Gita 02.52 – Take the intelligence beyond the illusion of knowledge

Insignificant.

Thank you. 2.53, they talk about how knowledge can also be a source of illusion. When one has come out of the forest of delusion, Udhir viti kharishyati, so, now what deludes, what is deluded is our intelligence.

So, when our intelligence has come out of the forest of delusion, at that time, one will be free from being again deluded by what one has heard, or what one will hear again in the future. Mohakallilam, in this context, refers not so much to the forest of delusion, the forest of delusion refers not so much to ignorance, the knowledge that keeps us in illusion, or knowledge that doesn't help us to come out of illusion, that might be of some use within the arena of illusion. But still, from the point of view of coming out of illusion, it may actually be counterproductive, because it may make us feel that I already know, whereas we actually don't know the most important thing.

Just like, if a patient is sick, and that patient knows various painkillers to minimize and to do away with the pain. Now, minimizing or doing away is only for a few moments, after that the pain is going to come again. The same way, our pain doesn't go away permanently, it stays.

Our sufferings in material existence don't go away by our acquisition of material knowledge. The acquisition of material knowledge may help us to fight, to come to a better situation materially. But no matter how improved our situation is materially, still it is essentially a situation wherein it remains a situation wherein it is still in the cycle of birth and death.

So Bhaktirodh Thakur famously says that that knowledge within the realm of matter that it is the opulence vaibhav created by maya. Just like a person who has say a billion dollars, but that billion dollars is in the currency of say some game like business, it's not real currency, then it's an impressive pile of notes, but it's from the practical point of view not of much use, that person can't purchase anything with any of those notes, unless of course other people are also equally deluded and they start giving value to that fake currency. So material knowledge, the ability to improve things materially, it is like that kind of currency.

Now of course, it is not that people are meant to stay suffering materially all the time. Responsible life means that we try to alleviate suffering of others at all levels, so material and spiritual. But when the focus is exclusively on alleviation of material suffering, then that's like a painkiller.

Being given as the medicine and person feeling that because my pain is going away, so I'm okay, and there is no need for me to explore anything further to find anything more. Now, returning to the currency example, just as within a group of people who try to give value to fake currency, it might gain some value, but outside that group, it will be valueless. So we live in a materialistic world, which is populated mostly by materialistic people, and they give a lot of value to material pleasure.

So for example, movies depict sensual pleasures, and novels glamorize those pleasures, and in this way, everyone is captivated, people are captivated by the promise of these pleasures. And as they say captivated, they become increasingly deluded, not understanding what is happening or what needs to be done, and they stay caught in material existence, and thinking that they are happy or that they are going to become happy. Now there is pleasure and gratification, but that pleasure is infinitesimal.

That pleasure is nothing substantial. That pleasure is so limited as to be actually finite, very finite, as to be actually an anticlimax. It's an anticlimax because after the amount of glamorization that is done, the amount of pleasure that comes is very little.

But like fake currency being given value by a group of people, so similarly, this fake currency of sensual pleasure is given value in materialistic society. And that's why it keeps on in circulation. People's fascination with sensual pleasure doesn't die at one level because the longing for happiness is a part of our very makeup, and we need happiness.

And our mind, because it does not know anything better, it keeps looking for happiness at the material level, never at the spiritual level. And thus, it stays trapped. So the way out for us is by the practice of bhakti wherein we are not able to… our focus is not on giving up what is wrong, but on embracing what is right, on embracing Krishna and cherishing Krishna.

And that sort of connection with Krishna will save us. Now when Krishna is talking here about Mohakalilam, the forest of delusion, he's not just referring to material knowledge per se, he's referring to include even Vedic knowledge about material improvement. Material improvement in the Vedic context referred not so much to building industries or providing technologies, it focused more on attaining heaven.

So the Vedas glorify the attainment of heaven. Pushpitambhasham, as the Gita has said in 2.42-43. So flowery words describing the enjoyments in heaven. Now what happens is that such infatuation with heaven can distract the soul from liberation.

So from the attainment of eternal happiness in love for Krishna. And what Krishna states here is that once by understanding Krishna's message, by understanding the Gita, we become fixed in the conviction of what is of ultimate value. That the ultimate value lies in learning to love Krishna, in realizing our eternal spiritual nature as souls who are ecstatic parts of Krishna.

So once we understand that, then our intelligence goes beyond the forest of delusion. Buddhi-Vidhi-Tarishyati. Vidhi-Tarishyati means to go beyond.

And Tatha-Gantasi-Nirvedam. At that time, Nirvedam. One will no longer be captivated by Shrota-Vesa-Shruta-Seju.

Now, we may temporarily abstain from sense gratification. And one reason for that is hopefully that we have got some realizations about the futility of sense gratification. And also we have got some realization of the higher taste of the higher happiness of devotional service.

But along with that, it may well be that our staying away from material pleasures is not so much due to renunciation as due to frustration. That means either we don't have the capacity to enjoy or what is available to us now is not enjoyable. So Shrota-Vesa-Shruta-Seju, when Krishna says over here, that means that even if we get something better in the future, it may not be here.

So, for example, people may think, okay, I am not attached to alcohol. It may think that I am not attached to alcohol. But then if the alcoholic hears that, oh, I have got, some new brand of wine has come, which is creating waves.

Then the alcoholic may think, oh, I just need to drink this. So that means one has not actually become detached from alcohol. It is just that the alcohol that one has drunk, oh, that is not all that great.

So I am avoiding it. But if something new comes, then that will be great. And I will go for that.

Just like, to be a little blunt, sometimes within marriage, after some period of initial gratification, the partners may feel, oh, now we are not so captivated with sex. But actually speaking, at such times, many people, they are not really renouncing for sex. They start looking for pleasure elsewhere.

They think maybe my partner and I are not compatible. And maybe we need someone else. And then maya's arrangement is such that some other person comes in their lives.

And then they may develop an affair with that person. So, shrotavisa shrotasya means that the detachment, that the lack of agitation, lack of infatuation is not due to frustration, but due to renunciation. That means one has renunciation, like here we refer to the actual understanding that there is nothing worth being excited about in sensual pleasure.

That all sensual pleasure, no matter how much it is packaged attractively, attractively, no matter how new and special it seems, it is ultimately the same old stuff.