rain. This is simply the nature of analytic thinking. To find the absolute truth one needs to develop a practice that is not analytical but synthetic in nature. An authentic spiritual path is the way of synthesis. There is no other way to experience the absolute truth and its inherent bliss and satisfaction.

Among various authentic spiritual paths, tantra yoga is the most scientific way to experience the Divine Bliss Absolute (Satchida’nanda). Tantra yoga was deliberately created as the technology of ecstasy—you need not believe in it for it to work. The practitioner follows the same experimental procedure that has worked in a remarkably reproducible way for millennia. Of course, it does require that the right ingredients (self-discipline, persistence, patience and intelligence) be mixed in the right proportions. It also requires a competent teacher. With the right ingredients and a competent teacher, a favorable outcome of this experiment is guaranteed!

We should ask the question, then, why so many people are driven by the intellectual pursuit of enlightenment, when it is obvious that it does not work—that it does not bring lasting peace, satisfaction and happiness. It is appropriate to narrate here the famous Hodja Nasreddin ring story: Hodja is looking for a lost ring under a streetlight. A passerby asks where he lost the ring and Hodja points to a distant dark spot. "Why are you looking under the light then?" "Because I can see better!"

Most of us are habituated to dwelling in our heads—in the thoughts associated with the material world. This is a powerful habit, which is difficult to break. It is hard to refocus the mind from its persistent dwelling on material pursuits to a pursuit of bliss. Like Hodja Nasreddin searching for the ring in the wrong spot, we prefer to look in a familiar, well-lit place, even if we have to pay a terrible price—we waste our life away on pursuits that cannot give us the happiness and satisfaction we so desire. Unless we redirect the mind to serve the concerns of the soul, it will stay focused on the world and remain disconnected from the soul—the only true source of happiness and satisfaction.