Acharya Prashant explains that the intellect is a mechanical apparatus that lacks inherent freedom and merely obeys its pre-programmed design. He argues that the mind is driven by either the mechanical tendencies of nature or a deep, often unacknowledged urge for freedom. He emphasizes that thoughts are not chosen by the individual but arise from past conditioning, making the notion of free will a deceptive assumption. The intellect, being a product of time and evolution, is limited to repeating the past and cannot access the eternal or the new. This repetitive cycle leads to a life of boredom and frustration, as the intellect can only imagine a future that is a decorated shadow of the past. He further clarifies that true creativity and joy, or bliss, are only possible when one transcends the existing dimensions of thought. The intellect is compared to a cab driver who prioritizes his own mileage over the passenger's destination, leading the individual on a convoluted detour away from their true home. Acharya Prashant asserts that identifying with the intellect leads to suffering because its goals do not align with the soul's need for contentment. He stresses that the body and mind are merely a 'cage' or a 'leather bag' if they are not host to the real essence of life, which is consciousness and love. To achieve liberation, one must stop trusting the intellect as a master and instead make it a servant to one's higher purpose. He warns against the fallacy of suppressing the intellect entirely, which leads to a state of being 'brain dead' rather than spiritual. Instead, he advocates for aligning thoughts with the real purpose of life, which he defines as giving up that which hurts and harms. True meditation or thoughtlessness is not the absence of thought, but a state where thoughts are pure, perform their duty, and then subside without dominating the individual.
