Meditation and the Art of Questioning

[Guest guest]

Meditation and the Art of Questioning

 

Dr. Frank Morales, Ph.D.

(Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya)

 

The beginning of all spiritual life begins with asking the big

questions: " Why am I here? " " Who am I? " " What is God's will for my

life? " These and other such questions form the very basis of a self-

reflective life. The process of sincere inquiry, and the reciprocal

receiving of real and satisfying answers is a course of action that

continues all throughout one's spiritual journey. This is one thing

that, in fact, makes the path of Yoga and Sanatana Dharma very

different from almost all other spiritual traditions: unlike the

Western Abrahamic religions, sincere questioning is actually actively

encouraged in our spiritual tradition.

 

Sanatana Dharma is a spiritual world-view that is predicated upon the

idea that we are all free and unique beings. We are respected as

persons who have the ability to make our own choices in life, and who

deserve to have our choices honored. As free beings, it is incumbent

upon us to progress spiritually by the strength of our own sincerity,

dedication, and free inquiry. The tradition of Dharma, from this

perspective, can almost be called the religion of questioning and

free inquiry.

 

Throughout the Dharmic scriptures (the Vedic literature), we see

again and again thousands of examples of free and open dialogs that

take place between students and teachers in an attempt to understand

the truth of a particular question or philosophical problem. Whether

in the Upanishads, Puranas, Mahabharata, Bhagavad Gita, or any of the

other scriptures of Sanatana Dharma, we repeatedly read about various

philosophical discussions that take place between either a guru and

disciple, or a king and a guru, or a god and a human, etc., etc.

Indeed, only in Sanatana Dharma is there even a scripture known as

the Prashna Upanishad, or the " Upanishad of Questioning " . The most

important of Dharmic scriptures, the Bhagavad Gita, is itself an open

philosophical dialog between a princely warrior and God Himself.

 

In the Bhagavad Gita, we have God Himself engaging in free and open

dialog with His student Arjuna, in the attempt to bring Arjuna to a

deeper understanding of the truth of his own self-identity, and his

relationship with God. This vision of God as the Supreme Person who

is compassionate, loving, and secure in His own being enough to have

a down-to-earth conversation with His devotee is in stark contrast to

how the Abrahamic (Judeo-Christian-Islamic) god is depicted in the

Biblical and Koranic texts, as an unapproachable being who only

engaging in a one-way dialog with his followers. The encouraging of

sincere and open questioning is found throughout our spiritual

tradition like with no other religious tradition on earth.

 

It is understood in Santana Dharma that the process of questioning is

in itself an art. The important thing to understand about the

process of philosophical questioning is that the questioning itself

has to follow the proper methodology if one is to receive real and

truly authentic answers. Questioning is itself an art and a

spiritual discipline. Above all, it is the motivational attitude,

even more so than the cognitive abilities of the questioner, that is

of operative importance. In other words, the important factor in

questioning is not how smart the questioner thinks he is, but why the

person is asking the questions in the first place. A philosophical

question needs to be presented in a way that is sincere, humble,

open, and direct. Anything less than this attitude will not lead to

real answers. Even a question as seemingly benign as " What is God? " ,

for example, can be asked in such a manner as to receive a real

answer, or it can be asked in a manner that is arrogant and

demanding. Only the former, asking with humility and openness, will

lead the questioner to Truth. Asking with arrogance will only lead

to further ignorance.

 

The Bhagavad Gita provides us with a very clear description of the

science of asking:

 

" Attempt to learn that truth by approaching a spiritual teacher.

Inquire submissively from him and render service to him. The self-

realized sages will initiate you into true knowledge for they have

themselves seen the truth. "

 

(Bhagavad Gita, 4:34)

 

 

It is only in approaching the search for truth with such an attitude

of openness, humility, patience, and sincerity that the truth will be

revealed to you.

 

In the same way that we can approach an embodied guru or sage with

sincere inquiries, we can also engage in such a student/teacher

relationship with God Himself as the antaryamin, or the inner witness

within our hearts. While it is imperative that we have a living,

embodied guru to whom we can approach and receive Divine knowledge,

God is ultimately the source of all Truth, and the eternal Guru.

Thus, through the process of meditation, we can both confirm the

realizations that we receive from the embodied guru, as well as

engage in a direct reciprocal relationship with God in which we can

clarify inner doubts, receive answers to further queries, and deepen

our understanding of both ourselves and the nature of reality.

 

There are always two people involved in spiritual inquiry: the

student (shishya) and the teacher (guru). Likewise, the general

process of inquiry consists of a two way process. It requires not

only the asking of questions on the part of the student, but also the

ability to receive and accept answers from the teacher. These two

steps are necessary whether the teacher is an embodied guru, or God

Himself. When we are inquiring directly from God, these two steps

are found in the form of 1) prayer and 2) meditation.

 

Through prayer, we are communicating our concerns to God, and through

meditation, we are allowing God to reveal Himself to us. Thus, the

communication is a two way street, and not a one way monologue. One

of the problems that we often find with the Abrahamic religions of

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam is that these religious constructs

tend to lay a great emphasis on prayer alone, or speaking to their

god and petitioning him, without any understanding of the reciprocal

need of stilling the mind in meditation and allowing their specific

divinity to then reveal himself to them. Prayer, for the Abrahamic

faiths is a one way form of communication alone.

 

Too many of us want to speak to God, ask Him questions, ask for

favors and gifts, but so few of us are ready to then sit in the

silence of meditation and allow God to respond to our queries. Would

it not at the very least be considered rude if someone were contantly

speaking at you, asking your questions, petitioning you for favors,

but never allowing you an opportunity to actually respond? This is

what we are doing to God when we only pray, but never open ourselves

in meditation for His response to us. In Sanatana Dharma, it is

understood that " listening " to God in meditation is often of much

greater importance than talking to God, since it is in humbly and

openly listening that we learn and grow. Both, speaking and

listening to God, however, must be present if we are to fully

experience what it means to commune with the Absolute.

 

It is in devotional meditation that we are in the most intimate

communion with God. God, being purely spiritual in nature, the only

way to truly communicate with, experience, and thus truly know God is

in the pure realm of consciousness. In meditation, the pure atman

that is our true self is in closest proximity with God. And the

deeper and more advanced the meditator is, in direct proportion is

she able to experience and understand the eternal Truth free of egoic

mediation. It is when there is no medium left separating the

meditator from the object of meditation (God) that we can then

experience pure and eternal knowledge being revealed to us directly

from the mercy of God Himself. At this point of pure meditative

absorption upon the Absolute, nothing remains unknown to us. This,

of course, is the ultimate goal (artha) of meditation, and takes

years of dedicated practice, sincerity, focused determination, and

great devotion to attain.

 

As for the question of getting immediate answers to ones questions

through meditation, the answers that one gets will be in direct

proportion to one's spiritual advancement and God's grace. The path

of Sanatana Dharma offers us the greatest, most systematic, and most

effective vehicle for making spiritual advancement and for

experiencing the infinite grace of the Divine.

 

If you found this article helpful to you in your own understanding of

the spiritual path, please forward it on to others so that they too

may derive spiritual benefit.