Prologue

Jignyaasaa Portal – A prologue


Jignyaasaa is a samskrit word which broadly translated means (a) curiosity, (b) inquisitiveness and (c) desire to know. On a deeper level the word is more often used when this desire to know transcends from the normal and secular level and gets into the realm of “what is right” and thence to the profound “who am I” kind of internal enquiry.

It is a Hindu belief that a child in the womb of its mother is a truly realized soul. It keeps this beautiful knowledge in its palms as it were, keeping it firm and secure by keeping its fingers closed. The moment it is delivered and comes to our terra-firma, its palm is fully open. It is then that it realizes that the knowledge it had of itself just a moment ago, is gone. It closes its fingers in desperation thinking that it can regain that blissful state of awareness, and cries out aloud “kwa” Kwa” which in samskrit means “where, where?”.

From that moment onwards jignyaasaa starts, and while it has to be logically for knowing itself, and to be able to be in that perfect peace, harmony, and bliss, it dilutes gradually into a desire for everything else which it now comes into contact with, becoming a prisoner of this unreal secular world, and starts wondering as to how lucky it is to escape from the prison of its mother’s womb, where it was in absolute ignorance!!

As one grows old, getting more and more experienced in the affairs of this secular world, barring a few exceptions, a wise one tends to dwell inward, in the face of being helpless witnesses to the overwhelming greed for power, a cynical disregard for other beings’ sufferings, a subversion of every known ethical, moral value systems, all of which pervades every sphere of our environment, and starts in earnest a journey to get to that peace, harmony and happiness which left him the moment he was born.

Being old and other siblings also in their later years, Brahma Jignyaasaa (quest to identify with that Universal soul) was an inevitable pursuit which found a mutual resonance with them. Thanks to the next generation kids, the blog idea to exchange opinions was born. As the journey progressed, this gen-next started to show a keen interest and pitched in occasionally, and finally even kids joined in.

One thing was therefore becoming clearer; the elders’ quest for that final beatitude, the kids curiosity to learn and share, and the youngsters decidedly superior grasp and understanding of subjects both temporal and spiritual, thus increasing there inquisitiveness to know more and more, every one of these jignyaasaas are indeed genuine. A common platform like this family blog portal to express, share, debate, things of these diverse interests was perhaps one of the best things that could happen which has something for every one and is there for the future generations. The blog has space to accommodate views of every hue, be it skepticism, poetry, children’s stories, or metaphysical concepts or individual insights into interpretations of spiritual texts etc.

The youngest contributor is Dhruv who came to this world, about a decade back, on a day coinciding with the day the enlightened Gauthama Budha was born. His piece is as much a delight as the other child shruti’s -a 12 year old’s- fictional attempt, and as absorbing as the contribution of the so called (wiser?) old men like me, and others, making this portal a truly universal one.

With such diverse contributions, there was this desire for seeing it all in a printed form for the benefit of some of the elders, who feel more comfortable with such form rather than a computer screen. Like the female protagonist in the latest Chetan Bhagat’s novel, Madhuri is a wonderfully savvy marketing management product, from one of the prime institutes in India. She was more than kind to take this up in the earnest, without much ado and thus allaying anxious expectations of this set.

Long live Jignyaasaa. May god bless us all in finding true happiness in our own individual ways, without any preconditioning.

Love

Vichu