Joan Suval is one of the main disciples of the late Guru, Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati, founder of both the Yoga Society of New York, Inc., and of Ananda Ashram, a beautiful retreat site in upstate New York. Joan divides her time between her family and teaching the universal principles of meditation, yoga and Vedanta. She regularly teaches at Ananda Ashram and once a month at the Jivamukti Yoga Center in NYC. Joan also leads a few extraordinary weekend silent retreats at the ashram throughout the year. During one of the silent retreats the participants were asked to submit questions for Joan to answer and this is one of the responses.

Question: What is intuition and how do I know when I am having a true intuitive feeling? What is the importance and meaning of the visions I sometimes have in meditation?

Joan Suval: When you speak about intuition, and visions I can tell you what we heard from our Guru. Shri Brahmananda told us that our intuition is our wisdom; it is our direct understanding. What is understanding? He said that understanding means standing-under, to go below the total problem and with that understanding you see not just one part of it but you are able to see the whole of it. You are not in the level of the problem which is what happens when you look at it with the mind. That is not in language, it is something you feel. When you are voicing a complaint about someone and you are passionate about it, if you stop for a moment to just feel what you are feeling, you realize it is maybe just your perception. Suddenly you get the feeling, "maybe I am not right, maybe I have to hear what the other one is saying". Sometimes you have to hear what the other one is saying and it opens up a whole new field. So intuition isn’t something mysterious. It is our ancient wisdom that is there anytime we move away from our thinking mind. It is there and we have to be open to it. Sometimes, if we have an intuitive sense not to do something and not to react, it is best to just pause for a moment and see if it is an intuition or a fear. Sometimes it is a reluctance to get into a confrontation. If you pause and recognize you don’t have the symptoms of fear, you don't feel contracted, instead you feel very clear about that intuitive sense, then that is intuition.

In regard to visions, Guruji would say they are very fine because they get rid of other things that are not so fine. They remove other thoughts and memories. It is nice to get visions and revelations but he always reminded us that you can’t have anything that is separate from you, meaning anything we can see, point or describe. The vision had to come from some previous experience, previous contact we had. It is like an extension of a dream, symbolic of something we have already experienced. It is very nice when your dreams start changing instead of dreaming of relative things going on, when you start dreaming of climbing the mountains or start to see the face of the Guru or start to see yourself in a very spiritual situation. That means that the meditation is deepening so the images are changing the visions are changing. Shri Nasargadatta from I Am That said very clearly. "Whatever you come across in meditation or in your dream state whatever you come across, go beyond. It is a stepping stone don't make it a stopping stone".

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To learn more about Ananda Ashram or one of Joan's silent retreats, please visit Ananda Ashram .

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