Athāto brahma jijñāsā means that in order to get out of the bodily conception, one has to increase attachment to or inquiry about Brahman…
Questions Worth Asking
A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami (Srila Prabhupada)Nov. 9, 1968Los Angeles
Those persons who are materially engrossed, being blind to the knowledge of ultimate truth, have many subject matters for hearing in human society, O Emperor.
Question and answer. Everywhere life means questions and answers. So those who are not interested or do not know what is the aim of life, they have got questions and answers only for sense gratification. That's all. They have no more any questions or answers. Whole field of questioning and answering is sense gratification. That's all.
But the human life is not meant for that purpose. The animals, they are... Morning... Just like birds, just early in the morning, they began to chirp, "Where is food? Where is...? Where we have to go? Where we have to find out some food?" That is their business. The animals also. But human form of life, does it mean it is meant like that, that they should be simply involved in questions and answers for sense gratification? No.
Therefore Vedānta-sūtra says, brahma-jijñāsā. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. Atha: "After this..., after the evolutionary process of lower than human being, when we have come, we have got this body, human form of body, the business is brahma-jijñāsā," jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā. That is the Bhāgavata.
But there is no education. There are so many universities, they are going on simply how to advance the method of sense gratification. That's all. There is no education. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. The human form of life should be specially engaged for understanding what is Brahman. Otherwise it is simply spoiled.
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A Not-So-Humble Call-To-Action
Get some beads and actually experience God in sound form. If you aren’t ready for that kind of thing, The Vedas urge anyone in human form “Now it is time to hear about ultimate reality!” Literally just ask about Absolute Truth. You could ask a librarian or you could consult an ancient wisdom tradition. I daily reflect on the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita. Mahatma Gandhi said “I confess to you that, when doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and when I see not one ray of light on the horizon, I run to the Bhagavad Gita and find a verse to comfort me, and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow”
Your friend,Muchukunda dasa
