Faith is necessary
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Spiritual quest leads one beyond human thought and reason because it belongs to the esoteric and the transcendental realms. Much depends on the faith of the individual who may not understand the full implications but implicitly believes as the very truth the word of the scriptures. This is exemplified in the Bhagavad Gita when Arjuna asks Krishna to reveal His transcendental form, pointed out Swami Paramasukhananda in a discourse.

Arjuna sees the Lord as both the Srishti Kartha and the Laya Kartha, perpetually creating and destroying. It is a terrible form and the baffled Arjuna asks Him, “Who are you?” The Lord replies that He is Time, Kala, the most powerful force and prime mover of the universe. Arjuna realises that he may not understand the entire range of truth that Krishna represents but that at best he can have full faith in the Lord who is his companion.

As the Lord reveals His cosmic form to Arjuna He also enables him to actually witness the enormity and infinite manifestation that cannot be caught by the human eye. Arjuna is awe-struck at the manifestation of the eternal truth in front of him. There is adoration, fear, amazement, rapture and astonishment. It is a vision that fuses what is perceived visibly with what is seen with the inner eye. Realisation is an experience that has to integrate the perceived with the infinite ranges of the beyond. The whole episode is symbolic of the truth that faith and belief provide the foundation for the process of enlightenment in a jivatma.

Arjuna gets access to the indescribable aspect of the Supreme Brahman who stands beyond Time and Space. The Upanishad says: “Hearing they hear not; knowing they know not; seeing they see not; only with the eye of enlightenment do they see.”