Faith and Patience

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Faith and Patience

 

" Shraddha or devotional faith is the most difficult state of mind to achieve. If

one has absolute faith in his Guru then sooner or later he will even look like

the Guru with all His attributes. However, the seed of faith takes a lot of time

to generate and to grow. It may take years or even a few lives. Full faith in

Baba does not come, as quickly as one desires it to be like Shravan, Kirtan,

Poojan, Dhyana, etc. The Navavidha Bhakti i.e. the multifold type of bhakti is

not bhakti per se. They are either methods of bhakti or reflections of bhakti or

both. Further, externality of devotion may not necessarily indicate the

internality of devotion.

 

Some people, at times say that only if Baba desires then bhakti will grow in

their hearts. By saying so they make Baba responsible for generating bhakti in

them. In the ultimate analysis it is true that Baba generates bhakti in a

devotee's heart. But, if the person so desiring conducts himself in a manner

that Baba desires, then the type of bhakti he seeks will certainly be generated

by Him. If one starts praying to Baba for bhakti and yet continues to conduct

himself in an unethical manner forbidden by Baba, then how do we expect Baba to

generate bhakti in his mind? To this some people say that even bad conduct is

created by God and unless He desires this can't be controlled. This time also

the burden is squarely on Baba or God and the devotee does not want to take any

responsibility even for his own conduct. Even under these circumstances Baba can

control his conduct and generate bhakti in him, provided he leaves all other

aspects of his life on Him

and awaits patiently for Him to guide his destiny. Faith or surrender means

leaving everything on Baba - body, mind and soul. But partial surrender will

lead to partial bhakti, and its partial results only. If one is sincere enough

and fully surrenders to Baba then He will control his desires and conduct.

 

Under these circumstances neither he should work nor seek anything himself but

leave everything to Baba in totality. Then, if he is prepared to bear the

consequence of this state of utter inaction then Baba will certainly control his

conduct and give him the type of Shraddha he seeks. There are many examples of

many devotees in Shirdi, at the time of Baba, who had left everything on Sai

including all their material and spiritual needs, and Baba did provide these to

them. If one cannot come to this state of utter inaction then, he should go by

the normal path of Navavidha Bhakti and should be responsible for his own

conduct to start with. God has given enough intelligence to human beings in

comparison to animals, to discriminate between good and evil. Such practice will

slowly but definitely grow devotion in him imperceptibly.

 

However, this slow growth means waiting patiently under all circumstances on the

mercy of Baba, which is nothing but Saburi. Saburi is, therefore, an essential

factor for the generation, sustenance and growth of devotion. Both faith and

patience are complementary to each other. Faith without patience will bring loss

of faith at frequent intervals of time and will not allow its growth. Similarly,

only patience, without actual faith, is an exercise in futility. A balance in

both will bring about even growth of both in a person.

 

Faith again means trying to do what we have been asked to do by Baba and resist

from doing what has been forbidden by Him. Even if we fail a number of times it

does not matter, the main point is whether we are using our God given faculties

to their maximum limits. When we want to use our faculties, time and energy for

getting close to Baba we have to cut down on many other activities. Therefore,

the person who wants closeness with Baba should always try to reduce the

non-productive, capricious and non-essential activities like late night parties,

addiction of any type, uncontrolled thought, speech or action, etc. Such

improvements will not only gradually control the mind but will also save time

and energy for more purposive and creative activities, like study on Sri

Sainath, meditation on Baba and His worship in any form. The devotees should

always try to improve their inner qualities of patience, faith, tolerance,

egolessness, and gradually, closeness

with Baba will increase. But, the most important two qualities which are

fundamental, as often said by Baba, are " Shraddha and Saburi " .