Wisdom and discretion

Wisdom has been extolled since ancient times and the names and fame of great exponents of this rather difficult to define power have endured through millennia. Socrates was accepted as the wisest man of his age after arriving at the awareness of the boundary between known and unknown. Lao-Tse and Confucius have both defined a wise person as someone detached, with no interest in power and dominance and who seeks balance above all. In the Old Testament great psalms have glorified Wisdom and described as an essential aspect of the Divine manifestation. Shri Mataji talks about wisdom as a subtle power that intuitively points towards the right and away from the wrong. She often gives the example of the root tip which grows ever deeper and, on the way, encircles the boulders that would otherwise try to stop a linear movement and thus anchors the tree even better with them, all while reaching the source of water and nourishment.

Discretion on the other hand is often conceptualized as a more defined and practical ability to find the best way forward in a given situation. If wisdom is more about about establishing the target, discretion is more about actually getting there. It also has something to do with being able to relate to the people involved in the respective situations. Shri Mataji quotes an anecdote where 2 people meet on a narrow staircase, one going up and the other one down. The one coming down tells the other one “I don’t move for fools”. The one going up says “I do” and moves aside…In the spiritual history, Shri Krishna was an archetype that embodied the power of discretion. In extremely complex situations involving many people he always carved the path of perfect virtue, based on complete discrimination of the ladder of duty. Once the highest duty is identified, the actions required fall in place and the lower rank duties need not stand in the way of that path. He was also a perfect master in communication and famous for effortlessly persuading the people around as to the best course of action.

The subtle distinctions between those 2 very related powers become much easier to perceive once we know and experience their chakra roots. Wisdom is a correlative of innocence, stemming from the power of the first chakra. That’s why we are so enthralled by the way children speak the truth. Discretion is an emanation of the Vishuddhi, our throat chakra, where detachment, collectivity and communication form the core powers. Nurturing both wisdom and discretion is more important than ever in this very complicated and interconnected world, and that can start happening once we become adept at sustaining our Self Realization and giving appropriate support to our Kundalini in her work of cleansing and balancing the chakras.