Your beneficial genius will guide you through life in giant strides. Awaken it! (II)

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By eminent yoga teacher Gregorian Bivolaru

Nature’s favourite lives in the heights of the spirit

By virtue of his creative imagination and his treasure trove of brilliant ideas, the genius is a favourite of nature. He does not need to learn from human beings everything he needs to learn in order to develop his taste and awaken his higher intuition, which leads him to a much deeper and entirely new understanding of reality. Genius is a happy, perfectly natural, and unpredictable coincidence of the faculties of creative imagination, which gives rise to a new, surprisingly profound understanding.

Geniuses are and remain solitary human beings; they exist and live at extraordinary inner heights, unknown to the vast majority of their fellow humans. For the rare human beings who have fully awakened their supramental structure, the vijnanamaya kosha, genius is something native and truly a natural gift. For those who have not yet awakened this structure, genius is and remains a potential within their inner universe.

The essential characteristic of a profound and authentic genius is that, at the right moment, he offers human beings who are ready to receive his message unprecedented discoveries and entirely new, ingenious methods – ones he neither received nor learned from others.

Every brilliant creation that remains exemplary on this planet is the objectification of a completely new idea. When we analyse it, we discover with amazement the existence of a mysterious, transpersonal reality, which is natural in the case of genius. For the common sphere of the empirical self, however, this state seems to be something foreign and entirely new, which clearly transcends the ordinary level of understanding.

Beyond appearances, the full awakening of the state of genius has nothing irrational about it, for in reality it is the expression of a striking and evident dynamization of the supramental sheath vijnanamaya kosha. Through his new and exemplary creations, the genius easily makes possible the emancipation and transformation of human beings. A work of genius is and remains a sui generis document of the life and activity of a great creator which, when analysed with great care, reveals a brilliant technique, most often concealed and passed over in silence, especially due to the inability of ordinary people to realize its existence.

You truly recognize a genius when you become one yourself

The value of a revolutionary creation is especially evident to those rare human beings in whom the state of genius has already begun to blossom. They have fully awakened their supramental sheath, vijnanamaya kosha, and the state of genius that arises spontaneously in them is a sui generis creative norm for a work of genius. When we come into contact with their momentous creations, we observe a perfect harmony between technique, intuition, and experience. Every genius works attentively, perseveringly, and tenaciously and is highly conscious of their potential. Most often, ordinary human beings are almost incapable of explaining the powerful innovative spirit and the extraordinary height of a genius’s vision. Only those in whom the state of genius has awakened even slightly are truly capable of intuiting and even feeling, in an ineffable way, the mysterious power invested in a work of genius.

In the absence of a sufficient awakening of the state of genius, one cannot clearly see the obvious break with established conventions, characteristic of a genius, and that utterly extraordinary openness required for the creation of a masterpiece does not emerge. Geniuses approach various problems with new, constructive solutions. One of their characteristics is that, paradoxically, they always bring us something new, which has, in fact, always existed.

The genius transcends everything we might call the ordinary level. The genius is and remains a supernormal being. Beyond appearances, a genius is an abnormal being, but in his case the abnormality is not pathological, for genius is not a disease. Due to their inability to properly understand what the awakening of genius actually entails, many of those who have studied this state as best they could have subsequently tended to equate the quasi-obvious superiority of the state of genius with something inferior.

And such an inability to objectively understand the utterly extraordinary inner condition of a genius ultimately contributed to a certain eclipse of this concept. Given that only the initiated know the secret connection between the dynamization of the supramental sheath vijnanamaya kosha and the awakening of the state of genius, some of those who have made inadequate efforts to understand the secret of geniality have been tempted to regard it as the expression of an extraordinary force of destiny, which is ineluctable in nature.

At the centre of elements, at the edge of the world

For the initiated human beings, the Latin term genius, which evokes birth and generation, also implies another significant aspect. The idea of genius is closely associated with that of creation.

St. Augustine once stated: “Creatura nori potest creare” – “A creature alone cannot create”. The human being is, however, capable of creating with God’s help, only when inspired and guided by Him.

Some researchers have associated the awakening of genius with isolation and solitude.

Since genius appears and manifests itself at the right moment in its era, it is most often incomprehensible to the common mind, which is unable to rise to its level.

The concept of genius emerged and gained momentum within the context of Neoplatonic philosophy. By extending the prerogatives of the saint and the prophet to the philosopher, the poet, and the artist, this way of viewing the world sought to explain the superhuman achievements of geniuses through the emergence of an inspiration that came from somewhere above, from God, and produced the “Godly madness” of which Plato spoke. This concept was based on the authority of a half-forgotten treatise by Aristotle, who considered genius to be both something terrible and sublime, elevating the genius far above the common level of ordinary mortals, while simultaneously placing him in the unique position of a misunderstood and marginalized human being. All of this makes some brilliant beings melancholic, especially when their faith in God is not strong enough.

In the conception of those times, genius is a creative spirit that lives at breathtaking heights and is alone, especially because it cannot be understood. The initiated beings, however, believe that within the universe of every human being, the state of genius always exists in the form of a seed. In the view of ordinary human beings, genius represents something exceptional and is innate. In his case, a duality also emerges, making him a completely unique being, for the state of genius that has awakened represents at the same time the full manifestation of the spirit within his being.

The Magic Formula of Genius

What faculties of the spirit give rise to genius? There is always a harmonious balance between imagination and understanding – one that no science can teach and that no ordinary activity allows us to acquire. Geniuses exude a mysterious air of sovereignty. Yet there is also a mysterious connection between genius and madness.

Its extraordinary power of synthesis, its inspiration, and its enthusiasm are almost self-evident. The subtle, sublime energy of Godly genius allows the human being to possess not only a completely extraordinary power of insight, but also an unyielding, extraordinary attention. In some cases, this sustained attention is coupled with a spirit of extraordinary subtlety. Great geniuses are most often endowed with penetrating intuition.

Given the well-known fact that a genius is never able to explain scientifically how exactly they create their works, it is ridiculous to confuse them with a scientist. The sublime, subtle energy of Godly genius brings forth what talent alone cannot achieve. The French writer Louis Aragon said: “What is characteristic of great geniuses is that they provide many creative ideas to fools, even 20 years later.” Ernesto Sabato, in turn, said: “A genius is the man who discovers, through means known only to himself, that the stone falling to the ground and the Moon that does not fall represent one and the same phenomenon.”

The fact that those around them are generally unable to appreciate their exceptional value exposes the genius to society’s hostility, especially during their lifetime. On this point, the talented English writer Jonathan Swift said: “When a true genius appears in this world, you can recognize him by the fact that almost all fools band together against him and oppose him with great vehemence.” For his part, Oscar Wilde ironically noted that when it comes to artistic creations, the public is very patient and “forgives everything except genius.”

One of the reasons for this vehement rejection lies in his unpredictable way of thinking and behaving, whether in society, within a particular group, or among a generation. Henry James once said: “It is well known that famous beauties, great geniuses, or people of distinction come into this world when they please and where they please. Such rare human beings most often cause great embarrassment to those around them, who clumsily try to discover where their exceptional gifts come from. Most often, these qualities are attributed to distant ancestors or are ascribed to divine generosity. And such exceptional gifts are all the more perplexing when exceptional people are born to ugly or foolish parents.”

In the 20th century, the idea of genius increasingly focused on the superiority of the superhuman rather than on the personal characteristics of creation, inventiveness, and capacity – qualities that are both natural and cultural. During that period, the genius was seen as a sum of gifts or talents. Beyond all this, it was believed that genius crowned any exceptional achievement.

Where does melancholy come from?

Lately, however, we have been witnessing an embarrassing and surprising devaluation of the concept of genius. Being a genius now merely indicates that the person in question is exceptional or “super.” Some publications speak in the most admiring terms about so-called soccer geniuses or boxing geniuses. Regarding this ridiculous state of affairs, the talented writer Robert Musil said: “This strange, entirely new state of consciousness seemed not yet to have taken hold, but lo and behold, during the period in question Ulrich was able to read, astonished, and it was for him like a gust of wind that withers everything in early summer, the following words: ‘A brilliant racehorse.’ They were printed in a newspaper reporting a sensational victory at the horse races, and the author in question was unaware of the obviously ridiculous grandeur of the idea that the spirit of the times had caused to slip from his pen.”

In many cases, the awakening of the state of genius was accompanied by the onset and intensification of very powerful bouts of melancholy. This ultimately led some researchers to equate the state of genius with acute states of melancholy. But beyond appearances, we need to realize that such states occur especially in geniuses who have opened themselves almost not at all to the mysterious presence of God. If we carefully study the lives of geniuses who have, however, opened their consciousness to the Godly reality, it is highly significant that in their inner universe no acute and persistent states of melancholy appeared; on the contrary, they possessed a contagious enthusiasm, a profound Olympian calm, and exemplary harmony. An example of this kind is and remains for us the brilliant Goethe.

The acute bouts of melancholy and prolonged depression experienced by geniuses who have opened their souls almost not at all to God’s reality have given rise to the mistaken belief that every genius is inevitably melancholic. This is paradoxical at first glance, considering that the inner universe of geniuses is nonetheless filled with the sublime, subtle energy of a Godly Attribute – that of Godly Genius. Such states of deep melancholy have sometimes driven geniuses to harmful actions, as was the case, for example, with Empedocles’ spectacular suicide.

Some scholars believe that the acute states of melancholy experienced by the philosopher Socrates were due to his so-called genius, in Greek “daimon,” but also to the eccentricities, in Greek “atopia,” that he is said to have possessed. In the dialogue Phaedrus, Plato offers important definitions of madness, in the spirit of the knowledge that existed at the time. “There are two kinds of madness,” he says, “in Greek ‘mania’: one is due to human illness, the other, however, is due to the changes that occur when the human being does not open themselves to receive, as they ought, the Godly embrace. As soon as they no longer receive the Godly influence in their souls – which enables them to be and remain harmonious and healthy – people slip into excessive states of melancholy.”

Mahamudra awakens your genius

Socrates, in turn, defines certain states of delirium. For example, he mentions the type of “madness” that comes from Apollo and brings divination, and another kind, which comes from Dionysus and brings a mystical state. The latter could be identified with the state of openness of the being toward Godly reality.

Socrates also mentions the special state of delirium of the Muses, which, in his view, is responsible for the emergence of poetic inspiration. He then speaks of the special state of delirium of Aphrodite and finally mentions the special state of delirium of the god Cupid. Thus, both Plato and Socrates suggest as explicitly as possible that when a person distances themselves and closes off from God’s influence – even though they may have flashes of genius – they slip into acute and tormenting states of melancholy.

What ultimately awakens the state of genius within us is the manifestation of a constant, profound, and Godly patience, coupled with unwavering attention. The rare human beings who attain the state of genius no longer face the various mundane problems that ordinary people most often encounter.

With the awakening of the state of genius, it is implicitly necessary for the human being in question to deepen their communion with God. Advanced yogis, who practice Mahamudra attentively, correctly, and systematically, never experience states of melancholy as they seek to gradually awaken their state of genius.

The Spark of Madness That Connects You to God

Another important aspect is the mysterious connection between the awakening of genius and a unique, lucid, detached, and conscious experience of a state of Godly madness. A partial or sometimes hasty and superficial understanding of this aspect has led some researchers to simply assert that “there is no great genius without a spark of madness.” But they have failed to explain the meaning of this statement.

The initiated, however, know that only certain people are capable of saying, with a courage bordering on madness, what others do not say, and often paradoxically manage to see aspects that others are unable to glimpse. It is precisely through this unusual attitude that the madman is, in a certain way, tangent to the state of genius.

The madman is, by virtue of his state, very close to the wise man, to the initiate, and to the one who has attained holiness. Beyond appearances, all of these are bearers of a mysterious message and experience a vision that is entirely extraordinary, Godly, which in certain situations disturbs and even offends the established order. For this reason, geniuses, sages, initiates, and saints have been persecuted and even considered mad.

However, in a world like the one we live in, where normality means being attached, individualistic, selfish, or hostile – or viewing those who are full of hatred or animosity as normal – it is a thousand times better to be considered crazy when you consistently refuse to follow their example. That is why a human being who does not know how to be, to a certain extent, crazy in a lucid, attentive, and conscious way, is not and cannot yet be a great genius.

Unlike a madman who has lost his lucidity, the genius is mad only sometimes and to a certain extent. The attentive, lucid, and conscious experience of this state of creative madness helps the genius extract from it something mysterious and paradoxical that is inaccessible to the ordinary person. Moreover, such a paradoxical state evokes an obvious fear in ordinary people, for whom it would never even occur to experience, in a lucid and attentive manner – even for just seven seconds – the mysterious state that a madman lives in constantly.

Mad is the one who believes he is merely a body

Unlike a pathological madman, the one who consciously experiences the profound and indescribable state of a madman draws from this experience an enigmatic, wholly unique creative energy. An ancient Indian proverb says: “In the land where all human beings are and always remain naked, the one who nevertheless dares to dress is considered mad.” In fact, the wise believe that every madman has his own mad opinion, which includes an enigmatic fragment of God’s wisdom-filled vision of the reality in which we all exist.

The brilliant poet Rumi says: “The excessive wealth of thought reveals the terrible mystery of madness only to the few people capable of understanding this secret. Viewed from a certain perspective, the one with perpetually mad judgment is a living example of the being who has attained the state of wisdom. The person who has already attained the profound knowledge of the wisdom of the heart while walking the path of suffering discovers within his own being thousands of creative oddities that enrich his vision of reality in an unexpected way and at the same time help him discover what ordinary individuals do not even suspect exists.”

Another significant example is the great sage and spiritually enlightened figure of India, Sri Ramakrishna, who said: “If you need to be mad, then be so and live it to the fullest through the love you feel for the Lord, but never do so because of your love for the elements or beings of this world.”

A famous text of Eastern wisdom, the Uddhava Gita, in chapter 14, verse 42, states: “Foolish is the one who thinks he is merely a body.” In the First Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 3, verses 18, 19, and 20, the Apostle Paul says: “Take heed, and let no one be deceived: if any of you think himself wise in this age, let him become a fool, that he may become wise.”

“For all the wisdom of this world is, in fact, folly before God; therefore it is written: ‘He knows them best and instantly catches those who think themselves wise in all their cunning’. And again I remind you: ‘The Lord God, through His omniscience, instantly knows even the most intimate thoughts of those who think themselves wise, and He knows that all these are vain in their case’.”

(to be continued)

yogaesoteric
July 23, 2026