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Once a saint saw a dog running towards a lake. It was obvious from its behavior that it was thirsty. But when the dog reached the lake and was about to drink water, it saw its own reflection in the water and got frightened. It ran back, stood at a distance and started barking at the lake. After a while it gathered courage and slowly approached the lake again; the same story repeated and it ran back howling. This back and forth took place several times. Now two entities - fear and thirst - were battling within the dog. Thirst was building but fear was not allowing the thirst to be quenched. The saint was watching the whole incident curiously. Fear had been winning over thirst for a long time, not allowing the dog to drink water. In the end, however, thirst became so intense that it surpassed fear. The dog eventually ignored the reflection and drank the water enjoying it thoroughly. The saint had learnt a very important lesson.

Some unknown thirst is building in all of us invariably. Only the intensity varies. We know that the word 'Adhyatma' (for lack of a better word - 'Spirituality' in English) gives us a strange thrill deep down. Now and then we look towards it to quench our thirst. But at the same time we are also afraid of spirituality. Because we have our own notions about it, distorted and diluted notions given to us by today's world as we grew in it. We think spirituality is sanyasa (renunciation), spirituality is becoming dull and stone-like etc. Therefore we approach it with caution, and also see to it that our near and dear ones do not go too close to it. But thirst is building within all the while. Thirst and fear are at war. But it is only thirst that can win eventually. The lake with fresh water is calling. It is only a matter of time before we overcome the fear and take a dive into the lake. This is a blog that depicts the phase when thirst begins to overtake fear.

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Human being is an inquisitive animal. An underlying yet unmistakable current of inquisitiveness, and the ensuing urge to defuse it with knowledge, is one of our foremost defining features. We are all seekers, of knowledge more deeply than anything else. Indeed, the root of the Saṁskr̥ta term manuṣya (human) is 'mana', which means 'to know'. After directing this inherent power of questioning towards everything in existence, at some point the questioner finds saturation with this linear process, and thus takes a radical but obvious jump in his questioning: "What is the source of all questions? Why are there questions?". Or in other words "What am 'I'?". This is evidently the mother of all questions as it underlies the very act of questioning. Perhaps this is the only question that has to be resolved? "Yes" say the Upanishads. And the resolution to this question is represented by the words - atma-sakshatkara (self-realization), enlightenment, moksha, nirvana etc.

Although the personal question 'What am I?' did not occur to me straightaway (even though I had naturally heard about this popular question), the sense of saturation and the longing to look beyond words had been constantly on the rise for a few years. And in that phase many supplementary aspects of the path were explored and implemented. Therefore, as a seeker, I have reported all those secondary details of my journey along with the primary current of self-enquiry itself.

I do not yet know what purpose the blog will eventually fulfill, but what I know is that it is not meant for convincing anybody to come into Adhyatma or Yoga. This cannot be imposed on someone who has not reached saturation with material affairs and who says "What Self-Realization? I am perfectly happy with the way I am, as the body"; certainly not through writing. This blog will probably be appreciated by only those who already have the thirst building within them for a higher possibility, and have already recognized that their thirst is overtaking the fear.