The first aphorism of Brahma Sutra is Athato Brahma Jijnasa where Athato means after this, Brahma means the supreme reality, and jijnasa means strong desire to know. So, this first aphorism translates into After THIS, one can have a strong desire to know the supreme reality.

Then the obvious doubt comes to mind is what actually refers to THIS in the above sentence. Do we need to have any kind of qualification to have a desire to know the supreme reality or our inner self.

worshipping.So, to avoid this confusion, they need to meditate on the the idol or photo or letter of their prefered GOD daily at any time(same time daily will be more preferable).By meditating daily one can feel the glimpse of merging of his spiritual guru with the GOD he is meditating.It is tough to achieve, but one can feel it by daily meditation and avoiding any disturbance while doing it.

So, let us keep trying it and feel this joy of the merging process and then only we can think that we have put our first tiny footprint in this ignored path of our life.

Let us discuss it elaborately thorough examples to understand this complex sentence.

One can have a desire for the job, after completing his/her studies, one can desire for any material thing(house, car, or any other material property) after having a certain amount of money and so on. Apart from these possessions and qualifications, one should be aware of the fact that how life will be better with a particular positive desire.

So THIS refers to the fulfillment of all the desires for sense gratification. Once an individual is done with the bodily or worldly desires, then the enquiry for Brahma needs to take place. Because a person who does not have food and shelter for himself, he just cannot think of anything other than this bare minimum necessity. All his struggle will be for a better environment where he can fill his stomach. So, after fulfillment of all these small yet basic desires, one can think and enquire about the very source from where he came from.

Those people who cannot understand beyond the bodily conception, they cannot reveal the ultimate or supreme goal of life. To understand it, one has to detach himself from all materialistic things. And human beings have the ability to enquire about the Absolute Truth, which animals can not do.Human beings are intelligent enough to ask several questions like what they are, why they have come into the world, what is the purpose of life, who is the supreme controller, what is the difference between static and moving entity, etc. A living entity is always connected with a certain amount of intelligence, but in the human form of life, the living entity must inquire about his spiritual identity. It is said that one who is simply conscious of the body is no better than an animal, even though he be in the human form.

So, if one has fulfilled the basic requirements, then he should move ahead to reveal the real and ultimate truth. And the first step is to have a strong desire or Jijnasa for Brahma.