How to ask the right question?

The following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

Question: My question is: what to ask and how to ask? What is the question? My only quest is: what to seek?

Acharya Prashant (AP): It is a beautiful situation. If one sees and admits forthrightly that there is a seeking but no clear image of the object to be sought — it a very honest point to begin with. Mostly, people begin with a pre-conceptualized image of what they want.

When you are already so adamant about what you want, then you cannot get anything other than you want.

What you want is just your own projections.

So, one stands at a particular place–let’s say this domain, this table is the expanse of the mind. The very question of question arises because one doesn’t like the boundaries, neither does one like much of what is within this expanse. But all that the mind knows is this (indicating the tabular surface). This is the mind — this dimension, this surface. All that the mind knows is this. So it would be arrogant rather preposterous for the mind to talk of anything beyond it.

But the so-called spiritual mind is fond of pointing to something that transcends it; pointing towards the beyond. That is not very wise, that is just a trick of the ego to claim that it knows…