Teachings Article
Intuition and Insight
By Gurudevi Nirmalananda
October 2024
You must develop your intuition, but for different reasons than you suppose. Intuition is the inner knowing by which you know your own Self. It’s called in-sight. However, using intuition for external things sabotages your spiritual progress.
The siddhis (subtle powers) are inner obstacles in the way of samadhi, though considered to be attainments by those with outward-turned minds.
Te samadhav-upasarga vyutthane siddhayah. — Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras 3.38
Siddhis are subtle powers, meaning they are the subtle level of your sensory abilities. When you see a tiger in a dream, you are having a visual experience while your eyes are closed. This happens through your inner power of seeing. Maybe you don’t really see the tiger or other phenomena, but you have a sense of its presence. Similarly, you may say, “I see” when you mean you understand.
When you intuit something, it means you know it without having an external source for your knowledge. You just know. This knowing is the goal of spiritual practice, that you know your own Self without thinking, without theorizing, without belief or faith, without praying or repeating mantra. You just know.
This is the original meaning of the word “intuit.” It comes from English in the 1400s, meaning spiritual insight or immediate spiritual communication. The Latin root, intuitio, means the act of contemplating. All this is very yogic. It’s about insight, the ability to see inward.
There is another type of intuition. This is when you “just know” about external things, like what’s going to happen next, or who is thinking of you, or the closest parking space, or which road to take to avoid traffic. It’s called your “sixth sense.” Don’t do it. Just don’t.
When you apply your subtle knowing to mundane things, you don’t get any deeper spiritually. You won't get enlightened. And you’ll create terrible karma for yourself. It is a double whammy…