Don’t come up with the truth; come up to the truth
The phrase ‘coming up with the truth’ indicates speculating and hazarding our own way to the truth. It implies that truth is something submerged and lost in a vast ocean of confusion and delusion. It thus propagates the misconception that the truth is something that needs to be retrieved by our gallant efforts and then brought up to the surface for being exhibited to the world. The notion of coming up with the truth makes us the hero in the quest for the truth. The phrase ‘coming up to the truth’ indicates raising ourselves to a higher level of consciousness so that we become able to perceive the truth. It conveys unambiguously who is floundering – we, not the truth. The truth stands eternally illumined and eternally capable of illumining everyone. We just need to raise ourselves out of the darkness of our own misdirected desires, desires that submerge us in the nescience of materialism. The principle of coming up to the truth underscores that in the quest for truth, the Truth is the hero.
Coming up with the truth implies that we are the hero in the quest for the truth, whereas coming up to the truth emphasises that the Truth is the hero.
The Absolute Truth in the highest manifestation is Krishna, the all-attractive Supreme Person, the supreme object of our love. Krishna is so merciful that he doesn’t just sit back indifferently and leave us to our struggles in finding the truth. Of course, he allows us to do that if that’s what we want to do, for he respects our free will. But, if we seek Krishna’s help through prayerful devotion, then he extends his omnipotent grace and lifts us out of the ocean of delusion, as the Bhagavad-gita (12.07) indicates. And later the Gita (11.53 – 11.54) reiterates that bhakti-yoga alone enables us to understand Krishna in truth. Thus, Krishna through bhakti-yoga helps us come up to the truth, thereby enabling us to relish true happiness eternally.
Read More
