Questioning one’s way to enlightenment

Some questions have already been answered. Some are being answered. Some have not been answered as of now, but eventually these will be. It is only a matter of time. But there are some questions which will never be answered. So say the enlightened.

Some questions can never be answered, maybe because, these are not meant to be answered. Or, even if they are answered no one will understand.

It is said that when Buddha got enlightened he became silent. Angels came and prodded him to speak. Buddha said, “What is the use? If I speak no one will understand. Those who know do not need to be spoken to.

The journey on the path towards Samadhi starts with a sincere existential question. It should not be a learned question. If that question has arisen in you, know that you are on the right track.

And as Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shnakar says, “Don’t be in a hurry to find the answer. Be with the question. Take that question deep inside yourself.”

Ramana Maharshi was very young when this question came to him. He wanted desperately to probe life and death. He began asking this question to himself – who am I. He stayed this question. He meditated on the question. The question became his path to Samadhi. A time came when everything became cleat to him.

Very rarely does this urge to probe deep into existential issues come to us. Even if such questions come to ours minds they do not stay. We find thousand distractions to brush aside such stupid questions.

As I have already stated in this series, one need not start in the path of yoga with any kind of faith. It may start with a curiosity. But that curiosity should be strong enough to take one in the journey towards the unknown with persistence.

It may start with confusion as happened with Arjuna in the battle field of Kurukshetra. Because of the confusion a barrage of questions arose in him. Arjuna kept on asking till he was satisfied. Lord Krishna kept on answering till Arjuna was established in the path of Karma Yoga.

Rigveda is the first among the four Vedas. It contains a hymn called Nasadiya Shukta or popularly known as the Hymn of the Creation. This hymn raises more raises more questions than it answers and these are not ordinary questions:

नास॑दासी॒न्नो सदा॑सीत्त॒दानीं॒ नासी॒द्रजो॒ नो व्यो॑मा प॒रो यत् ।
किमाव॑रीवः॒ कुह॒ कस्य॒ शर्म॒न्नम्भः॒ किमा॑सी॒द्गह॑नं गभी॒रम् ॥ १॥ 

न मृ॒त्युरा॑सीद॒मृतं॒ न तर्हि॒ न रात्र्या॒ अह्न॑ आसीत्प्रके॒तः ।
आनी॑दवा॒तं स्व॒धया॒ तदेकं॒ तस्मा॑द्धा॒न्यन्न प॒रः किं च॒नास॑ ॥ २॥

तम॑ आसी॒त्तम॑सा गू॒ळ्हमग्रे॑ऽप्रके॒तं स॑लि॒लं सर्व॑मा इ॒दम् ।
तु॒च्छ्येना॒भ्वपि॑हितं॒ यदासी॒त्तप॑स॒स्तन्म॑हि॒नाजा॑य॒तैक॑म् ॥ ३॥

काम॒स्तदग्रे॒ सम॑वर्त॒ताधि॒ मन॑सो॒ रेतः॑ प्रथ॒मं यदासी॑त् ।
स॒तो बन्धु॒मस॑ति॒ निर॑विन्दन्हृ॒दि प्र॒तीष्या॑ क॒वयो॑ मनी॒षा ॥ ४॥

ति॒र॒श्चीनो॒ वित॑तो र॒श्मिरे॑षाम॒धः स्वि॑दा॒सी३दु॒परि॑ स्विदासी३त् ।
रे॒तो॒धा आ॑सन्महि॒मान॑ आसन्स्व॒धा अ॒वस्ता॒त्प्रय॑तिः प॒रस्ता॑त् ॥ ५॥

को अ॒द्धा वे॑द॒ क इ॒ह प्र वो॑च॒त्कुत॒ आजा॑ता॒ कुत॑ इ॒यं विसृ॑ष्टिः ।
अ॒र्वाग्दे॒वा अ॒स्य वि॒सर्ज॑ने॒नाथा॒ को वे॑द॒ यत॑ आब॒भूव॑ ॥ ६॥

इ॒यं विसृ॑ष्टि॒र्यत॑ आब॒भूव॒ यदि॑ वा द॒धे यदि॑ वा॒ न ।
यो अ॒स्याध्य॑क्षः पर॒मे व्यो॑म॒न्सो अ॒ङ्ग वे॑द॒ यदि॑ वा॒ न वेद॑ ॥ ७॥


Then even nothingness was not, nor existence,
There was no air then, nor the heavens beyond it.
What covered it? Where was it? In whose keeping
Was there then cosmic water, in depths unfathomed?

Then there was neither death nor immortality
nor was there then the torch of night and day.
The One breathed windlessly and self-sustaining.
There was that One then, and there was no other.

At first there was only darkness wrapped in darkness.
All this was only unillumined water.
That One which came to be, enclosed in nothing,
arose at last, born of the power of heat.

In the beginning desire descended on it -
that was the primal seed, born of the mind.
The sages who have searched their hearts with wisdom
know that which is is kin to that which is not.

And they have stretched their cord across the void,
and know what was above, and what  below.
Seminal powers made fertile mighty forces.
Below was strength, and over it was impulse.

But,  after all, who knows, and who can say
Whence it all came, and how creation happened?
the gods themselves are later than creation,
so who knows truly whence it has arisen?

Whence all creation had its origin,
he, whether he fashioned it or whether he did not,
he, who surveys it all from highest heaven,
he knows - or maybe even he does not know.

(translation credit  The Wonder That was India by AL Basham) 

The question may be inward or outward. When directed inward it must probe beyond the body or whatever is graspable. Who am I beyond this body, beyond this mind, beyond what I feel? When directed outward it should go beyond what can be seen or what is known so far or what can be known. It was such deep contemplation by our ancient Rishis who came up with guidelines for yoga.

This post is a part of Blogchatter A2Z Challenge 2026

This year my theme is – Yoga A2Z