Faith, the greatest thing

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Faith is sraddha. Faith is the greatest thing in the world. Even the

greatest philosopher has faith as his stronghold. No intellectualism

can prove good if it is unsupported by faith. The whole world stands

on faith, is guided by faith.

 

Religion has faith as its root. One cannot prove God if he has no

faith in God. And this faith is the outcome of samskaras (past mental

impressions). Faith is guided by impressions of actions done in

previous births.

 

Blind faith should be turned into rational faith through

understanding. Bhakti (devotion) is the development of faith. Jnana

(self-knowledge) is the development of bhakti. Faith leads to the

final experience. Whatever a person strongly believes in, that he

experiences and that he becomes.

 

This whole world is a product of faithful imagination. If you have no

faith in the world, the world does not exist. If you have no faith in

sensual pleasure, you will not get pleasure from sensual objects. If

you have no faith in God, you will never reach perfection. Wrong

faith can even turn existence into non-existence. Faith is the

fundamental necessity for spiritual sadhana (practice).

 

Aspiration is a development of faith. The flame of faith burns as the

conflagration of spiritual aspiration for moksa (liberation). The

devotee longs to have union with the beloved - he has no sleep, no

rest. He always contemplates how to attain the object of his love. He

prays, he sings, he gets mad with his Lord. Divine madness overtakes

the devotee and he completely loses his personality in the aspiration

for attaining God. This is called self-surrender.

 

You must have an ideal to live for - otherwise you will be heedless,

depressed and negative. Understand well before you take a step. Have

a clear cut ideal and then have right attempt. Faith in God, faith in

oneself, faith in the guru (preceptor), faith in the wise teachings,

faith in all that is good and noble - this is the sap of life.

 

FAITH VERSUS REASON

 

Faith is first and reason is second. Faith is life and doubt is

death. Reason is powerless to know God. Faith alone takes one to God.

He who has faith has everything. He who has no faith has nothing.

Have intense, unswerving faith - in the measure in which you have

faith, you will achieve.

 

Faith brings God closer and reason puts Him far away. Faith is not

blind belief - it grows out of the wisdom of the heart. Do total

surrender to the Lord - keep nothing back, not even a little pride.

Surrender yourself and your all to the Lord.

 

Say to the Lord: " O Lord! Give me only that which is best for me,

because only you know what that is. " A life of faith and devotion and

of absolute faith in the name of the Lord will always be successful

in the long run. Through love, faith and devotion alone is God-

realisation possible.

 

Prayer releases God's power. It should consist of confession, praise

and petition. Prayer is a spiritual tonic - it purges the mind of all

its impurities - such as desire, attachment, anger, lust, etc. It

also strengthens a man's aspiration and brings him closer to God. It

brings him into the presence of God.

 

Pray to the Lord for strength and help as soon as you get out of bed

in the morning. Satsanga (the company of holy men), faith, single-

minded devotion to one's ideal, intense love for God, bhava

(feeling), and prema (divine love) bring the devotee face to face

with God.

 

Trust in the Lord with all thy heart. Acknowledge him in all thy

ways. He will direct thy spiritual path. God helps the sincere

aspirant at every step. God will help you too. He will bless you,

inspire you and throw light upon the path. Never mind about the

external environments. Create your own internal environments,

wherever you are.

 

BALANCE OF MIND

 

Samadhana is mental balance. There is perfect concentration now. This

is the fruit of the practices of sama (control of mind), dama

(control of the senses), uparati (turning away), titiksa (endurance)

and sraddha (faith). It is fixing the mind on atman (self) without

allowing it to run towards objects and have its own way. It is self-

settledness. Sri Sankaracharya defines in " Atma-Anatma

Viveka " : " Whenever a mind engaged in sravana (hearing) and the rest

wanders to any worldly object or desire, and finding it worthless,

returns to the performance of the three exercises – such returning is

called samadhana. "

 

The mind is free from anxiety amid pains. There is indifference amid

pleasures. There is stability of mind or mental poise. The aspirant

or practitioner lives without attachment. He neither likes nor

dislikes. He has a great deal of strength of mind and internal peace.

He has unruffled supreme peace of mind.

 

Some aspirants have peace of mind when they live in seclusion, when

there are no distracting elements or factors. They complain of great

tossing of mind (viksepa) when they come to a city, when they mix

with people. They are completely upset. They cannot do any meditation

in a crowded place, This is a weakness. This is not achievement in

samadhana. There is no balance of mind or equanimity in these

persons. Only when a student can keep his balance of mind even in a

battlefield when there is a shower of bullets all round, as he does

in a solitary cave in the Himalayas, can he be really said to be

fully established in samadhana.

 

Lord Krishna says in the Gita: " Perform all actions, O Dhananjaya,

dwelling in union with the divine, renouncing attachments, and

balanced evenly in success and failure. " This is samadhana. Again you

will find in the Gita: " The disciplined self, moving among the sense

objects with senses freed from attraction and repulsion, mastered by

the self, goeth to peace. " This is also samadhana.

 

(Source: http://sivanandaonline.org/html/)