The intelligence that has been given to you so that you may understand who you are is being used to understand the rest of the world and not yourself.
If the intelligence that has been given to you for the purpose of introspection and search of your atma is used to procure food, there is no meaning to your life. Even the birds and the animals are searching and procuring food. It is a shame to be born as a human being just for the sake of getting food to eat. If a mirror that is given to you to look at your own face is used to see the faces of others, how are you going to know your own face?
God has gifted this intelligence to you so that you may be able to understand yourself and to realize your own true nature. Make an attempt in the first instance to find out who you are. It is this esquire that will automatically become the esquire of self and lead to questions like who am I? Am I this body? Am I this mind? Am I this intelligence? etc.
When you examine each of these questions, you will realize that you are none of these. For example, you say, "It is my body." When you say that, you imply that you are separate, the body is separate and that you are not the body. This truth must be understood by you. If I take this as my kerchief, the kerchief can be thrown away at any time and I can become quite separate from the kerchief. When you say that this is my body, my mind, my intelligence and so on, it simply means that you are different from the body, the mind and the intelligence. You are in the body, you are in the mind, you are everywhere, but they are not in you. They belong to you but they are not the same as you.
(Summer Showers in Brindivan, 1977, pg 33)
