Shraddhaavaan labhathe jnanam

[Guest guest]

Harih Om Jaishankarji:

 

Your quotation, "Shraddhaavaan labhathe jnanam' (Gita, Chapter 4, Verse 39)

is quite an important one. The Sanskrit word, Shraddhaa is much more than the

meaning attributable to the English words ‘belief' or ‘faith.' The word

Shraddhaa implies the combined attributes of the three words - faith (belief),

devotion and discipline. Thanks for bringing this important fact to the

attention of the list. We are grateful to you for your fine article. Please

also include the Website address for the benefit of interested members.

 

Now let me turn our attention back to Verse 39:

 

Shraddhaavaan labhate jnanam tatparah samyatendriyah

jnanam labdhva param santim acirena ‘dhigachati.

 

The person who is full of faith, devotion and discipline who subdued the

senses obtains this Knowledge: and having obtained Knowledge he goes along to

the Supreme Peace. Sri Chinmayanandaji in his commentary rightly points out

that ‘shraddhaa' is not ‘blind faith.' According to Chinmayanandaji, Shankara

explains sraddhaa as "that by which an individual understands readily the

exact import of the scriptural text as well as the pregnant words of advices

of the precptor." He further argues that those who misunderstand ‘shraddhaa'

as ‘blind faith' will not progress.

>From Vedic time, in the Gurukul system of education, shraddhaa is quite

essential. In the Gurukul the students (disciples) and the teachers (Guru)

learn together with shraddhaa. In the Gurukul system, learning is a two-way

street - teachers to students and vice-versa. We are quite fortunate that we

are able to maintain this tradition in the Cyberspace through the advaitin

list. Without shraddhaa, we may not open our email and the question of

‘knowledge' doesn't arise. No one should hesitate to ask any statement that is

not clear. Shraddhaa here implies that everyone in this list should

participate in the discussion sometime or other.

 

Besides this verse, shraddhaa also appears in Verse 23 of Chapter 16. Also the

entire theme of chapter 17 is shraddhaa.

 

In summary, I want to reinforce the idea of shraddhaa for all the list

members. I suggest that the list members can benefit a lot by reading the

following pledge from Chinmaya Mission:

 

We stand as on family bound to each other with love and respect,

We serve as an army courageous and disciplined

Ever ready to fight against all low tendencies and false values within and

without us.

We live honestly the noble life of sacrifice and service

Producing more than what we consume and giving more than what we take.

We seek the Lord's grace to keep us on the path of virtue courage and wisdom,

May Thy grace and Blessing flow through us to the world around us.

We believe that the service of this universe is the service of the Lord of

Lords and

Devotion to the people is the devotion to the Supreme Self.

We know our responsibilities; give us the ability and courage to fulfill them.

OM TAT SAT

 

with warm regards,

 

Ram Chandran

 

--- Jaishankar Narayanan wrote:

> Dear friends,

>

>

> Giving this status of Pramanam to the veda is very

> important because otherwise

> what it reveals wont be knowledge and it will only

> be a speculation. And with

> speculations you cant gain Moksha - Freedom from

> limitations, but with

> knowledge you will. But it is upto you to use the

> Veda as a Pramanam. That is

> why Krsna says " Shraddhaavaan labhathe jnanam' -

> 'The one with Shraddhaa gains

> knowledge'.