Intuition

      The mother was weeping inconsolably for no reason that was apparent to me. I was working at a central medical institute in the south of India after my post graduation in Pediatrics. Her son had been admitted for the treatment of a fairly common renal disorder and while he had not improved as quickly as we had expected, the child was stable. So I, a rookie doctor, couldn’t fathom why she was in so much distress. She kept seeking reassurances from me and my seniors about her son’s status and all of us spoke in one voice, that he was slowly, but steadily, improving and stable.

      The next day when I came to work my colleague informed me that the child had died in the wee hours of the morning. I was devastated. How could all of us have been so wrong? Close on the heels of that came the realization that the mother must have somehow known that something was not quite alright with her son. She who was illiterate had sensed something, while all of us doctors with our many qualifications, experience, evidence-based deduction and logic were proven wrong.

      I was unable to get over the child’s death for a long time. A very sweet, young boy snatched away too early. I agonized over the death and felt guilty for having failed the child and his mother.

      There was a somewhat similar experience at home at a different point in time. One day, my mother started feeling very uneasy and upon inquiry she was unable to say what was bothering her except that it was a foreboding. A sense of impending doom. The next day my uncle called up from Madras to inform us that my maternal grandfather had passed. It was literally a “gut feeling” that my mother had experienced – a queasiness in her stomach.

      One day, I was seeing patients in the out patient department and I looked up from my desk to start seeing the next child. I saw this young boy, around twelve years or so, at the entrance. He was a new patient. Even before speaking with him the diagnosis flashed in my mind – Wilson disease (a liver disorder). Now this is not a diagnosis that can be made without a history, examination and investigations. My trained, rational mind dismissed the thought immediately. He came in with his mother and sure enough the child had features of a liver disorder. It was confirmed later to be the diagnosis that had come to my mind in a flash! 

      That was my first personal experience of intuition. I was blown away by the fact that my mind had made a diagnosis, a relatively rare one, without ever having spoken to or examined the child. To this date I speak to my students about this particular case as an illustration of intuition playing an important role in the practice of medicine. Intuition is truly a phenomenal power. Those who can hear it know that it is something mystical and spiritual. Knowing everything without thinking or analyzing is an apt description. It is something beyond our rational, reasoning mind. In other words, it literally means “seeing with one’s soul”.

      For those of you who like to read, I’d like to recommend a book by Malcolm Gladwell called “Blink” wherein he likens the part of our brain that is intuitive as the “adaptive unconscious.” A giant internal computer, if you like, that quickly and quietly processes a lot of the data we need in order to function. The author mentions in his book that, the psychologist Timothy D. Wilson writes in his book Strangers to ourselves: “The mind operates most efficiently by relegating a good deal of high-level sophisticated thinking to the unconscious, just as a modern jetliner is able to fly on  automatic pilot with little or no input from the human, ‘conscious’ pilot’. The adaptive unconscious does an excellent job of sizing up the world, warning people of danger, setting goals, and initiating action in a sophisticated manner”. Wilson says that we toggle back and forth between our conscious and unconscious modes of thinking, depending on the situation. This is the scientific theory of intuition. The esoteric or spiritual context is fascinating.

      “The mind is only 10% conscious, the rest 90% is your sub conscious”. The words of my hypnotherapy teacher still ring in my mind. The subconscious mind has all the memories of our previous lifetimes and also the information gathered over eons. The infinite potential of the sub conscious mind is constantly emphasized in hypnotherapy and if we can tap into it we can heal ourselves and others. This is the infinite potential that all the great Gurus speak about.

      Intuition is a spiritual faculty that does not explain but simply points the way. It is based on the premise that intuition will always lead one in the right direction. “By learning to trust your intuition, miracles seem to happen. Intuitive thoughts are gifts from the higher self.” Such a beautiful statement from Susan Jeffers, an American psychologist. Unfortunately the quiet, gentle voice of intuition is often drowned in the noise produced by our conscious mind.

      Way back in 2019, I was driving back from work and all of a sudden I asked my driver to turn into a street where a book store that I frequent is located. I walked straight to the section on spirituality & philosophy as is my wont. There, right in front, was a book with a beautiful ochre colored cover. It was Gurudev’s book – If truth be told: a monk’s memoir. I picked it up, paid for it and brought it home. I remember reading it almost at one stretch. What was it that had made me go to the store that day and pick up the book that changed my life? I believe it was intuition, for intuition is also viewed spiritually as guidance or as God talking, in the words of Wayne Dyer, an author and motivational speaker. I thankfully was guided by my soul to seek and find Gurudev. Or more accurately, Gurudev initiated my soul’s journey, back to the source, on that day 🙏.

      This natural, God given sense of what is right and good, exists within each one of us. We just need to hear the “whisper”. Can intuition be cultivated? Yes indeed. According to Julie Starr we could hone our skills, if we are already intuitive, or develop it, if we aren’t by:

• Listening to and being aware of the soul’s whisper (provided the mind stops chattering!).
• Tune in to a “higher frequency”.
• Practicing meditation and mindfulness.
• Maintaining a diary of our experiences with our “gut feelings.” Any thought, message, sensation received or felt by us is to be noted.
• Noting down whether we acted upon that message or not and why? That will help hone our powers of intuition.
• Maintaining a dream diary too since both dreams and intuitions arise from the subconscious mind.
• Above all by practicing the virtues, especially compassion, empathy, kindness and truth.

      I am sure that many of you are very intuitive. Please do share your “intuitive” experiences. Would love to hear of them.

      On a lighter note, I was impelled (or should I say “guided”) to write this post by a gentle but persistent whisper from my higher soul! I do not know why but I have learned, the hard way, not to ignore it :). Whatever be the reason, it must be a very good one.

      Pranams at the lotus feet of Gurudev 🙏.