In this article I attempt to establish a radical hermeneutic for interpreting Nagarjuna's MŪlaMadyamikarika. I argue that understanding the text requires a sensitivity to the subtle fluidity and interconnectedness of Indian cultural ideational forms, particularly those related to yogic meditational practices. I examine the recurrence of one ideational pattern - the two-tiered view of reality - in Hindu yogic and Buddhist texts with particular reference to the MŪlamadyamikakarika. I submit that without an awareness of the fluidity of thought patterns textual interpretations of Nagarjuna's work becomes too confined to immediate historical contexts.