“Have faith and you will achieve everything.”
Faith plays a much bigger role in our lives than we imagine. Life would come to a standstill without faith. Referring to religions as “faiths” and restricting the word to religious matters has led to ignoring how pervasive faith is in our daily lives. We use public transport (with faith that whoever is flying our plane or driving our bus is alert and careful), we eat in restaurants (with faith that the food won’t make us sick), we take elevators (with faith that they won’t crash), we make investments (with faith that they will provide good returns). We may think that all of these are reasonable things to do, and they are, but none of us knows in advance how they’ll turn out. We do them anyway. It is faith and hope that power our actions, and reason often plays only a secondary role.
But faith can be shaken or even lost due to a bad experience, especially a traumatic one. This happens often in varied contexts throughout our lives. There is, however, something else which looks like faith but, once it arrives, it is never shaken and never lost. Think of it as a profound kind of faith, call it “deep faith” if you like. In Sanskrit it is called śraddhā. To understand śraddhā, the sixth among the “six treasures,” let us turn to Śrī Śaṅkarācārya in his Vivekacūḍāmaṇi, 25:
शास्त्रस्य गुरुवाक्यस्य सत्यबुध्यवधारणम् । सा श्रद्धा कथिता सद्भिर्यया वस्तूपलभ्यते ॥
Śāstrasya guru-vākyasya satya-buddhi-avadhāraṇam,
Sā śraddhā kathitā sadbhiḥ yayā vastu-upalabhyate.
“The wise say that deep faith, by means of which the Real is attained, means accepting as authentic the words of the scripture and of one’s teacher.”
The definition unequivocally affirms that deep faith is a means to attaining the Real (vastu), which is how Brahman or God (īśvara) is sometimes referred to. Deep faith is often thought of as the most vital requirement to even begin the spiritual quest.
Why is it so important to accept as authentic the words of the scripture (śāstra) and one’s teacher (guru)? It is important because, without deep faith in their authenticity, why would I even want to study the scripture or follow the teacher? Would I really give my all to spiritual life or invest myself fully into it if I wasn’t sure that it would lead me to God? The efforts of a cynical, doubting mind inevitably fall short. A half-hearted attempt seldom gives us the success we seek.
Accepting the scripture and the teacher as authentic doesn’t mean following them blindly. Gullibility is no virtue in spiritual life, but nor is cynicism. It is possible to be alert so we are never taken for a ride and, at the same time, open to learning and growing. At the very least, it means to accept the teaching as a working hypothesis that we can verify through our own experience—and to reserve the right to reject it if it doesn’t work for us. In the case of Vedanta, the teaching has been around for centuries. It has transformed lives for the better and led earnest seekers to spiritual enlightenment. That makes it much easier to accept the teaching and the practice as authentic.
But deep faith is never really the result of a deliberative process. It is seldom something that we have to take a decision on. The arrival of deep faith in the heart happens on its own. For some, it is gentle, so gradual that they may not even realize it when it happens. For others, it can be an aha! moment and feel like a miracle. We don’t really get to choose how and when deep faith arrives and envelops our life. But when it does, life changes for us. Accepting the scripture and the teacher then feels natural and effortless.
Deep faith is not a function of the intellect or of emotions. It is not an idea or a feeling. Deep faith is a mysterious and powerful force dwelling deep within us. It is something in the gut, so to speak, that says, “yes, it’s true”—about God, the scripture and the teacher. The power (śakti) embedded in deep faith is divine in nature and is present in all beings:
या देवी सर्वभूतेषु श्रद्धारूपेण संस्थिता । नमस्तस्तस्यै, नमस्तस्तस्यै, नमस्तस्तस्यै, नमो नम: ॥
Yā devī sarva-bhuteṣu śraddhā-rūpeṇa saṁsthitā,
Namas-tasyai, namas-tasyai, namas-tasyai, namo namaḥ.
“Salutations again and again to the Divine Mother that abides in all beings in the form of deep faith.” (Durgā Saptaśati, 5. 50-52)
It is deep faith that generates both the motivation and the energy to pursue truth. We get a glimpse of it in the life of Naciketā when “deep faith entered into him” (śraddhā āviveśa, Kaṭha Upaniṣad, 1.1.2) and no temptations could distract him (1.1.23-25) from his single-minded quest to solve the mystery of death and beyond. At the end of the teaching, Naciketā became “free from impurities and death and attained Brahman” (2.3.18).
It is difficult to explain to others, especially to skeptics, the phenomenon of deep faith. In the beginning we have no personal experience of God. Nor do we have any objective evidence to convince others. Quoting from a scripture is useless if the other person doesn’t see the text as worthy of total trust. The only way deep faith can be shared is through the power of one’s own life. When deep faith transforms us into better versions of ourselves, those who notice the change can clearly see the immense power of faith—and that can encourage them to take it more seriously than they did before. There are, of course, countless examples in history of extraordinary people of deep faith and their spiritual attainments, but it may not mean much to a skeptic. To a doubting mind, everything is suspect, only the doubt is real.
But if deep faith arrives on its own, do I just have to keep waiting for its arrival? Is there anything I can do to make it come sooner? There are at least two things within my control.
Although it feels as if deep faith appears out of nowhere, it really is—as we have seen— already present in every heart. I remain unaware of it because I am too preoccupied with matters of this world that somehow feel more important, more urgent, more pressing. If there is anything at all beyond this world, I feel that it can wait, since it is hidden anyway in the dark cloud of the unknown, invisible future. The problem is that I don’t know when the cloud will disperse, the seemingly distant future will suddenly become the immediate present, and I’ll find myself near the gaping mouth of death approaching rapidly to swallow me. It may be too late then to do anything.
Now is the time to do whatever needs to be done. Wherever I am now is the place where the process must begin. There is no time like now. There is no place like here. Even while I am busy with my life, I should be aware that all of the things, no matter how important and urgent they seem, are going to disappear when I die. My last moment can come any time, probably sooner than I imagine. What then? What’s next for me? Do I step into the unknown darkness, terrified and unsure—or do I want to step into the divine effulgence, breathing the fresh air of freedom with joy in my heart? Even a little bit of foresight makes us aware of the urgency of the spiritual quest and that helps in removing complacency, which is a major obstacle to deep faith.
Another obstacle is the crust of cynicism that tends to cover the mind as I navigate my way through life. Bitterness, anger, frustration, the sense of being cheated, or of being deprived of what I deserve, or of being scalded by the seeming injustices around me—all of this is enough to make me feel so hopeless and cynical that I may no longer believe that goodness and honor, kindness and love, do exist. It is true that the world has an ugly side and that some people can be awful, but it is important to remind myself that there are also people who are truly good, sincere, honest, trustworthy.
Trying to see goodness even in the midst of a hopeless situation is in itself a powerful, even if difficult, practice. We have to be careful not to allow ourselves to be cheated or exploited or abused. We need to be strong, but we also need to trust that essentially human beings are good. That’s our real nature. If we look deeply, it’s not too difficult to find the light of hope even in the darkness of a dire situation. If we are looking for goodness, we’ll find it. If we are looking for love, we’ll find that too.
Sooner or later we all find what we are looking for. It’s up to us to look for the right things in the right places. That is the only way to not being infected by negativity and cynicism, despondency and depression. It is possible to live peacefully and happily, without hurting others or allowing others to hurt us. If we can manage to remain positive no matter what, we succeed in removing another layer that covers the deep faith already present in our hearts.
In this way, being good ourselves and striving to see goodness everywhere and in everyone, remaining alert and hopeful but never taking life for granted, hastens the emergence of deep faith. What does it do when it arrives? A lot really.
Deep faith brings about a profound change, such as a growing awareness of inner stability, calmness and hope. The faith is “deep” but without the combativeness we see in a fanatic. A person with deep faith is the opposite of a fanatic, because deep faith brings enormous breadth of vision, the spirit of understanding and acceptance. When deep faith engages with the intellect, it brings clarity and conviction. When deep faith engages with the heart, it fills it with devotion for God or the spiritual ideal. When deep faith engages with the will, it works in two ways. Internally, it spurs deeper reflection; externally, it converts work into worship.
Deep faith is at the root of every spiritual discipline, whether it takes the form of philosophical inquiry (jñāna yoga) or love for God (bhakti yoga) or contemplation (raja yoga) or selfless service (karma yoga), or a combination of two or more or all of these. Without deep faith, none of these is possible. With deep faith, nothing is impossible. Deep faith galvanizes us. It kickstarts our spiritual life.
When followed up by sustained practice, deep faith matures into a direct encounter with the Divine. When we started out, it was deep faith that held our hand and it was spiritual practice that guided us through the darkness of ignorance. Deep faith and dedicated practice, each supporting the other, take us beyond the “doing” part of spirituality to “being” the spirit. This occurs through spiritual absorption (samādhi), when the fog clears and we encounter the Divine—inside, outside, above, below, everywhere. The “I” disappears and the Divine alone remains. We have reached the end of the tunnel and emerged into the bright sunshine of wisdom and freedom. Deep faith has done its job. It now disappears as mysteriously as it once appeared. It’s no longer needed.
Nothing is needed any more. We need what we lack. When we lack nothing, we need nothing. Needs are a sign of bondage. Freedom implies no needs, no duties, no limitations. Nothing more needs to be done other than just being. Being our true selves. Awake, peaceful, happy. Just being who we are, unbounded by time and space, missing nothing and no one, being everything and everyone.
It all begins with deep faith.
from Vedanta Blog - Vedanta Society https://ift.tt/i7rvGkU