In the Bhagavad-gita (18.32), Krishna states how the buddhi that is in tamas – the intelligence that is in ignorance – arrives at conclusions opposite to what is the reality (sarvaarthan viparitamsh cha). This is the kind of perverse logic that keeps us holding on to the things that hold us back. That, in one sense, is the very definition of attachments, especially unhealthy attachments.
When our reasoning power gets so distorted that we start believing the lies that are told to us, be they in the world outside or the world inside, we end up making small things extremely important and making important things small. Words spoken by someone replay in our mind as if their opinion about us is going to define us for the rest of our life and alter our entire life’s trajectory. It can if we let it, but otherwise, it is just a vibration in space that doesn’t even form an impression in our mind.
In contrast to this, the opportunity to connect with Krishna, to strengthen our bond with the one who can free us from all the distracting and destructive bonds of the world, to direct our love toward the Lord who will forever fulfill our longing for love through His unfailing and unending reciprocation—the opportunity to connect with that Lord—we see it so casually. We act as if it were not important at all, as if it were something that could be neglected or rejected, just to give our attention to any sight that crosses our visual pathways or any thought that pops up on our mental pathways.
To avoid such perversion of our priorities, we need to equip and empower our intelligence with wisdom-texts like the Bhagavad-gita, that clearly, cogently, and coherently differentiate the things that matter from the things that don’t matter and establish Krishna as the most important reality of our life.
The world’s ups and downs are things that will come and go. They may require our attention, and sometimes even our prompt attention. But they cannot and should not be allowed to divert us from the focus and purpose of our life, which is connecting with Krishna. When we thus empower our intelligence with wisdom-texts, we can cultivate the attention that will foster both attraction and absorption in Krishna.
Summary:
- Intelligence in ignorance perverts our priorities such that we start considering the unimportant as important and the important as unimportant.
- We need to treat comments that others may make about us like mere vibrations in space, and our connection with Krishna as the most valuable and transformational thing that we can have in our life.
- By equipping our intelligence with Gita wisdom, we can have the conviction to cultivate attention during our meditation on Krishna, thereby eventually fostering attraction to and absorption in Him.
Think it over:
- Think of one instance when intelligence in ignorance has made the unimportant seem hugely important to you.
- Think of one incident when the same intelligence in ignorance has made the important seem unimportant to you.
- Remember a time when spiritual wisdom helped you to gain the conviction to redirect your focus from the things that didn’t matter to the things that did matter.
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18.32 That understanding which considers irreligion to be religion and religion to be irreligion, under the spell of illusion and darkness, and strives always in the wrong direction, O Pārtha, is in the mode of ignorance.
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