You must have heard the word shraddha which means “faith”.
The Vedas say:
shraddhatsva tata shraddhatsva
“O humans! Have shraddha, have shraddha."
agyashchashraddhadhanasheha sanshayatma vinashyati nayam lokosti na paro na sukham na para gatim
There are three kinds of people who fall from the spiritual path due to doubts. The first is the individual who has never read, heard, or understood anything about God. The second is the one who has heard and read divine philosophy but has no faith in it, and the third is the individual who constantly vacillates between faith and doubt. These three kinds of individuals cannot attain the ultimate goal of God-realization.
If an individual is ignorant but has faith, a lot can be done for him.
yasheha mooratamo loke yasheha buddheh parangatah tavubhau sukhameghete kliashyatyantarito janah
Bhagavatam says that a fool who has faith will take great strides and he will attain God-realization with great speed. He will not employ words such as "but" or "however." He will not argue or use false reasoning. Valmiki’s Guru told him, “Chant mara mara until I come back.” Valmiki said, “Yes.” He did not ask, “When will you return?” He did not ask any questions. This is faith. He was completely ignorant. He was illiterate and he was a murderer, but he had faith. Let us understand the definition of this word, shraddha.
guru vedanta vakyeshu drido vishvasah shradhha
Faith means full faith in the words of the Vedas, Shastras, and the Guru. It means an absence of doubts and arguments.
Shraddha means unwavering faith and trust in the words of the Guru. You trust the teacher when you study a language, be it Hindi, Urdu, or English. The teacher says, “Write the letter A like this. This letter is called B.” You do exactly as the teacher says, without question. By trusting the teacher you become a scholar one day. In the same way, when the doctor tells you that you have malaria and prescribes medication, you follow his instructions, take the exact dosage required, and take all necessary precautions. You do all this because you do not want to die.
Saint Tulsidas said:
sadguru vaidya vachana vishvasa, sanjama yaha na vishaya ke asha,
raghupati bhagati sajivana moori, anupan shraddha ati roori,
ehi vidhi bhalehim so rog nasahim, nahitmta koti jatan nahim jai
The Guru is like a doctor for the material affliction of maya. Firstly, the doctor has to be genuine. Secondly, you must accept yourself to be suffering from maya. For example, if you are aware that you are suffering from diabetes, you reject even a delicacy like rasagulla because you know it is bad for you. It simply means that if there is no faith, then even the greatest Guru cannot do anything for us. He will say, “I have come here to share divine knowledge free of charge with you.” But, if we say, “Oh, these people have nothing better to do than to give lectures. Look, I don’t believe in God.” What will the Guru do? How can he help this individual? Without faith, nothing is possible.
Since time immemorial we have met God and genuine Saints countless times. We approached them, bowed in front of them, listened to their discourses, and nodded our heads in appreciation, but did not move forward. We remained attached to our mother, father, spouse, and children. We did not put their teachings into practice. Why is this? Because we had no hunger for God. Why? Because we lacked faith. What to speak of in the divine realm, we cannot attain success even in the material world if we have no faith. If you have no faith in worldly people, you cannot survive.
Suppose you are going to deposit some money into your bank account. You give 50,000 rupees by passing the money through a small window. If you tell the clerk that you need a receipt for it, he will ask you to give him the money first. He is afraid that you may walk out with the receipt without making the deposit, and you are scared that he may refuse to accept that you have given him the money. He will say, “Give me the money first.” You will say, “Give me the deposit slip first.” If you keep speaking like this, your work will not be done. So you have no other choice but to give him the money and to trust him.
Thus, you are willing to trust worldly people, who would not think twice about telling lies and deceiving you. Without faith, you cannot get an education, treatment from a doctor, or get any office work done. You have faith in the world and as a result of this faith you attain success. In the spiritual area, however, you think, speak, and do the opposite. You say, “O God! First, bestow Your grace and then I shall surrender.” Do you ever say, “First give me a degree, then I will study?” Or, “First have children and then get married?" Or, “First I will cut the crop, and then I will plant the seeds?” You do not ever do this in the world. Why do you do this in the area of God then? Why do you want God’s treasures before you cultivate faith in Him?
God says:
mamekam sharanam vraja “Surrender yourself fully. Then see how I grace you.”
Thus, faith is the first and foremost thing. Be it Islam, Christianity, or Hinduism, all religions agree that having faith is of the utmost importance. But I wonder if there is anything that can be done for the one who lacks faith. In this context, Veda Vyasa has written a verse in the
Bhagavatam:
satam prasan mam vrya samvido bhavanti hritkarnarasayanah kathah
If you have no faith, you can develop it by associating with a genuine Saint. Mind you, it must be a genuine Saint and not someone who merely calls himself a Saint. It has to be someone who has complete knowledge of the Vedas and Shastras and who has attained divine love. There is no cure, however, for someone who is determined not to associate with Saintly souls.
It may happen that a man attends satsang but his wife has no faith in God and Guru. She still accompanies her husband out of fear, or he tells his son to accompany him. The son says that he has no interest in God. The father scolds his son, “Come along with me quietly.” In other words, let us say that a person associates, no matter how, with a Saint again and again and again. What will happen to him? By listening to discourses and associating with the Saint, he will gradually develop faith in God.
In other words, even someone without faith can develop it through constant association with a Saint. Keep the word constant in mind. It will not happen in just one day. A person lacks faith because his heart is impure due to sins. The heart has to be washed again and again. Only then does it become pure. The one who lacks faith must listen to divine knowledge from a genuine Saint constantly, and then faith will sprout in the mind. He will now practice devotion under the guidance of that Saint with faith, and his heart will purify. That is it. His work will then finish. After this stage, the Guru will make his heart divine, give him divine love, and grant him God-realization.
An English translation of a discourse delivered in Hindi by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj
Book recommendation:
The Importance of Spiritual Knowledge - English
Shraddha - Hindi
You must have heard the word shraddha which means “faith”.
The Vedas say:
shraddhatsva tata shraddhatsva
“O humans! Have shraddha, have shraddha."
agyashchashraddhadhanasheha sanshayatma vinashyati nayam lokosti na paro na sukham na para gatim
There are three kinds of people who fall from the spiritual path due to doubts. The first is the individual who has never read, heard, or understood anything about God. The second is the one who has heard and read divine philosophy but has no faith in it, and the third is the individual who constantly vacillates between faith and doubt. These three kinds of individuals cannot attain the ultimate goal of God-realization.
If an individual is ignorant but has faith, a lot can be done for him.
yasheha mooratamo loke yasheha buddheh parangatah tavubhau sukhameghete kliashyatyantarito janah
Bhagavatam says that a fool who has faith will take great strides and he will attain God-realization with great speed. He will not employ words such as "but" or "however." He will not argue or use false reasoning. Valmiki’s Guru told him, “Chant mara mara until I come back.” Valmiki said, “Yes.” He did not ask, “When will you return?” He did not ask any questions. This is faith. He was completely ignorant. He was illiterate and he was a murderer, but he had faith. Let us understand the definition of this word, shraddha.
guru vedanta vakyeshu drido vishvasah shradhha
Faith means full faith in the words of the Vedas, Shastras, and the Guru. It means an absence of doubts and arguments.
Shraddha means unwavering faith and trust in the words of the Guru. You trust the teacher when you study a language, be it Hindi, Urdu, or English. The teacher says, “Write the letter A like this. This letter is called B.” You do exactly as the teacher says, without question. By trusting the teacher you become a scholar one day. In the same way, when the doctor tells you that you have malaria and prescribes medication, you follow his instructions, take the exact dosage required, and take all necessary precautions. You do all this because you do not want to die.
Saint Tulsidas said:
sadguru vaidya vachana vishvasa, sanjama yaha na vishaya ke asha,
raghupati bhagati sajivana moori, anupan shraddha ati roori,
ehi vidhi bhalehim so rog nasahim, nahitmta koti jatan nahim jai
The Guru is like a doctor for the material affliction of maya. Firstly, the doctor has to be genuine. Secondly, you must accept yourself to be suffering from maya. For example, if you are aware that you are suffering from diabetes, you reject even a delicacy like rasagulla because you know it is bad for you. It simply means that if there is no faith, then even the greatest Guru cannot do anything for us. He will say, “I have come here to share divine knowledge free of charge with you.” But, if we say, “Oh, these people have nothing better to do than to give lectures. Look, I don’t believe in God.” What will the Guru do? How can he help this individual? Without faith, nothing is possible.
Since time immemorial we have met God and genuine Saints countless times. We approached them, bowed in front of them, listened to their discourses, and nodded our heads in appreciation, but did not move forward. We remained attached to our mother, father, spouse, and children. We did not put their teachings into practice. Why is this? Because we had no hunger for God. Why? Because we lacked faith. What to speak of in the divine realm, we cannot attain success even in the material world if we have no faith. If you have no faith in worldly people, you cannot survive.
Suppose you are going to deposit some money into your bank account. You give 50,000 rupees by passing the money through a small window. If you tell the clerk that you need a receipt for it, he will ask you to give him the money first. He is afraid that you may walk out with the receipt without making the deposit, and you are scared that he may refuse to accept that you have given him the money. He will say, “Give me the money first.” You will say, “Give me the deposit slip first.” If you keep speaking like this, your work will not be done. So you have no other choice but to give him the money and to trust him.
Thus, you are willing to trust worldly people, who would not think twice about telling lies and deceiving you. Without faith, you cannot get an education, treatment from a doctor, or get any office work done. You have faith in the world and as a result of this faith you attain success. In the spiritual area, however, you think, speak, and do the opposite. You say, “O God! First, bestow Your grace and then I shall surrender.” Do you ever say, “First give me a degree, then I will study?” Or, “First have children and then get married?" Or, “First I will cut the crop, and then I will plant the seeds?” You do not ever do this in the world. Why do you do this in the area of God then? Why do you want God’s treasures before you cultivate faith in Him?
God says:
mamekam sharanam vraja “Surrender yourself fully. Then see how I grace you.”
Thus, faith is the first and foremost thing. Be it Islam, Christianity, or Hinduism, all religions agree that having faith is of the utmost importance. But I wonder if there is anything that can be done for the one who lacks faith. In this context, Veda Vyasa has written a verse in the
Bhagavatam:
satam prasan mam vrya samvido bhavanti hritkarnarasayanah kathah
If you have no faith, you can develop it by associating with a genuine Saint. Mind you, it must be a genuine Saint and not someone who merely calls himself a Saint. It has to be someone who has complete knowledge of the Vedas and Shastras and who has attained divine love. There is no cure, however, for someone who is determined not to associate with Saintly souls.
It may happen that a man attends satsang but his wife has no faith in God and Guru. She still accompanies her husband out of fear, or he tells his son to accompany him. The son says that he has no interest in God. The father scolds his son, “Come along with me quietly.” In other words, let us say that a person associates, no matter how, with a Saint again and again and again. What will happen to him? By listening to discourses and associating with the Saint, he will gradually develop faith in God.
In other words, even someone without faith can develop it through constant association with a Saint. Keep the word constant in mind. It will not happen in just one day. A person lacks faith because his heart is impure due to sins. The heart has to be washed again and again. Only then does it become pure. The one who lacks faith must listen to divine knowledge from a genuine Saint constantly, and then faith will sprout in the mind. He will now practice devotion under the guidance of that Saint with faith, and his heart will purify. That is it. His work will then finish. After this stage, the Guru will make his heart divine, give him divine love, and grant him God-realization.
An English translation of a discourse delivered in Hindi by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj
Book recommendation:
The Importance of Spiritual Knowledge - English
Shraddha - Hindi
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