The way of the "jignyAsu": Wonder as Worship -Part 8 (CONCLUDED)

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(continued from Part 7 posted earlier)

 

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The child is perhaps the best specimen of a "jignyAsu"

that we can find in the world.

 

Every child is born with an innate capacity for

Wonder. The child looks at the whole world around it

in a fresh, open, innocent and wondrous light -- in a

light that is wholly different from the way in which

adults see things around them. And it is in that

unique perception of the child that there are many

truths gleaned of which we know little, and many

special insights gained too that perhaps are quite

beyond our comprehension or imagination. It is because

the child possesses this extraordinary faculty of

Wonder that it is always seen to be very curious, very

inquisitive, and very inquiring. We all know how

difficult it is to keep up with the incessant

questioning of an intelligent child.

 

As we grow from childhood to manhood, however, we all

gradually seem to lose that magical capacity for

child-like Wonder. It is the progressive loss of that

wonderful capacity that actually ages us, that

transforms the world around us from what as child

seemed rich and vibrant into a drab and joyless place.

That loss robs us of all the Life that there is in

living. We then sadly ask ourselves, "Why is it that

the same things that once used to arouse my wonder or

fascination as a child, now leave me utterly cold?"...

It's a very important and very uncomfortable question

that few of us ever figure out in life...

 

It was the same question which the English poet,

William Wordsworth, asked too in a famous poem ("Ode

on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of

Early Childhood"):

 

"There was a time when meadow, grove and stream,

The earth, and every common sight,

To me did seem

Apparell'd in celestial light,

The glory and freshness of a dream.

It is not now as it hath been of yore:-

Turn wheresoe'er I may,

By night or day,

The things which I have seen, I now can see no more.

 

The rainbow comes and goes,

And lovely is the rose;

The moon doth with delight

Look around her when the heavens are bare;

Waters on a starry night

Are beautiful and fair;

The sunshine is a glorious birth;

But yet I know, where'er I go,

That there hath pass'd away a glory from the earth.

 

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting;

The soul that rises with us, our life's star,

Hath had elsewhere its setting,

And cometh from afar;

Not in entire forgetfulness,

And not in utter nakedness,

But trailing clouds of glory do we come

From God, who is our own home:

Heaven lies about us in our infancy!"

 

-- William Wordsworth

 

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"Heaven lies about us in our infancy", wrote

Wordsworth and how profoundly true indeed is the

poet's discovery. Ages ago, the timeless Upanishads

and "purANA" too spoke the very same truth!

 

In much of the Vedantic scriptures of India, it is the

child indeed who is held up as the best example of

the true seeker of God, the true "jingyAsu" who with

its keen sense of Wonder is capable of genuine

spiritual curiousity, and is willing to go to any

lengths in search of God.

 

The Srimadh BhAgavatham, for example, tells the famous

tale of the child Dhruva who departed to the forests

in search of the Almighty. Then there is the story of

Prahlada, a mere child, who saw God in all places, in

every nook and cranny of the world where his father

saw none.. The Katopanishad tells the story of

Nachiketas, a mere boy, whose quest for God engaged

him in a dialogue with the god of Death. In the

ChandOgya Upanishad there is a gripping narration of

how Svetaketu, a true "jignyAsu", posed questions to

his wise father, Uddalaka, on the nature of God. In

the same Upanishad, there is the account of the boy

Satyakama Jabala. In the Taittiriya Upanishad it is

young Bhrighu who poses both wondrous and wise

questions to his father, Sage Varuni, about God and

Existence...

 

To all these eminent child-heroes of the Vedantic

scriptures, to all these youthful "jignyAsu-s", Heaven

did indeed "lie about in their infancy"!

 

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A disciple of Adi Sankara bhagavathpAdA is said to

have once posed to him the question "samsArE kim

sAram?What is the meaning of Existence?". It was

the typical question of a serious and wondering

"jignyAsu".

 

They say the 'AchArya' provided a pithy but

enlightening answer:

 

"bahusah: abhi vichintyamAnam idam eva"

 

Meaning, "You have asked the question. Keep wondering

about it. And in the inquiry itself shall you find the

answer".

 

Sankara thus urged the disciple to ceaselessly

confront such questions. Never relent, Sankara

advised, never give up the unending inquiry --"samsArE

kim sAram?". The "jignyAsu's" quest and his Way of

Worship, will one day surely meet with success.

 

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(CONCLUDED)

 

Regards,

 

dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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