Let my realization go beyond the reach of reason
Bhagavad Gita 2.52
yadā te moha-kalilaṁ
buddhir vyatitariṣyati
tadā gantāsi nirvedaṁ
śrotavyasya śrutasya ca
“When through doubt’s dark wood has passed your intelligence,
When you are situated, realized, in transcendence,
Through all you have heard and all you will hear,
The ultimate reality will remain for you forever clear.”
At present, I absolutely need reason and wisdom, guided by scripture, to navigate through the world’s many delusions, but I long for the state of realization that is beyond all argumentation. The first obstacle is desire for the many tempting objects in the world. The second, much subtler obstacle, is doubt, which arises upon hearing the many differing, even conflicting philosophies present in the world.
Indeed, even the same sacred text can have so many different interpretations. The network of words can become like a gigantic, unscalable forest of delusion, where what traps me is not my desire for enjoyment but my desire to seek security and certainty in wisdom.
The world is so complex, and ultimately, you, the source and sustainer of the world, are so beyond comprehension that you cannot be known through reason alone. You can only be realized through devotion, expressed in the form of dedicated service. It is only by such dedication that you reveal yourself to me as the ultimate reality.
When you thus become realer than reality for me, I will no longer feel unsettled by arguments that attack my faith, nor by their refutations, which I may not always be able to readily articulate.
Bless me, O Lord, to persevere, undistracted by either desire or doubt, till I attain that level of experiential conviction where the need for intellectual certainty—or superiority over competing schools of thought—becomes redundant.
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2.52 When your intelligence has passed out of the dense forest of delusion, you shall become indifferent to all that has been heard and all that is to be heard.
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