Srila Prabhupada said that the whole world is full of questions and answers and that the human being, unless he is fast asleep at night, is busy with questions and answers.
The
whole process of self-realization and Krsna consciousness starts with the Vedic
aphorism athato brahma jijnasa – now, therefore, is the time to inquire of the
absolute truth. Inquiry is extremely important in our spiritual tradition. However,
I don’t think we use it enough and, also, we might not be aware what kind of
questions appear in our mind.
Why Questions?
Questions
that we ask influence our thinking and our thinking influences our actions and
our actions influence our results. Therefore questions influence our results. The
questions that we ask ourselves influence what we get and what we achieve in
life.
There
are empowering questions and disempowering questions. If one is aware what
questions are better, then he can consciously choose to ask questions all day
long that will bring him better results.
A Question That Saved A Life
There
is a story of a man imprisoned in a concentration camp during a Second World
War. He had a perfect situation to feel like a victim, but he was asking a
different question. He asked “How can I escape, how can I use this
situation to find out a way to escape?” While other prisoners were asking “Why me, why God has put me in this
situation? Why these Nazi’s are so cruel?”, this man did not bother, he did
not waste his time with those questions. He was just asking “How can I escape?” Then one day he got
the idea to mix with the corpses on the truck that unloaded them outside the
camp. That saved his life. When the corpses, along with him, were unloaded
outside the camp, he escaped.
Gita Cards
There
is a way to train ourselves and train our mind to ask empowering questions. I
have something called Gita Cards, that have short texts with questions and
quotes by Srila Prabhupada. One of the cards is called “Ask the right question”. If you find the right question about any
situation then it is a very powerful success tool which increases the likelihood
of success in that situation.
Effective Questions
There
are questions that waste time, e.g., “Why
others are not perfect?” That type
of question is a waste of time because you can’t do much about it (unless you
can influence them and they can accept what you tell them).
Better
than asking why others are imperfect you can ask “How can I improve?” or “How
can I influence them?”, if you want them to change. In this way you can
learn what questions are most effective and use them.
One
question that my audiences like in my seminars (sometimes it’s a wake up moment)
is when I ask them “What do you want in
your life, excuses or results?” Sometimes half the audience is being moved
with it and they think “Oh my God, this
is a question for me!”
Focus
People
ask “How can I be more focused? How can I
become more focused on what I want to do, without my mind being distracted?”
I recommend that you ask yourself the right question. The good question
immediately changes your focus, makes you refocus on your highest priorities,
on what matters most to you. For example, if you find yourself lost during the
day or you have too much to do, or you have nothing to do, you can ask yourself
a wonderful question “What is the most
valuable use of my time right now?”
Create Questions
One
thing we can do individually is create questions that will inspire us or uplift
us. Some devotees like to ask in the morning “How can I serve today or how can I contribute today? What can I give today?” The day then
starts in a wonderful way regarding your activities for the day.
There
are devotees who sometimes fall into self-pity or they are not happy with what
they have in their lives. I advise them to ask themselves in the morning “What am I grateful for?” I ask them to write down 10 things they are
grateful for.
You
can also ask this wonderful question “Who
are the people in my life that I love, who mean a lot to me?” This also
changes your focus from being negative, depressed and in the scarcity mentality
to understand what you already have.
I
have caught myself so many times where I feel everything is there but I feel
there is something lacking. Then if I look around I can find so many things
that I need and I think “I don’t have
this, I don’t have that”. But then if I look around a little more and think
about who can help me and what is already, then I realize that everything or
most if it is already there.
An Amazing Story
This
is a true story about a man called W. Mitchell. He survived an aeroplane
accident where he was heavily injured and it took him a very long time to
recover. He was very determined to recover and he did. Then he had another (a
motorcycle) accident where half of his body and face were burned. He became a
complete invalid. While he was in hospital he was very determined, he had a
very strong mind. He didn’t lament and ask “Why
this has happened to me?” Instead,
he asked “How can I use this?” There
was a beautiful nurse that was caring for him and he was asking himself “How can I go on a date with her?” His
roommates laughed at him said “You are
crazy, you’re like a piece of flash!” But he was asking this question and
gradually they developed a relationship and this lady is now his wife. Also,
another unbelievable thing is that this man is now a motivational speaker. He
goes in a wheel chair on a stage. He does not have fingers, he is still an
invalid and his face is still burned but he teaches people how to be happy and
successful. So he asked a different question in a difficult situation.
A Starting Question
When
I ask people questions, one of the most difficult questions is “What do I want?” This question can be presented
in many different versions such as “What
one great thing would you dare to dream if you knew you could not fail?” There
are many reasons why this type of question is the most difficult. One of them
is fear of failure or fear of success.
People
sometimes don’t know what they want or they are afraid to admit what they want.
They then supress it. They can be afraid to admit it for many reasons, e.g., the
desire may not be 100% pure, or they don’t think it’s achievable, or they fear
they will get it, and then what? For example, if someone wants fame but they
are afraid to admit it, they might think “What
if I become famous? Then I am in trouble”.
A Precious Discovery
One
question I like to ask when someone comes to me with a problem is “How
would you solve this problem if you were super intelligent?” Or another
question I ask is “If you were a world
expert on these problems how would you solve it?” Then I ask them to come up with 10 solutions.
I had this session with a devotee and I asked him to find five solutions for
his problem. At first he was reluctant but then he surrendered to the exercise.
When I came back he was smiling. He was very happy that he had found his own
solutions to his issue. So then I said you not a world expert anymore you are
yourself again and I want you to find the best excuse for each of the
solutions. I went out for 5-10 minutes, when I came back he was laughing
uncontrollably. I asked him “What
happened?” He replied “I just
realised I have been sabotaging myself my whole life”. He had five nice
solutions which he came up with and he also had five best excuses for each of
those solutions. He was laughing at how ridiculous his excuses were. You can
discover how the mind works and how the mind creates these excuses, why something
cannot be done.
Why It Can Be Done?
Once
I said to the devotees “I am not
impressed when you tell me why something cannot be done. But instead you tell
me how something impossible can be done, tell me how it can be accomplished and
the steps involved”. We know from the scriptures that anything is possible
by Krsna’s mercy and the mercy of the Vaisnavas. So if we properly connect and
ask the right questions we can achieve amazing things.
What Else?
There
is a powerful question that expands options. The question is “What else is possible? What else can I do?”
You can always expand the number of options that you have about any issue, any
problem you wan to solve, or result you want to achieve by simply asking “What else?” In this way you expand the
possibilities and options.
Start A Day
I
recommend starting a day with a good question, like “How can I please Srila Prabhupada today, or how I can please Krsna
today, or how can I serve the devotees today?” These are simple question but they can help a
lot to define what we will do during the day. I think we are made in such a way
that if we do not improve constantly we cannot be happy. You can do anything to
please yourself, but if you don’t work on your character, your skills or your
ability to please Krsna you cannot be happy.
Turnaround Question
The
last powerful question that is very practical and relevant is the one we can
ask when we face any problem. It is “How
can I turn this problem into an opportunity?” Turning problems into
opportunities is a very important skill. We face problems all the time, but
instead of allowing problems to overwhelm us and think that these problems are
there to destroy or crush us we can actually turn them around and use them to learn,
to grow, to develop, and ultimately to become successful.
Questions To Satisfy The Soul
Srila
Prabhupada writes in the Srimad Bhagavatam Purport (SB 1.2.5) that satisfaction
of the soul can only be obtained by questions and answers on the subject of
Krsna. In the ultimate issue, we want to ask questions that will help us make
spiritual advancement and please Krsna and His devotees. We may use the above
questions, and many other powerful questions, to transform our lives and gradually
attain the ultimate goal of life.
If you would like to have a seminar on
questions in your community, contact Akrura dasa on akrura@gmail.com
The
seminar is called: Excellent Questions
For Excellent Life. The Power Point Presentation and outline are
available on request. For more spiritual and professional ideas and tools visit
Gita Coaching blog: http://gitacoaching.blogspot.com/
