Knowledge and intelligence and wisdom are irrelevant to one another

The mind doesn't need to be highly intelligent in order to be accumulating and memorizing knowledge or information about this and that.

Being highly intelligent doesn't necessarily means that the mind is wise, devoid of ignorance, or is peaceful, devoid of suffering.

Being more intelligent than the other minds doesn't necessarily means that the mind must be more knowledgeable than the other minds that are less intelligent than this mind, and vice versa.

Although the mind can be highly intelligent as well as has been accumulating and memorizing vast knowledge or information about this and that.

The amount of accumulated knowledge in the mind as well as the different degrees of intelligence doesn't determine that whether the mind is wise/devoid of ignorance, or not, or whether the mind is peaceful/devoid of suffering, or not.

The mind that is functioning under the influence of ignorance, the idea of 'I', egoism, impurities, and restlessness, that is devoid of wisdom and peace, might be utilizing the accumulated knowledge or information about this and that, under the presence of certain degrees of intelligence, specific talent, and specific skill, to be generating certain impure thoughts, ideas, desires, and aspirations, that externalized and materialized into certain damaging destructive behaviors, actions, and reactions, and the consequences of all that, into the world, unto oneself and/or others and the surrounding environment, either wittingly or unwittingly.

Most minds growing up being conditioned by the worldly passionate egoistic belief, values, and practice about all and everyone need to be developing, achieving, possessing, and accumulating certain qualities of names and forms that all and everyone would agree with and feel proud of, as well as devoid of certain qualities of names and forms that all and everyone would disagree with and feel ashamed of, in order to attain acknowledgement, recognition, acceptance, agreement, validation, respect, and glorification not just from oneself, but especially from others or the world, in order to feel good, righteous, virtuous, meritorious, positive, confident, deserving, proud, happy, joyful, successful, accomplished, or meaningful about oneself and life existence. That is everyone's freedom of thinking and belief.

The minds that are free from such ignorance and egoism, there is no need to be acknowledged and be proud of towards anything.

The mind that doesn't need to be receiving acknowledgement, recognition, acceptance, agreement, validation, respect, or glorification from oneself and others or the world, that doesn't need to be proud of by oneself and others towards something that most minds think and believe and recognize as pride deserving, and that doesn't need to be receiving understanding, sympathy, and empathy towards something that most minds think and believe and recognize as sympathy and empathy deserving, is a free mind.

The mind that can be by oneself in silence/solitude/seclusion for a prolonged period of time without any family/friends/social contacts, communications, activities, and interactions, for at least 5 years or more, and without the sense of loneliness, meaninglessness, joylessness, left-out, failure, shame, badness, negativeness, or wrongfulness, is a free mind.

The mind that is not being determined or disturbed by the mind perception of names and forms, of the presence and absence of certain pleasant and unpleasant/desirable and undesirable/agreeable and disagreeable sights, sounds, smells, tastes, sensations, thoughts, feelings, emotions, experiences, family ties, connections, relationships, interactions, affairs, conditions, and situations, is a free mind.

The mind that doesn't need to feel good, righteous, virtuous, meritorious, positive, confident, deserving, proud, happy, joyful, successful, accomplished, or meaningful about oneself and/or life existence, that is resting in unconditional peace as it is, is a free mind.

Such mind can be busy doing something or not doing anything, and still be peaceful as it is, regardless of all kinds of selfless impermanent changes in the selfless limited and conditional existence and function of the body and mind, regardless of the evitable condition and situation in the world that is mostly the consequences of the actions generated by the many minds functioning under the influence of ignorance, egoism, impurities, and restlessness (suffering/devoid of peace), and regardless of the inevitable process of decay and disintegration in all kinds of names and forms that is ceaselessly happening under the truth of selflessness and impermanence.

It's okay if the mind is not highly intelligent, or knowledgeable. It's also okay if the mind is not wise and not peaceful, in this present moment now. More importantly is that, the mind is not being over-powered by the impermanent condition and state of the mind to be hurting oneself and/or others, and without attachment, identification, craving, aversion, comparison, judgment, or expectation towards all that, while having the understanding that, even this will change, and pass away.

More importantly, one must inquire towards the truth of all the existing knowledge or information about this and that in the mind, coming from from anyone and anywhere, including all the teachings of yoga and/or buddhism, coming from any yoga teachers, or Gurus, or yogis.

Inquire the truth of everything.

Inquire towards knowledge, intelligence, creativity and achievement

One can be highly knowledgeable through accumulating knowledge of this and that, from here and there, but it's not necessarily that one is also highly intelligent. That's okay.

One can be having very little knowledge about this or that, or being disinterested towards many different kinds of knowledge, but it's not necessarily that one is not intelligent. That's okay too.

One can be highly intelligent and knowledgeable at the same time, but it's not necessarily that one is also highly creative. That's okay.

One can be highly creative without being highly intelligent or knowledgeable. That's okay too.

One can be highly knowledgeable, intelligent and creative, but it's not necessarily that one will be achieving many achievements about this or that. That's okay.

One can be achieving many different kinds of achievement about this and that without being highly knowledgeable, intelligent or creative. That's okay too.

One can be highly knowledgeable, intelligent, creative and achieving many different kinds of achievement, but it's not necessarily that one is peaceful and capable of being kind and compassionate towards all and everyone, unconditionally without discrimination towards the different names and forms.

One can be peaceful, kind and compassionate without being highly knowledgeable, intelligent, creative or having many achievements about this and that.

One can also be peaceful, kind and compassionate while being highly knowledgeable, intelligent, creative and having many achievements about this or that.

As being peaceful, kind and compassionate is nothing to do with whether one is being highly knowledgeable, intelligent, creative and having many achievements, or not.

Whether a mind is being peaceful, kind and compassionate, or not, is determined by the presence or absence of ignorance and egoism.

Regardless of whether one is highly knowledgeable, intelligent, creative and having many achievements, or not, those who have attachment and identification towards the accumulated knowledge, degrees of intelligence, levels of creativity and amount of achievement under the influence of ignorance and egoism, and hence, they are being determined and affected by the presence and absence of all these names and forms, in order to feel good, satisfied and meaningful, or not, about oneself and one's life existence. These minds are being determined by the presence and absence of acknowledgement, affirmation, recognition, compliment and appreciation coming from oneself and others towards one's accumulated knowledge, intelligence, creativity and achievements, in order to feel good, satisfied and meaningful, or not. Under the influence of ignorance and egoism, one might be utilizing the existing accumulated knowledge, intelligence, creativity and achievements to be doing something hurtful or destructive towards oneself and others and the surrounding environment, either directly or indirectly, and either intentionally or unintentionally.

The minds that are free from ignorance and egoism, are not being determined by the accumulated knowledge, degrees of intelligence, levels of creativity and amount of achievement, as well as the presence and absence of acknowledgement, affirmation, recognition, compliment or appreciation. Such minds are capable of being peaceful as they are, as it is, while capable of being kind and compassionate towards oneself and all and everyone, unconditionally without discrimination, craving and aversion, judgment and expectation towards the presence and absence of certain qualities in oneself and all and everyone. These minds can be utilizing the existing accumulated knowledge, intelligence, creativity and achievement to be doing something beneficial for all and everyone that come under different names and forms, without discrimination of 'I' and 'my' and all the others that are different from 'I' and 'my', while not being determined by the absence or lack of certain knowledge, intelligence, creativity or achievements in oneself and all and everyone.

Those who are free from the influence of ignorance and egoism don't need to be acknowledged and recognized by oneself and others as "I am someone intelligent, knowledgeable, creative and with high achievements," and are free from the sense of high or low self-esteem, the sense of goodness or badness, the sense of satisfaction or dissatisfaction, and the sense of meaningfulness or meaninglessness.

Without any acknowledgement, affirmation, recognition, compliment or appreciation, and without being highly knowledgeable, intelligent, creative or having any kind of achievement, even after trying and doing one's best, one can still be contributing unconditional peace and loving kindness into the world of many diversities and the world of ignorance and the consequences of ignorance.

Even if the mind thinks and believes that, "I couldn't contribute peace and loving kindness into the world, as I couldn't love myself and others unconditionally, because of the presence of ignorance and suffering in me," that's okay too. By being aware of the ignorance and suffering in oneself, while accepting oneself (the state of mind/the condition of the body/the ability and limitation of the body and mind) in the present moment as one is, without discrimination, craving and aversion, judgment and expectation towards the presence and absence of certain qualities or elements in oneself, is already the presence of something beneficial to oneself and the world.

Meanwhile, the knowledgeable, intelligent, creative and successful minds that think and believe that, "I love myself and I love the world, and I want myself and the world to be like this and not like that, I want to protect myself and the world from anyone and anything that are different from I and contradicting with my thinking, my belief, my values, my practice and my desire," might be performing many actions that are hurting oneself and the world, either wittingly or unwittingly.

Inquire towards the truth of everything, and be free.

Be free from craving and aversion towards identification with good or bad quality

None need to be 'good' or 'good enough' to have peace, not to say to be 'perfect'.

Free this mind from egoism of craving towards certain quality of names and forms that the mind would like to possess or be identifying with as 'I'.

Free this mind from egoism of aversion towards certain quality of names and forms that the mind wouldn't like to possess or be identifying with as 'I'.

Accepting the imperfection of all kinds of names and forms as it is.

All the 'perfect' and 'imperfect' qualities of names and forms are impermanent and they are not 'I'. There's needless of the egoistic identification with any quality of names and forms as 'I', or 'I am this/I am not that'.

Be free from aversion towards the acknowledgement of 'being stupid' or 'not smart enough' in learning or doing something in this world. One doesn't need to try very hard to 'not being stupid' or try to 'be smart'.

It's okay sometimes the egoistic mind realizes and acknowledges itself is being stupid or not as smart as one would like oneself to be, and would make certain mistake unwittingly or doesn't understand about something and doesn't know how to do certain things. Whether it's something that the mind perceives or acknowledges as 'perfection' or 'imperfection', 'good' or 'bad', it's impermanent and it's not 'I'. The mind that is free from the idea of 'I' or the ego, has no such 'problem' or 'reaction' towards the quality of names and forms that is impermanent and selfless.

Then even though one is aware of oneself is not as smart as one would like oneself to be or is less smart than many other people, but the understanding of non-attachment, non-identification, non-craving, non-aversion, non-judgment, non-comparison and non-expectation, is already being wiser than many people who are under the influence of ignorance and egoism, who try very hard to 'be smart' or try to 'outsmart' other people in order not to be acknowledged by oneself and others as 'I am stupid' or 'I am not smart enough', or to be acknowledged by oneself and others as 'I am not stupid' or 'I am smart enough', and would be very disappointed, frustrated and unhappy with oneself for being acknowledged as 'being stupid' or 'being not smart enough'.

Be free.

Wise vs intelligent

The minds that are intelligent, upon coming in contact with something, will analyze it based on the accumulated knowledge under the influence of a particular thinking and belief to apply judgment of right or wrong/true or untrue/good or bad/positive or negative, and followed by asserting agreement (towards what is corroborating with the thinking and belief) and disagreement (towards what is contradicting with the thinking and belief), and generating liking, admiration and support towards the agreeable, while generating disliking, disgust and oppose towards the disagreeable. Being attached onto and identifying with the accumulated knowledge or what the mind thinks it knows (even though there are many things are unknown to the mind), the mind doesn't bother to inquire the truth of something agreeable or disagreeable, that either corroborates or contradicts with the accumulated knowledge under the influence of a particular thinking and belief in the mind.

The minds that are wise, upon coming in contact with something, will be aware of or seeing the thing as it is, without generating liking, admiration and support or disliking, disgust and oppose, being free from agreement and disagreement based on judgment deriving from analysis that is limited by the accumulated knowledge under the influence of a particular thinking and belief. Via insight that is free from attachment or identification towards the accumulated knowledge under the influence of any thinking and belief, the mind is opened to inquire the truth of everything, including what it knows and doesn't know, whether it is something corroborating or contradicting with the accumulated knowledge under the influence of a particular thinking and belief in the mind.

Being intelligent doesn't guarantee that the mind is free from ignorance, egoism and impurities, or is free from disturb, restlessness and suffering.

Being wise allows the mind to be free from disturb, restlessness and suffering.

What the mind agrees with or disagrees with, is not necessary the truth or not the truth.

Yoga and meditation practice serves the purpose to transform the egoistic intellectual thinking into selfless intuitive insight, provided if yoga and meditation practice is being performed with the correct understanding and attitude. Otherwise, even after many years of yoga and meditation practice also doesn't lead the mind into silence or towards liberation from ignorance and suffering, but instead empowering restlessness, egoism and ignorance.

Ignorance?

Ignorance is not so much about not knowing much or knowing very little. Ignorance is about not knowing the truth of what is going on in the mind, or Selflessness and Impermanence. The truth is nothing to do with how much or how little the mind thinks it knows or doesn't know about this and that.

Acquiring and knowing lots of knowledge doesn't necessarily mean that one is free from ignorance. It is possible that one acquires and knows a lot of knowledge but is ignorant of the truth.

Without inquiring the truth of the acquired knowledge and blind-believing in the acquired knowledge, is ignorance. One who is proud and arrogant towards one's acquired and accumulated knowledge, will feel disturbed by other people who don't know what one knows, which one thinks and believes is true and correct. And hence, one wants to make other people to 'know' or to 'believe in'/'agree with' what one knows that one thinks and believes is true and correct, and will again feel disturbed when other people disagree with one's knowledge, or doubting/questioning towards what one knows.

No one should blind-believe in anything, but to inquire the truth of everything and realize the truth by oneself. Buddha didn't get disturbed by other people who disagreed with or didn't believe in what he knows or realized. Buddha didn't expect or didn't want people should believe in whatever he realized and said, or told and taught to other people. Instead, he taught everyone to inquire the truth of everything without blind-believe in anything, including whatever he realized and said, or told and taught to other people.

One can be highly knowledgeable and intelligent, but might not necessarily is happy or has peace, being restless, be disturbed, offended and hurt by the perceptions of names and forms that one dislikes and disagrees with, or doesn't desire. One doesn't know what is going on in one's mind or doesn't know the cause of restlessness and suffering.

Being proud and arrogant towards oneself being knowledgeable, and be disturbed or offended or hurt by what one doesn't desire, doesn't like, and disagrees with, is ignorance.

The one who is free from ignorance, doesn't expect and couldn't make other people be free from ignorance, but allowing everyone to realize the truth through self-inquiry and self-realization, and be free from ignorance, or not.

Being a 'good' and 'righteous' person who do 'good' and do the 'right' thing is not necessarily peaceful and be free from ignorance, egoism, disturbance, restlessness, impurities and suffering.

Being highly knowledgeable, knowing lots of information and facts about this and that, and have been reading many books about this and that also doesn't guarantee that one is peaceful and be free from ignorance, egoism, disturbance, restlessness, impurities and suffering. If one isn't free from ignorance and egoism, if one isn't free from anger, hatred, jealousy, feelings of hurts, pride, arrogance, desires of craving and aversion, fear and worry, one has no peace and might cause harm to oneself and others, whether intentionally or unintentionally, even if one acquired and have been accumulating and memorizing lots of information and facts about this and that, and can do many things with the knowledge that one has. One is not free at all.

One needs to know about one's mind, or know Thyself. The highest knowledge that would bring peace and harmony to oneself is the knowledge of knowing oneself, where there is no 'I' existing to be good or bad, to be right or wrong, to be positive or negative, to be happy or unhappy, to enjoy or suffer.

Practicing yoga is not about trying to acquire superhuman power to have all our wishes come true and changing the world to be the way that we like it to be, but it's to reform one's mind by purifying and eliminating the ignorance, egoism, restlessness, and impurities in one's mind to acquire the knowledge of oneself.

Teaching yoga to other people is not about trying to reform other people's mind, but only disseminating the teachings and practice of how to know Thyself/how to inquire the truth of everything/how to be free from suffering/how to realize unconditional peace, while allowing other people to be initiated and interested to reform their own minds, or not, through their own freewill, effort, and determination.

Be free.

Intelligence, kindness, peace and happiness?

Wisdom and ignorance, happiness and unhappiness has nothing to do with high intelligence nor low intelligence, Low intelligence doesn't guarantee kindness, peace and happiness as well. Kindness without non-attachment doesn't guarantee happiness either.

Happiness is already and always there in oneself. We are disconnected with this happiness when the mind is under the influence of ignorance, egoism, attachment, craving and aversion.

Intelligence and knowledge is neither good nor bad, and has no quality to make anyone happy or unhappy, kind or unkind. We can make use of the intelligence and knowledge to be doing something good or bad for oneself and others, but it also doesn't guarantee peace and happiness.

Just like a person might have the intelligence, knowledge and skills, to think, to design, to construct, to build a highly ecological and functional beautiful house to live in, but it doesn't guarantee this person who creates the house, or the people who live in the house will be compassionate, peaceful and happy, be free from being affected, disturbed, influenced or determined by ignorance, selfish desires, egoism, attachment, craving, aversion, pride, arrogance, anger, hatred, greed, dissatisfaction, disappointment, feelings of hurts, fear and worry. And all these defilements has nothing to do with the degree of intelligence and knowledge about this and that.

Real kindness or compassion, peace and happiness, shine in oneself disregards the degree of intelligence and accumulated knowledge, when oneself is free from all these defilements, stop making oneself miserable and unhappy, and stop hurting oneself or others out of these defilements.

Om shanti.

Ignorance is nothing to do with the degrees of intelligence

Ignorance is the absence of wisdom. Ignorance is not knowing the truth of names and forms, and the wrong identification with the body and mind as an individual 'I'. All sorts of attachments derived from this ignorance and wrong identification. All sorts of restlessness, unhappiness, dissatisfaction, disappointment, fear, worry, anger, hatred and suffering derived from attachment.

In the presence of wisdom, ignorance disappears.

Knowing a lot of things or knowledge is different from knowing the truth of things as they are.

We can be knowing a lot of things through the perception of names and forms through the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind, from study, research, debate and discussion, but it doesn't mean that we know about the truth of all these names and forms. It doesn't mean that we are free from suffering, dissatisfaction, unhappiness, disappointment, anger, hatred, jealousy, agitation, depression, fear, worry, craving and aversion that derived from ignorance.

If we truly know about the truth of names and forms, there won't be any attachments towards any names and forms, qualities or dualities. There's no craving nor clinging towards something that has the qualities of 'good', 'pleasantness', 'positive' or 'happiness'. There's no aversion towards something that has the qualities of 'bad', 'unpleasantness', 'negative' or 'unhappiness'.

There's no difference between success and failure, praise and condemn, compliment and criticism, pleasantness and unpleasantness, happiness and suffering, when we know the truth of things as they are.

We can be highly intelligent and very knowledgeable, but we can also be ignorant about the truth of things at the same time. We can be over-powered by egoism, pride and arrogance, and have lots of attachment towards the qualities of names and forms. Be disturbed and determined by whatever the mind perceives through the senses from moment to moment.

Ignorance is not what some people translate from English dictionary, which means stupid, unintelligent, lazy, or don't want to learn, or don't want to have self-improvement.

Some people see this word 'ignorant' as an insult. If somebody tells us, "You are not happy is because of ignorance.", we will be very upset and angry, as we feel insulted by these words. "What! Are you saying that I am stupid?!"

This is the ego reacts towards things that it hears that it doesn't like and disagrees with. Pride and arrogance is there, that's why we feel insulted. If we are free from pride and arrogance, or are free from egoism, we will not be disturbed, nor determined by any insults verbally, mentally or physically.

The point is, if we get upset and angry because we feel somebody's speech is insulting or criticizing us with certain kind of words that our mind believes and categorizes as insults, bad or negative, then we are truly ignorant. We don't know about the truth of names and forms. That everything is just what they are. They have no quality or intention to be something insulting or complimenting.

If we know about the truth of names and forms, we will not be disturbed, nor determined by any kind of speech, thoughts or actions coming from anybody, even if that person has the intention to insult us with some insulting speech, thoughts or actions. That is his or her freedom to say, or think, or do anything that he or she likes. We allow everyone to be free to express what they want to express. But we don't have to be disturbed, nor determined, nor influenced by it.

Om shanti.