Can we know the metaphysical nature of things (how they actually are) as contrasted with their physical nature (how they appear to us)?

Modern science is caught in a metaphysical dead-end; its two fundamental branches, relativity and quantum physics, postulate theories that paint pictures of reality that are violently contradictory. Both can’t be true, yet both work. So what’s true? Truly, no one knows.

More precisely, no one who believes in the supremacy of human intelligence.

For those ready to break free from belief in human intellectual omnipotence, Gita wisdom offers a time-honored pathway based on divine revelation.

In the Gita’s revelation, reality is akin to a metaphysical pyramid wherein physical reality lies at the bottom. And Krishna, the all-encompassing Supreme Being, the ultimate metaphysical reality, presides at the top and from there pervades everything. Presently, we being in material consciousness reside at the bottom of the pyramid, and our senses perceive primarily physical reality.

Bhakti, the path of divine love, offers an elevator up this pyramid. Krishna being a god of love is moved by the love-call of those who love him and want to know his glories, how he pervades everything. Thus he responded (11.08) to Arjuna’s devotional request by revealing the Universal Form. Therein, the metaphysical reality of Krishna’s all-pervasiveness became manifest to physical vision and the physical reality became the gateway to metaphysical truth.

Though we may not be able to see Krishna’s Universal Form, we can still get similar benefit through bhakti. By enabling us to access Krishna’s divinity as manifested in Deities, sacred places and holy names, bhakti in a sense renders the metaphysical physical. And by enabling us to use physical things in Krishna’s service and thereby spiritualizing them, bhakti renders the physical metaphysical.

Such is the transformational magic of bhakti.

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 11 Text 08

“But you cannot see Me with your present eyes. Therefore I give you divine eyes. Behold My mystic opulence!”