Faith is the most essential thing in spirituality. It is the foundation of religious life. One must have faith in the mercy of God, in the word of the Guru and in the immortality of the Self.
Faith alone is the basis for ethics, righteous conduct, moral purity and religious devotion.
What is faith? People generally mistake faith for belief and superstition. Belief is only a mental idea. It appears today and disappears tomorrow. It changes with time. It has no firmness of its own, for it depends on things and external aids. But faith is spiritual insight, ‘avabodha’.
Higher than mental belief and intellectual conviction is faith. Mind and intellect are modes. They are fleeting in nature. Hence belief and conviction on the mental and intellectual levels is not steady. But faith is a grasp on the Reality. It is an illumination. It is a revelation from the beyond.
A faith that wavers, a faith that depends on anything in the world, is not faith, it is only belief. Faith is unshakable like Mount Meru. Doubts and delusions cloud mental belief. But faith is free of all taints of ignorance. It is utter clarity of inner vision that can never be affected by anything mundane.
There is no such a thing as blind faith. Faith is never blind. Faith is awareness free of doubt. Faith is glistening vision without any mental distortion.
Mind doubts. Intellect questions. But faith sees the reality face to face. Faith is unerring intuition of the spiritual order.
From faith are born courage of conviction and a bravery that challenges death. Look at Prahlada, that boy of marvelous faith. In the face of extreme adversity, even in the yawning mouth of death, he did not waver in his faith in Sri Hari. He declared in utter fearlessness that Hari was the only reality. He did not even pray for life, for he knew that his Self was imperishable. What brought Hari from inside an inert pillar was the marvel of his faith. Prahlada symbolizes the supreme spiritual faith in the Atman.
When faith reveals to you that your Self is verily the Supreme Being, you become fearless and free. Hence faith alone is savior. Even when the whole world stands against him, a man of faith remains tranquil. There is no calamity that can shake the citadel of his faith.
It is such faith that you should possess if you seek the Highest. Then alone can you glorify God and your spiritual tradition. With dawn of faith alone begins the true life in spirit. Faith is the sheet-anchor of life, here and hereafter.
You may lose everything that you hold dear in life. You may lose wealth, health, power, position, near and dear ones, and even your own body. Yet mother tells you, it is not a loss to you. But if you lose faith in God, then there is no loss greater than that. Loss of faith is the greatest tragedy. It is the greatest misery. There is no prarabdha greater than that. When faith goes, all graces of life depart. Everything rests on faith alone.
There are devotees who were severely tried and tested, who were put to greatest trials and tribulations. Near and dear ones left them. Society condemned them. Kings persecuted them. Yet they stood the challenge with remarkable fortitude and patience, all by the power of their faith, blessing everybody. They made history. Faith made them immortal.
Faith works wonders. Faith moves mountains. Faith makes impossible possible. Faith turns death into life. There is nothing in this world or in the other that cannot be achieved through faith. Faith is omnipotent.
Where arguments of mind stop, where intellect ceases to question, where reason becomes silent, there faith is. Faith is direct perception. It needs no proof. It is silent certitude. It is established in truth and spiritual verities.
Ways of faith are mysterious. In some faith may dawn all on a sudden; in some it has to be nourished and cultivated; but everyone, without exception, has to be vigilant against currents of nature, for everyone is in the realm of Maya where doubts and delusions operate.
Scriptures only point they way to reality. But faith is the very light of the reality. Learning and erudition, mental powers and occult siddhis, all these instinctively pay homage to the marvels of faith.
A man of faith lacks nothing. He is the heir to all blessings of spirituality. Through faith, he contacts and converses with the Divine; and from the Divine come sthe fulfillment of his prayers and invocations.
Faith is the real awakener. If you have firm, unshakable, absolute faith in the Mother’s Word, this very moment you will be free, for Mother’s Word is the authentic intimation of the reality of your own Self which is ever-free.
Giving first the glimpses of reality, faith as a loving mother, prepares the mind for enduring enlightenment. Finally, faith transforms itself into the wisdom of intimate experience, “anubhuthi”, dissolving the mind in the ocean of Reality.
Sadguru brings Truth nearer and nearer as it were, lifting veil after veil, through signs and symbols, through word and silence, to the vision of the seeker. But that disciple, who is endowed with firm faith alone, perceives the Truth as a fruit on his palm. He only awakes to Enlightenment. Such is the eternal law in spirituality.
Faith is not given or acquired, not gifted by any external force or unseen power. It is innate in everyone. Why then all do not become men of faith? It is because, there is a thick veil of ignorance and illusion which screens faith. When that veil is lifted, the dormant faith shines forth in undimmed splendor as the sun that rises from behind the clouds. Once awakened, faith can never set.
It is not study or scholarship or wordly experiences that give you faith. Faith is born in simplicity. Approach God in the utter simplicity of the soul and the guilelessness of a child. Exhaust the mind of all vanities. Await and aspire. Watch and pray. And you will get that marvelous inner light called faith. Neither the temptations of nature nor tempests of life, can put out that inner lamp of faith.
A soldier shines in the battlefield with courage alone as his savior. The ornament of a sadhaka is his faith in the Guru’s Word. His courage comes to the forefront at the hour of trial and temptation. With faith as you shield, fight the battle of life and win the throne of immortality.
Verily, faith is the grace of higher life.
– Divine Mother Sree Rama Devi