To appreciate the value of spirituality requires a sharp and deep intelligence that can penetrate through the surface appearance of things and ponder the core issues of life. Most people unfortunately are not capable of such penetration of the surface.
The Bhagavad-gita (15.10) uses the word mudha meaning fools to refer to those who being deluded and blinded by materialism remain oblivious to the reality of the soul – and so can’t perceive the value of spirituality. At first glance, this address seems to signify a dismissive, even derogatory, attitude. But deeper scrutiny reveals a concerned, even compassionate, context. The next section of the Gita (15.12, 15.13, 15.14) shares insights that enable enables people to see the action of the Supreme Spirit, Krishna, in the material things they value. Survival at the material level requires many background arrangements that are not humanly possible – that are made by divine arrangement. By understanding how Krishna arranges at the cosmological, terrestrial and physiological levels to provide for the things that materialists value, the Gita helps even the materialists to begin appreciating the value of spirituality that centers on Krishna.
Just as children who don’t value the government start valuing it when their intelligence evolves and they start understanding how all the things they value depend on the arrangement by the government, so do spiritually underdeveloped people start appreciating the universal government when their consciousness expands. Gita wisdom facilitates that expansion of consciousness by providing the necessary intellectual insights and the yogic practices. These insights and practices help us to uncover and unleash our hidden spiritual potential – the potential that distinguishes humans from nonhumans. Those who neglect this potential due to infatuation with material things are cheating themselves and the Gita uses the word mudha to prod them to become budha, spiritually evolved and enlightened.
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