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“Faith, in true sense, is a
lively link connecting the mortal with the
Immortal.” (Basic Writings of Sri Ramchandra
- page 250)
Sri. Vidyadhar Joshi
Dear Brothers and Sisters on the path,
I humbly present before you my understanding
of the topic of the seminar, "Faith, in true
sense, is a lively link connecting the
mortal with the Immortal." taken from the
the chapter "Faith" from Basic Writings of
Sri Ramchandra. First edition, page 250.
Wikipedia defines "faith" as
belief in the trustworthiness of an idea or
person. Sometimes the term is used
interchangeably with ones religion or ones
concept about God and related practices. As
against such definitions of faith, we find
Pujya Sri Ramchandraji Maharaj giving a
refreshingly new concept of "faith" being a
lively link connecting the mortal with the
Immortal. Master mentions in the preceding
paragraph of the same article of faith,
"Some people take a very erroneous view of
faith. They believe that faith alone is
enough to solve their problem of life no
matter what the path they have adopted, or
the guide they have submitted to might be.
Nothing probably can be more misleading than
this absurd belief. Is it ever possible for
a man to reach Calcutta by taking up just
the opposite direction?" Master here
stresses the need to adhere to a correct
path and that too under correct guidance. He
further states "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."
When faith in these three aspects is
sustained through proper sadhana, it leads
to faith of a different order.
Master has presented it in
the sense of a link. To me, this suggests
that such a faith has practical implication
where mortals like us feel in a lively
sense, our connection with the Master. It is
this feeling that grants us courage and
confidence to tread the path. Such feeling
has a practical base and is not derived out
of assumed beliefs. Master has graciously
given the Natural Path which includes the
support system of Pranahuti. Without any
sensory input, in silence, we feel, learn
and then learn to act based on this
feeling.
In this respect I would like
to quote Pujya Dr. K.C.Vardachari:
"In one sense then being
becomes the mode by which Being can be
apprehended or grasped or made real to
oneself. This is the meaning of anu-bhava,
which may be properly translated as
imperience rather than experience. It is an
in-tuition rather than intellection or
discursive and dichotamic dialectic."1
At no point one is asked to
merely adhere to a belief system, but
certainly by way of proper practice that
starts with trust, each one of us is
exhorted to verify the claims of the system
in our own transformation. Faith thus
developed cannot fall under the category of
"faith" as commonly understood to be just
trustworthiness of an idea or person.
Faith, in the sense of a link, is the result
of the transformational process that
continues to strengthen with Goal clarity
and proper sadhana under the guidance of a
worthy master. It is through such faith that
one believes with rigour, ones destiny of
"Complete Oneness with God" and also feels
movement towards the same in a practical
sense. The practical aspect of such faith
is that one feels dependency on the Master
more and more and accepts in the heart His
competency to guide our destiny. It is not
through intellectual deliberation that such
a faith is achieved.
In the beginning of the
article Master mentions
"Will, faith and confidence
are the elementary factors, which contribute
to an easy success on the path of
realization. Strong will to achieve reality
means that we are inwardly awakened to the
thought of recognizing Self. We proceed on
with the idea and select a path. The very
first thing to be looked to, seriously, is
that the path we select is the right one,
leading directly to our goal. It is,
therefore, quite essential to have in our
mind a clear and definite conception of the
final goal. Now the final goal of different
people may be different in many respects,
and consequently, means to achieve it may
also be different. We have thus to select
the right path leading directly to the final
goal for which we aspire."
Many of us who are now
practicing the Natural Path, to start with,
have trusted someone's word (a friend or
relative) or may have just responded to a
flyer or newspaper advertisement to attend
the Training Programme. Till that time we
have entertained some concept or notion
about God. The guided meditation in the
training programme is the first practical
experience we get. Calmness, peace,
lightness, happiness etc are common
descriptions of the experience of new
aspirants when they meditate on Divine Light
receiving Pranahuti from a competent
trainer. This is the first effort to impress
upon the aspirants that help can be had
practically through a worthy master who can
give a taste of what we yearn for. After the
aspirant is introduced, he must see for
himself, whether or not his mind gets
silenced to a certain extent as a result of
sittings with the trainer. It is only
through a calm and regulated mind one can
apprehend the Goal of Oneness with God,
which otherwise can be an intricate, complex
and highly abstract matter of philosophical
or intellectual deliberation which is of no
avail to a practical man. I quote here an
experiential extract of an aspirant from 3
truths & trillion doubts from the section
GENERAL CLARIFICATIONS page 249.
Union
1. Had some moments of complete
absorption with feeling of flow within.
After the meditation, felt strongly that the
moment of absorption, the state of which is
difficult to describe, I had was the taste
of Union with God and that is what is the
goal of life.
That is the taste or smell of the garden
of God. We in this system start with Yoga
and go on firming up our union with Him.
(This has close relationship with the system
of Hindu marriage where the union is
established first and then the process of
understanding and development of love
between the couple starts.) The link
with Divinity is established during the
process of introduction itself. The mortal
is connected to the Immortal. It is through
subsequent sadhana with the help of the
trainer that the aspirants does, that he
finds fruition of this link in core of his
own heart progressively getting stronger.
The will, faith and
confidence referred here is on part of the
aspirant. He must have faith and confidence
on his own efforts. If an aspirant maintains
earnestness and sincerity to practice the
methods as given in the system and seeks
help from the trainer, his own experience
will be the major factor in developing
faith.
Master states further:
"It is; therefore, absolutely necessary
at the very outset to try every possible
means to judge that the path you have
adopted for realization is really the right
one. Do not follow a path because it is the
oldest, for the oldest one may be most ill
suited to the changed conditions of the
world and the society. Do not follow a path
because it has been followed by the majority
of men, for the majority may not always be
right and is more often led by only a chosen
few, who, in all possibility might have been
misled. We must be thoroughly considerate in
judging the merits of a thing, applying all
possible means at our disposal. We should
never come to a hasty conclusion without due
consideration and trial, through the help of
reason and experience. When we are, finally
convinced of the merits of the thing we may
stick to it with faith and constancy. Faith
thus reposed shall be genuine and lasting
while faith promoted by inducement offered
by outwardly attractive features and display
of pretty materialistic achievements is no
faith at all but may rightly be termed as
persuasion. It has no stable foundation to
rest upon and disappears under ordinary
adverse circumstances."
The above paragraph talks about judging the
path on the basis of "anubhava" and not be
led by persuasion or outward show of
knowledge. It is a matter of personal
experience rather imperience alone that a
sadhaka verifies the system on the merit of
his/her anubhava or intuition provided he is
seeking only that which the system promises.
If the aspiration is for the
Highest and not anything petty, faith will
not get disturbed easily. Otherwise, faith
may get disturbed on account of petty
expectations of things and situations
happening in a certain way. Expectancy is
very bad in spirituality. He further states.
"It is consequently very essential for
every one to fix his eyes on Absolute
Reality with faith and confidence and to
adopt ways, helpful and conducive to Self
-realization. We then march on up to the
final point where we assume the same pure
form we had at the time of creation. For
that we have to renounce necessarily all our
belongings of Samskaras, Maya and egoism,
and grow lighter and lighter at every step.
Heaviness of mind or internal denseness
caused by gross forms of worship is thus a
great impediment to our spiritual
advancement and should be avoided. If they
maintain it with ever-increasing intensity
they remain entangled in the thorny bushes
of grossness and deception far removed from
the realm of perpetual bliss."
Further Master talks about
choosing the Goal as the highest even as He
stated in commandment 3. Here He also warns
about gross forms of worship that causes
denseness and heaviness of mind. We must
note that meditation on Divine Light in the
heart is the subtlest form of worship and
one derives his imperience through this
subtlest method within the heart. It must
also be noted that the introduction in the
system is very valuable as it makes it
possible to meditate on Divine Light.
As regards faith in the Master, He writes,
"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. It is, therefore, but essential
that the guide we select should be one of
highest capability and practical
attainments. To judge the real worth of the
guide we must associate with him for some
time trying and testing him by all means in
our power. When we are thus convinced of his
capabilities through reason and experience
we may accept him as our Master and submit
to his guidance."
To start with, an aspirant must have trust
in the methods and the Goal and his own
imperience. This is purely his call. The
Goal is apprehended intuitionally by the
taste one gets through Pranahuti. How does
one proceed from a level of trust towards
faith?
Master states in Silence
Speaks “If some
trust is put in the trainer, and some
benefit is felt due to him, this will begin
to develop faith in the heart of a real
seeker.”2
To test the worthiness of
master, He gives a suggestion "The
selection of such a worthy master is
certainly a problem. I may here indicate an
easy method of judging a worthy Guru
(Master). When you happen to come in contact
with one, try to understand whether or not
his association promotes in you a feeling of
peace and calmness, and the restless
tendencies of your mind seem to be silenced
for the time being at least, without causing
any weighty effect upon it. If it is so you
must thereby conclude that he can be a fit
person to help you in the solution of your
life-problem." 3
So we must corroborate our own experiences
and verify for ourselves whether or not this
has been validated by us. Once our own
imperience bears testimony of His statements
like above, it is the beginning of faith in
the worthy Master. Silence that is felt by
the aspirant is not ordinary. Also it is a
matter of experience for us that when we are
meditative and read His works, we feel
subtle vibrations, a sort of calmness and
resonance is felt within. We must have faith
in such experiences that the Master is so
easily accessible to us, ever willing to
take us on. We must sustain faith in such
worthy Master by keeping our orientation
towards Him.
He further writes:
"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 extra-ordinary
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."
Here we find that Master has mentioned 3
aspects of faith, Faith in Reality, Faith in
the right course you have adopted and Faith
in the worthy Master
Here we see faith in these factors as being
the foundation of the edifice of
spirituality. Master is so confident of His
method that He wants none of us to follow it
through persuasion but only after thoroughly
testing the merits of it. At the outset we
start with trust and when we follow the
method, we start to cross the boundary of
trust and move towards faith. The article
ends with the following paragraph.
"Faith, in true sense, is a lively link
connecting the mortal with the Immortal. It
is no doubt affected 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. The
reasons for this are, however, beyond his
understanding. 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."
When we find that we sustain
faith in Reality by observing steadfastly
commandment 3, we sustain faith in the right
course by reposing faith in our own
imperience and subsequently adopting the
practice of the path with correctness, and
we sustain faith in worthy Master whose
valuable support we receive through
Pranahuti, which again is a matter of
imperience, it is then that we feel a lively
link with Master. We feel His presence in us
and stoking us at every moment to move
further and farther. We feel His call in us
and the cherished Goal within our reach.
Diary writing is very important in this
aspect to note down the developments in
attitudes and observe truely what changes we
feel in the heart. I feel it helps in
development of faith that is based on our
own practice and not intellectual
persuasion.
Surely we feel lot of struggle, conflicts in
our life seemingly coming in the way, but by
remembering presence of Master in our heart
and following His commandments, in small
steps we learn to feel dependent on Him than
on anything else. The link that is
established during introduction of an
abhyasi finds its fruition in the awareness
of our dependency on Master and seeking only
Him as our cherished goal of life. Our
mortal being is then not isolated but feels
the vibrancy of the company of Master in the
deep core of our heart. Such an awareness
makes living lively which hitertho cannot be
called living at all. It is this link that
we remind ourselves everyday by starting our
day meditating on Divine Light in the heart.
The feelings of deep silence, calmness,
tranquility, freshness, happiness,
positivity and other expressions of our
feelings remind us of this link.
Circumstances in the family,
home or office front give us opportunity to
follow the commandments. Every successful
effort to follow the commandments gives
calmness and the balance we enjoy there off
increases our faith. The converse is also
true that we need to increase our faith when
situations seem to disturb our balance. It
would be premature to claim our faith as
total and unconditional if we find our
balance disturbed easily.
There is a sense of relief
when we surrender our ego at the altar of
Master. We get burdened by our own actions
and they trouble us in meditation. Yielding
to Master means letting go the attachment to
that situation. Lessons are learnt in the
real life and we see ourselves coming back
to basics of yielding to Master whenever we
err. Prayer becomes genuine only when we
feel our helplessness and incompetency in
the scheme of moving towards the Goal
because of our own attachments and ego.
I feel that dependency and surrender are
endpoints of the same spectrum. Even as
Arjuna had to fight his own battle but was
assured the company of the Lord, we have to
fight our own battles in life even as our
loving Master assures of His Company through
the precious imperience He grants. By and by
He waits patiently for us to come up to real
stage of faith, or "Shraddha".
Pranams
References:
1.
Complete works of Dr. KCV Vol
I - Pg 4)
2.
Silence Speaks – Pg 274 First
Revised Edition 2004
3.
Showers of Divine Grace – Pg
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