Does “knowing in truth” (Gita 4.9) happen by “experiences of Truth” or by “understanding”?
Yes.
Hare Krishna. Question from Muralidhar Prabhu. Is knowing Krishna in truth, as is recommended in Bhagavad Gita 4.9, the result of experiences with the truth? And if one doesn't have experiences, does it mean it is substantial understanding of the truth till then? Answer? Yes.
Whenever we come to know about Krishna in truth, yes, it is the experience in the heart. That the experiences, we get a richer, higher taste, we feel peace, we feel joy, we feel a sense of belonging and loving, which makes us know that this is the path that I should follow. And that the growth of this feeling of inner shelter and security and certainty is gradual, it's analog, it's not digital, that suddenly one day it's not there and next day it is there.
And an important aspect of this feeling is also intellectual understanding in a substantial way. Once we start practicing bhakti, we don't have to separate the head and the heart, both of them are connected. In our service to Krishna, if we see, Krishna does conclude in the Bhagavad Gita at the end that it is the heart that he wants.
He says, offer your heart to me, become my devotee. But then the way to the heart that Krishna shows is through the head. He explains philosophy rationally and through that experience of philosophy, he calls upon Krishna to choose.
So, 18.63 is a call to use the head, contemplate. And then 18.65 is offer your heart. So, now once we have come to the path of devotion, we don't have to go about doing too much hair-splitting analysis, separating the head and the heart.
When we study the Bhagavad Gita, we may get some brilliant insight. Now, is that an intellectual insight or is that a devotional insight? We don't have to necessarily separate that. As long as it is connected with Krishna, as long as it is enhancing our appreciation for Krishna, as long as it is increasing our desire to know Krishna and to love Krishna, then that is a devotionally uncool insight that is favorable for devotional growth.
And that's what we should primarily focus on. So, in fact, every understanding can be an experience and every experience can also be an understanding. When we get an intellectual, I'm using the word understanding here with respect to the head and experience with respect to the heart.
But this dichotomy is not watertight. Every understanding, it actually, when it is proper understanding, then it also leads to an experience. It leads to experience of joy, of attraction and of a greater longing to come closer to Krishna.
So, it is not just understanding of the head, it is also affecting the heart. And every experience that we have, that also leads to understanding. When we have some devotional experiences, when we feel great joy or great peace or greater relief, at that time, that deepens our understanding also.
Oh, what is talked about the transcendental reality in the scriptures, there is reality that is really reality. So, in that way, once we start practicing the path of devotion, the head and the heart, the understanding, the experience, work often symbiotically. It's only when a person divorces artificially one from the other and says, I will not study scripture at all.
I only focus on experiences. I will not try to exercise my intellect in service of Krishna at all. I will not hear classes.
I will not read books. I will only focus on experiences. Then that is undesirable.
On the other hand, if somebody says, I will only study books and I will not do any other limb of bhakti and even the books I will study only from a point of view of critical scholarship, without seeking for any transformational understanding, then that will be a divorce of the head from the heart. In the first case, earlier it would have been a divorce of the heart from the head. So, that is not what the Bhagavad Gita recommends.
We work both and when we are trying to understand Krishna, it is in truth, that means it's both intellectual and emotional. It's both the head and the heart and as long as we are practicing the process of bhakti and we are moving closer to Krishna, we don't have to do any hair splitting analysis. In fact, in the first day a devotee comes and chants Hare Krishna and dances, that's an experience.
And that experience also leads to an understanding. So, both will go along parallel. And what we should focus on is that we stay connected with Krishna and stay moving progressively on the path that takes us closer to him.
Thank you.