SB 11.07.23 – Use logical deduction, not mental speculation, to boost meditation

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you. Atrama-Bhruvayantya-Dha Here, Dha is describing how in this world it is difficult to perceive the Lord with the senses.
Agrahayam. The Lord is not perceivable with the senses, but that does not necessarily mean that He is imperceivable. There are alternative ways to perceive Him.
Atrama-Bhruvayantya-Dha Bhruvayanty means to search after. Yukta Hetubhireeshwaram One can perceive the Lord by the apparent symptoms. Guruhyamanair Gunairlingai Guruhyamanair is to accept.
Gunair is with the tools of perception to perceive. With the tools of perception, we perceive the quality. Lingai So, by direct perceived symptoms, by indirectly perceived symptoms, one can perceive the Lord.
Anuman Anuman is often used negatively for speculation, but Anuman can also be used positively for logical deduction. Logical deduction means that when one recognizes that there is a higher reality to life beyond what we see in our day-to-day life, then that enables us to move towards that reality. So, by perceiving, for example, how there is design in the world, there is order, there is coordination, one can conclude that a designer is required.
Similarly, by concluding that there is a beginning to the universe when we observe things are changing and that there is a source to everything, we can conclude that there is a source and that our supreme source can be God. These are called the design argument and the cosmological argument. Although such arguments are not specifically referred to over here, what this verse implies is that intelligent people can by Anumanataha, by the process of logical deduction, come to the conclusion that a higher reality, that a higher being exists.
So, although this is Agrahayam, although it is unperceivable to our senses, but still it is not beyond our inferences. So, the context of this verse is, the previous verses have said how the human form is special and Krishna is talking about how the human form has the intelligence to perceive spiritual reality. So, Krishna is not encouraging speculation per se over here.
Actually, Krishna is simply underscoring the point that we all have the capacity to observe and infer with the higher human intelligence. There is something beyond. So, Krishna is simply underscoring the potential for spirituality that is latent in all human beings.
How that potential is utilized by different people will vary in different people and that is understandable because every individual has choice and free will and different individuals will choose differently. But the point remains that everyone has the capacity for making spiritual advancement and if people make right choices, then they can make enormous spiritual advancement by using their intelligence to arrive at the right inferences. So, that is what Krishna is talking about over here and this can also stand as good stead when we try to practice the process of meditation.
We understand by our logical inferences that the changes of this world shake and disturb us. So, if you want to stay unshaken and undisturbed, we have to find out some reality that is that cannot be shaken and disturbed and that ultimate reality is Krishna. So, although we may not experience immediately the benefits of meditation in terms of it’s not like we cannot touch something or eat something immediately but by logical inference we can understand that the board that is shaken by the waves can become stabilized by an anchor.
Similarly, our mind that is made restless by the changes of this world can become peaceful by contact with the supreme reality by the unchangeable supreme reality of Krishna and in that way we can get experience of that which is not directly experienceable. So, Krishna urges us to use our human form with it’s advance intelligence and potential for spiritual awareness to attain Him and meditation offers us the process by which we can attain Him.