Age does not give intelligence || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)

Question : Sir, at the age of ten, one has a particular intelligence level, at the age of twenty-one has a different level of intelligence. Do you think it is possible to be intelligent without getting exposed to external influences?

Acharya Prashant: No, you don’t gather intelligence from outside. Biologically there comes a point, in human beings life, when his brain is ripe enough. It comes around at the time of puberty. Twelve years, fourteen years is sufficient for the brain to ripe. That does not mean that what you gather after fourteen is coming to you as a result of past processes, past influences. No.

Brain is the seat of intelligence. For intelligence to find expression, a certain development of the brain is required. That you gather by the age of fourteen, that is sufficient.

Intelligence is not information that you can gather from somewhere. Intelligence is not information. Intelligence is not knowledge-ability. You have it, and a mature adult has it. It can be layered, covered and all that, but you have it. You don’t gather it.

Others, they give you knowledge, knowledge is totally different. Knowledge is information and information will necessarily come from outside, which is alright. Let it come from outside. You don’t have to become an encyclopedia. Let information come from outside.

Intelligence cannot come from outside, that is your nature, no one has given you intelligence, no one can take it away. But yes, it can be covered, it can be hidden. It cannot be taken away unless your brain is hammered. Even then also your intelligence cannot be taken away. Just that now your brain will not be capable of receiving it. Just like a radio set. Do the waves disappear when the radio set is broken? No. It is just that the set is no more capable of receiving the waves.

So, even when your set is broken, Intelligence is still there. Your set cannot function any more. ‘You’ are not Intelligent any more.

Excerpted from a ‘Shabd-Yog’ session. Edited for clarity.

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