Curiosity- the action of asking questions

Have you ever pondered when we stopped asking questions? Questions that are relevant and important to us. When did we become so complacent, accepting life as it comes instead of questioning everything we've been told since childhood? And what about our childhood? When did we stop being children? After all, a child is a curious creature, asking all sorts of questions and seeking knowledge. When did we start accepting everything we were told by others as truth or lies without investigating and discovering the answers for ourselves?

Before addressing the question of when we ceased asking certain questions, let's recall the significant inquiries we're no longer making. Let's consider a few of them. For this exercise, we need to adopt a childlike perspective—a child who has just become conscious and is aware of their surroundings. To emulate this, we must forget everything; that is, we need to erase what has been written into our memory every moment. How do we erase it? One might jokingly suggest taking a hammer to one's head. However, it's noteworthy that there are brain-related complications where, due to an accidental injury, a person loses all their memory and reverts to the childlike state we're discussing. What is this state? Is it possible to return to it? Initially, it's quite challenging to enter this state (though not impossible) because it requires us to forget all that is known and venture into the unknown. Yet, let's attempt to envision and, in the process, experience this unique and 'holy' state. I refer to this state as holy because it is uncorrupted by anything—it is as pure as the water near the source of a river, which is free from pollutants and impurities. It is so pristine that, like drinking that water, it will rejuvenate our entire mind and body.

Let's attempt to describe that certain state, but can we? A child, unfamiliar with any language or script, cannot comprehend our descriptions. If we imagine ourselves in that state, can any language capture it? Clearly not. In such a state, we are devoid of knowledge, unaware of our surroundings, observers of the world, and ignorant of our own identity. What does 'not doing anything' imply here? Is it an action or inaction? Consider the child's natural instincts—eating, drinking, crying, urinating. Are these not actions? They are spontaneous, driven by instinct, not deliberate causes, and thus, in Sanskrit, this is termed "Akarma." Applying this to our 'normal' state, many actions stem from instinct and are not considered true actions. For instance, a child cries out of fear, seeking a mother; similarly, our fear-driven actions are instinctual, not 'real actions. Therefore next time when you use phrase " law of karma " you should be clear and careful about what "karma" or action means here .

Let's consider the state of a child and ponder when that child began to question. Questioning appears to be an action, yet the child cannot speak; there are no words in the child's mouth. The child is completely silent, as if silence is their language. The child exists in a state of deep observation, akin to a yogi in profound meditation. The question then arises: what prompts the child to question (thus leading to an action), and how does the child express this question? To understand this, let's consider what disrupts a yogi's meditative state, causing them to emerge from it. We've all heard tales of yogis whose deep meditation was interrupted by some external stimulus. This stimulus, originating from nature, elicits a reaction, resulting in an action from the yogi. For instance, a child may see someone smiling at them, prompting a reaction to imitate the smiling person. This act of imitation is observable, but it is preceded by an important action: the action of thinking or forming a thought. Indeed, thought precedes any physical action. It's challenging to articulate the initial thought in the child's mind, as thoughts are now associated with human language. It's difficult to define this thought, but it arises in response to external stimuli in the physical realm. Thus, if the "child yogi" does not react, there would be no action or reaction, and they would remain in that state indefinitely.

This is from Tulsidas Ramcharitmanas : -

भए प्रगट कृपाला दीनदयाला,

कौसल्या हितकारी ।

हरषित महतारी, मुनि मन हारी,

अद्भुत रूप बिचारी ॥

लोचन अभिरामा, तनु घनस्यामा,

निज आयुध भुजचारी ।

भूषन बनमाला, नयन बिसाला,

सोभासिंधु खरारी ॥

कह दुइ कर जोरी, अस्तुति तोरी,

केहि बिधि करूं अनंता ।

माया गुन ग्यानातीत अमाना,

वेद पुरान भनंता ॥

करुना सुख सागर, सब गुन आगर,

जेहि गावहिं श्रुति संता ।

सो मम हित लागी, जन अनुरागी,

भयउ प्रगट श्रीकंता ॥

ब्रह्मांड निकाया, निर्मित माया,

रोम रोम प्रति बेद कहै ।

मम उर सो बासी, यह उपहासी,

सुनत धीर मति थिर न रहै ॥

उपजा जब ग्याना, प्रभु मुसुकाना,

चरित बहुत बिधि कीन्ह चहै ।

कहि कथा सुहाई, मातु बुझाई,

जेहि प्रकार सुत प्रेम लहै ॥

माता पुनि बोली, सो मति डोली,

तजहु तात यह रूपा ।

कीजै सिसुलीला, अति प्रियसीला,

यह सुख परम अनूपा ॥

सुनि बचन सुजाना, रोदन ठाना,

होइ बालक सुरभूपा ।

यह चरित जे गावहिं, हरिपद पावहिं,

ते न भवकूपा ॥

'

So what is meaning of "Prakat" (प्रकट) here? It can be translated to English as "manifest," "appear," "reveal," or "show" . So what manifest? Is it consciousness of the child we just talked ? And also what meaning of " माता" here ? Is it referring to same nature or mother nature from which this external stimuli comes from ?

In conclusion, asking questions is an action that arises from a thought in the mind. The first question that might come to a child's mind is to understand something. For instance, who is the woman who tends to his needs? Secondly, who is the person who appears completely different from this woman? The third question might be, what is this world that I am observing? And ultimately, who am I? These questions, articulated in the English language, may represent thoughts that are entirely different from what we recognize as the thoughts arising in a child's mind. This is what we refer to as curiosity: the desire to discover or the act of asking questions and seeking answers.

The act of asking questions about our experiences and known facts is a fundamental part of gaining consciousness. Yet, we often neglect this critical act in our daily lives. Perhaps this is because we place too much trust in what others tell us. This could be due to our past experiences and the conclusions we draw from them for the future. Similarly, AI and ML algorithms implemented on computers also operate based on past data to make future predictions. Does this mean we are akin to computers or intelligent machines? We tend to follow routines habitually, much like a robot in an automobile factory. Thus, the question arises: will AI replace humans? This question may not make sense, as it implies one machine replacing another.