Why are some people not inquisitive about life’s big picture?
Answer Podcast
Transcript
This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, some people are inquisitive about certain things, but they are not inquisitive about the big picture.
So, is that lack of inquisitiveness because of the fear that if we understand the big picture, then we will understand I am so small in the larger scheme of things and I will lose control. Could it be because of that? Yes, in the Bhagavad Gita, in the 10th verse of the 4th chapter. So, Krishna says in order to take shelter of Him, there are three things which we have to give up.
Raga, Bhaya and Krodha. Raga is attachment to this world. Oh, this world is so enjoyable.
Why do I need to explore anything beyond this? Bhaya is fear of what is out there. And Krodha is frustration or anger because of not understanding what is out there, not being able to make sense of things. So, Raga, Bhaya and Krodha.
See, Raga means, oh, this world itself is so enjoyable. Why do I need to bother about anything beyond this world? Bhaya is, I don’t know what is out there. I don’t want to explore because I don’t know what exists out there.
And Krodha is not being able to make sense of things. I try to explore the spiritual. I try to, there is this philosophy, this philosophy, this philosophy.
I can’t figure out what is right. So, I just give up. So, Krodha is basically scepticism.
I just give scepticism, sceptical and I don’t turn towards anything. So, now, what you are saying, Rajani, it is in the part of Bhaya, where fear, what is out there, I don’t know. So, better let me not explore about it.
That can be there. And some people may say, okay, I have my good life here and I am enjoying life. Why do I need to explore something out there beyond this life? There are two ways of looking at this.
One is that Prabhupada would say, okay, you may have a good life right now, but how long is this life going to last? We are all going to grow old, get deceased and die. And sometimes we may die even before that. Prabhupada would talk about John F. Kennedy.
He was young, powerful and suddenly he was killed. So, the fear of the unknown is actually based on a pseudo-security about the known. Even in the known, there is no real security.
Because what I know, that can be destroyed at any one moment, in any moment at all. This is pseudo-security. Sometimes some people just need some jolts about their existing way of living.
What is all this about? What is life all about? To explore that. So, that is why sometimes when people go through some traumatic experiences, they at that time start exploring. Is there some higher meaning? If they are fortunate, then they connect with some devotees who explain things to them.
Or they connect with any people who are spiritually minded, philosophically minded and they get some higher knowledge. So, it is also possible that some people may be internally averse to spirituality. And all of us, we all want to have a sense of control.
It’s not wrong because Krishna is the supreme controller and we are His parts. Just as He has a controlling tendency, being His parts we also have a controlling tendency. So, to lose control is actually fearful.
If I am driving a car and suddenly I feel I am moving the wheels but the car is moving in some other direction. It’s fearful. If I am giving a class and suddenly somebody asks a question whose answer I don’t know.
It’s fearful. So, to want to have control is not wrong. What is important is what is the purpose of the control.
Just like, I think a couple of months ago in Paris, a truck driver who drew a truck into a crowd and killed lots of people. He had control over the truck but the purpose of the control was destructive. So, to want to have control is not wrong.
In fact, philosophy also, when we study the philosophy, we are able to better make sense of things. And making sense of things is also some level of control. It’s at intellectual level, we are getting control of things.
So, if some people are of certain dispositions where they are just not curious about spirituality right now, there is no need to presume an ulterior motive to their lack of interest. It might just be that different people are at different stages in their spiritual growth and some people may not be ready right now. So, what we can do to help them is try to find out if they are interested in something connected with spirituality.
So, they might be interested in music. They are not interested in spiritual music but they are just interested in music. And because they are interested in music, they may explore spiritual music also.
Generally, we have one thing which everyone is interested in, that is prasad. So, we can give prasad and that actually creates spiritual stimuli. Now, the first sutra of Vedanta Sutra is Athato Brahma Jijnasa.
Now, explore spirituality. Now, inquire about spirituality. And Ramanujacharya, in his commentary to this first sutra, his commentary practically runs to 100 pages for this one sutra.
And he is basically analyzing what is it that causes Brahma Jijnasa in some people and what is it that doesn’t cause Brahma Jijnasa. Some people just have no spiritual inquiry at all. They are just so dull spiritually, dead end spiritually.
So, he says there are multiple factors. First is Purva Janma Samskara. What are the impressions from the previous life? Somebody has practiced a little spirituality, then there is natural attraction.
Then there is also the upbringing of this life. Somebody has had some pious impression, that also helps. And the most important, now the past life impressions or this life upbringing is not changeable.
But the most important thing that stimulates spiritual inquiry is association. So, if we have association of spiritualists, then we move onwards and that will kindle the spiritual inquiry within us also. So, what we can do is that we need not just association, we actually need like-minded association.
If somebody is very interested in music and they come to a class which is very intellectual. This is fitting. When will the class get over? Isn’t it? Somebody is very intellectual and they come to a program which is only music.
Okay, this is nice. But what else? So, we all need like-minded association. And similarly, if you would like to share spirituality with someone, then you can find out what their interests are and try to find out.
So, this is the circle of their interest and this is the circle of bhakti. You can find out what is the intersecting area and try to provide them access to bhakti through that intersecting area. Then gradually the spiritual inquiry will awaken and then they will move towards Krishna.
Does that answer your question? Thank you.