Question: I was thinking not so much of book intelligence. Very often we meet someone who has had very little formal education or book learning but who seems to exhibit a very deep natural intelligence. Would this be a sign of intuitive knowledge or spiritual knowledge?

Sri Chinmoy: No, intuitive knowledge and natural intelligence are two totally different things. Intuitive knowledge comes on the strength of past inner experiences. It is different from intuitive flashes. To get intuitive knowledge, one has to enter into the realm of intuition and stay there. One has to have free access to the world of intuition. When one has intuition, one lives in the light of the divine existence. But the mental brilliance or the natural intelligence that we notice in our daily lives, does not have its source in the world of intuition. Intuition is something far deeper and far higher. In ordinary human life we see many people who have abundant intelligence. But this intelligence is not and cannot be the product and effect of intuition. Intuition is totally different. Intuition is something very, very high.