FAITH
Will, Faith, and Confidence are the elementary factors which contribute to an easy success on the path of realization.
The other important factor of a spiritual life is faith in the Master, for as I have already said before, the help of a capable master is indispensable for higher spiritual attainments. He is the only medium through whom the divine impulse comes to an aspirant.
We must never follow anyone blindly having been attracted towards him by his outward imposition and display of knowledge. For proper judgment of the true merits of a man we must take into account his practical attainments in the spiritual field. We must seek in him the real thing we crave for. When we are thus convinced, we naturally begin to feel an inward attraction for him and think him to be the very person who can shape our destiny. The feeling gradually develops into faith and we begin to love him. We submit to his views with due regard to his personality and proceed along the path under his guidance. The experience of achievements gained during the course convinces us further of the extraordinary capacities of the master and we begin to look upon him as a superhuman being. Our faith now is greatly helpful to us in our spiritual progress. It dispels clouds of doubt and uncertainty and removes difficulties and obstructions from our path.
Faith is really the foundation of the entire structure of spirituality. Faith in Reality, faith in the right course you have adopted for realization, faith in the worthy Master whom you have submitted to, this is the rock upon which you must build your edifice of spirituality if you really aim at success. You will thereby be possessed of an internal force strong enough to shatter all the forces of evil that might be surrounding you. It will help you to draw fresh divine impulse whenever you require it.
Faith, in true sense, is a lively link connecting the mortal with the Immortal. It is no doubt effected through the medium of the Master who is himself connected with the Immortal. The link when once connected cannot be broken under any condition and subsists all along during the course of our march up to final point. It is one of the six Sampattis of the third Sadhana of Yoga. At this stage, faith is real and genuine and is so firmly established that a man cannot even for a moment get away from it. Before this stage, faith is really artificial and is formed, lost or regained many a time for a variety of reasons. A worthy master shall never rely upon it and shall put up with all the emotional outbursts of love and devotion of a disciple, looking forward patiently for the time when he comes up to the final stage of Shraddha (faith) as depicted in the four Sadhanas of Yoga when the real faith begins to assume the form of self-surrender.
True faith is really an unspeakable virtue which is beyond the scope of religion, it is the dauntless courage which leads us on to success, it is that ubiquitous force which makes our path smooth, it is in fact the only thing that solves our problem of life.
(Shri Ram Chandra, Reality at Dawn, excerpts from chapter 6)
Now comes a very interesting speculation that I had to once indulge in. I have faith in my Master, let us say, total faith, yet many things go wrong with my existence. A child who is very sick, I pray for - the child dies. A business which is well thought out, well planned, with good capital investment, every parameter of success assured yet success eludes. One begins to judge faith by the results. Now I have come to the conclusion that belief is the ability to believe in that which is possible. Faith is the ability to believe in that which is impossible. So according to my understanding of Sahaj Marg, my understanding of faith, faith is essentially the ability to believe in the impossible.
Every act of faith in some mysterious way releases His powers, with or without His consciousness. It is not necessary that the Master should be conscious of what is going on. So, it is a faith in Faith itself I should say: Because when we have no faith in Faith, we cannot have Faith! "No, no Sir, this is a situation which has gone beyond faith." How can any situation go beyond faith? For instance, "Faith can move mountains." 'Mountains' is a nonliving material, conglomerate of matter. If you can move a mountain by faith, can't you move a human heart by faith?
We are all intellectually faithful. We all believe in faith: "Yes Sir, I am very faithful to my wife. But this is the first act of infidelity!" .So, when there is no faith in That, on what are you going to have faith? So, we have been taught to believe with the mind. True faith must emanate from the heart...
I would like to suggest that every time you are anxious of what the Master is going to do for you or has done for you or will do for you, it is an act of mistrust, lack of faith in the Master. It is a direct hit at his capacity to know what we need and when we need it, and to fulfill that need...
When we have faith, miracles are possible; when we believe, only mundane things are possible; when we trust, human relations are possible. This elevates the concept of faith to, shall we say, a divine level where by having faith, the very act of having faith seems to mobilize the resources of the universe, what you can call the resources of God Himself.
I am reminded of a story about my Grand Master Lalaji Maharaj. One of his advanced pupils, very advanced pupil, senior, got into bad company and started drinking. For three months he was away. He could not face his Master. One day Lalaji Saheb asked his other disciples. "Where is this fellow? Why doesn't he come to see me?" He knew - obviously - great people know everything! They were afraid to tell him. How to tell stories about another co brother, gurubhai (disciple of the same guru)? So they all looked here, looked there, scratched their heads and said, "Nahi, nahi, kuchh bath hogi." (No, no, there must be something). He said, "Go and bring that fellow to me."
They brought him. He fell at his feet and started weeping. "What is wrong that you are weeping?" He said, "Saheb, Guruji, I have fallen into bad ways, I have started drinking." He said, "For this small thing, you have been away from me for three months." Now, the disciple was astonished. He thought he had done a big crime. So Lalaji told him, "Doesn't matter, you can go on drinking but only on one condition: every time you drink, think I am drinking."
Now here also there are two aspects. This man went - he thought, "What a wonderful guru I have got!" went into the pub, ordered a glass of beer, I suppose, started drinking. Suddenly he remembered he has to think of his Master. He said, "This is Lalaji drinking." He could not retain what he drank; it was thrown out. He tried the second time; it was thrown off. He stopped. He could not drink after that. He had faith.
The rest of us, we say, "Very good, I have got permission to drink, my Master has said I have to think that he is drinking. Well, here you are, old fellow, you are drinking," and you drink. Nothing happens. You become more and more drunkard. In everything we have to have this faith. If He says, "Think I am drinking," you must be really able to think with your heart that He is drinking. Then it works. If you use it as an excuse to continue drinking, it shall also work. With the guru's blessings you will become a drunkard very soon. You will destroy yourself very soon. That is perhaps Nature's way of giving quickly a second opportunity to redeem yourself in the shape of another life. It cannot be escaped, this law, that if you have no faith nothing shall work for you.
(Shri P. Rajagopalachari, excerpts from Salient Features of Sahaj Marg, Vol. 6)
