Many people think that the ultimate goal of spirituality is to merge into God, whom they conceive as a dazzling, all-pervading spiritual light known as Brahman.
Gita wisdom explains that this desire for fusion arises from a fundamental confusion about God’s nature, a confusion that originates in unwarranted intellectual overconfidence.
The Bhagavad-gita (07.24) declares as unintelligent (abuddhayah) those people who consider the Supreme Person, Krishna, to be a temporary manifestation of the impersonal Brahman effulgence. The Gita’s characterization of such impersonalists as “unintelligent” is intriguing. After all, their very desire to go beyond worldly pleasures and seek a spiritual goal is a sign of intelligence. They astutely perceive that the imperfection and impermanence of all material persons makes all worldly relationships disappointing and frustrating. Unfortunately, they become overconfident due to having gained this insight and so extrapolate it beyond its valid jurisdiction. They erroneously assume that all persons per se will be marred by deficiencies and defects. Consequently, they infer incorrectly that going beyond the personal to the impersonalis the only way to freedom from misery. So, they desire to dissolve their existence into that impersonal light and thus become forever peaceful.
Gita wisdom underscores that their mistake is to equate their experience of reality with the totality of reality. They are called unintelligent because they lack the intelligence to realize that Krishna being supreme can be what they can’t be: personal yet perfect; with form yet without limitation; with relationships yet without frustrations. If they are fortunate enough to associate with learned and advanced devotees, then they can understand Krishna’s inconceivable omnipotence and thereby overcome their intellectual deficit. When they boldly make Krishna the ultimate object of their love, they get the ultimate spiritual returns: not just peace, but also ever-lasting, ever-increasing love.
Bhagavad Gita Chapter 07 Text 24
“Unintelligent men, who do not know Me perfectly, think that I, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, was impersonal before and have now assumed this personality. Due to their small knowledge, they do not know My higher nature, which is imperishable and supreme.”
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