About asking questions.

We are all asking questions, every time.Not only to ourselves but to other as well. So many questions, right from the time we get up from bed. What is the time now? How is the weather going to be today? What am I having for breakfast? What dress I am going to wear? Where am I going today? What am I doing there? What am I going to talk? Similarly, the birds and beast are also talking from the time they get up in the morning. Chirp, Chirp..There is food here. Is there any food there? Etc...How do we know? Some that we learnt from science books or the Shastras. Some that we simply heard.A good one that I heard..In the villages, if you get up early morning, you can see at least one or two snakes in a distance seemingly enjoying the sunshine. It is said that, they do surya namaskar (Salutation to Sun God) and pray that, please bless me that I don’t see the face of a Human being today. Because as soon as they are seen, they are killed.

So many questions. But, what does the Vedic literature say about questioning?The Vedanta-sutra (1.1.1) states, athato brahma jijnasa: "Now (that you have this human form of life) one should inquire about Brahman - The absolute truth, the transcendental, spiritual nature".

"The first aphorism in the Vedanta-sutra is athato brahma jijnasa. In the human form of life one should put many questions to himself and to his intelligence. In the various forms of life lower than human life the intelligence does not go beyond the range of life's primary necessities--namely eating, sleeping, mating and defending. Dogs, cats and tigers are always busy trying to find something to eat or a place to sleep, trying to defend and have sexual intercourse successfully. In the human form of life, however, one should be intelligent enough to ask what he is, why he has come into the world, what his duty is, who is the supreme controller, what is the difference between dull matter and the living entity, etc. There are so many questions, and the person who is actually intelligent should simply inquire about the supreme source of everything: athato brahma jijnasa.

A living entity is always connected with a certain amount of intelligence, but in the human form of life the living entity must inquire about his spiritual identity. This is real human intelligence. It is said that one who is simply conscious of the body is no better than an animal, even though he be in the human form. In Bhagavad-gita (15.15) Sri Krsna says, sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca: "I am seated in everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness."In the animal form the living entity is completely forgetful of his relationship with God. This is called apohanam, or forgetfulness. In the human form of life, however, consciousness is more greatly developed, and consequently the human being has a chance to understand his relationship with God. In the human form one should utilize his intelligence by asking all these questions, just as Puranjana, the living entity, is asking the unknown girl where she has come from, what her business is, why she is present, etc. These are inquiries about atma-tattva--self-realization. The conclusion is that unless a living entity is inquisitive about self-realization he is nothing but an animal.

What differentiates men from animal is the ability of human intelligence to enquire about the Absolute Truth, which animals can not do.”

(Excerpts from Srimad Bhagavatham,Canto 4,Chapter 25,Verse 26 By A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada)  

All of you have a Good Weekend asking questions.J