True faith
Faith, which comes with understanding, is true, living faith. Superstitions and blind faith are born when we start accepting things without thinking, says Bhaskar Raman.
|
All this religion stuff is nonsense! There is no scientific proof for it. I refuse to accept things blindly just because it says so in some crumbly old book!”
My senior colleague took a belligerent gulp of cold coffee. We sat on the terrace of a posh Delhi coffee shop, the autumn breeze fanning us. Our casual conversation had turned to that ever touchy subject, religion. I leaned back in my chair.
“Leave it, sir. Let’s not waste this lovely evening arguing. How is your health? I hope your migraines are gone.”
“Yes, much better,” he replied, mollified. “My doctor gave me this new medication that has worked wonders.”
“What does it do?”
“Don’t ask me. I’m an engineer, not a doctor. All I know is that when I take it, I feel better.”
I smiled to myself. My friend, like very many of our time, vehemently decried religion as blind faith and superstition, yet he unquestioningly accepted the prescriptions of science.
No matter how much we may run away from it, the fact remains that faith makes the world go around (The Bhagavad Gita states: shraddhamayo ayam purushah, yo yat shraddhah sa eva sah (XVII – 3) – Man consists of his faith. As a man’s faith, so is he.) We accept the conclusions of science out of faith in the scientist. Our entire view of the world is built on our faith in our sense organs – we believe what our eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin tell us. Our modern intellectuals have overwhelming faith in their thought processes. We have faith in engineers who build our cars and architects who build our homes. Every moment of our lives is drenched in faith.
Without faith, we cannot learn. Students must have faith in their teacher’s knowledge and in those who put forth the theories being studied. As the teacher takes the student deeper into the subject, the logic behind the theories put forth earlier becomes clear by itself.
If a primary school student demands the logic behind the statement that the planets revolve around the sun, the teacher cannot satisfy her. To understand the detailed rationale and proof for that statement, the student must have a much deeper knowledge of physics and mathematics. So the student must take it on faith that the planets revolve around the sun. Then, as she goes to the higher classes and gains more and more knowledge of the subject, she understands the reasoning behind what was taught to her so many years ago.
Swami Chinmayananda defined faith as the belief in something that is unknown, in order that it may come to be known. My friend had faith in the medicine given to him, although he had no way of positively knowing that it would cure him. At best, he might have seen, or heard of, others who had been cured by the medicine. He took the pill on faith that the medical community had been honest and intelligent in its research. When the headache was cured, he knew for sure that the medicine worked.
It works the same way in spirituality and religion. Some brilliant seeker of truth conducts intricate experiments in the laboratory of the mind and discovers an immeasurable storehouse of truth, wisdom and bliss within. That great master then shares this discovery with the world and these teachings go on to become scriptures.
Now we, in our increasingly frustrating quest for some slight measure of peace and a few stray drops of happiness in life, chance upon such a master. We may observe that great one for a while and see that she is completely at peace with the world, the master of every situation, ever joyous at heart, completely free from any trace of suffering, revelling in some unspeakably sacred state. We see that person has everything that we seek in life, in infinite measure. Of course, we have to ask, “How can I also become like that?”
The very presence of the master is all the proof we need of a higher state of being, where all our mortal limitations and miseries have no entry. The conviction this great one is established in that higher state and can guide me also to it is real faith. And the Bhagavad Gita tells us that a student who has faith will gain knowledge (shraddhavan labhate jnanam (IV, 39)).
Such faith, which comes with understanding, is true, living faith. However, when we become lazy in our faith, when we start accepting things without really thinking, then superstition and blind faith is born.
An aged Zen master used to teach meditation every morning. The monastery cat, feeling left out, would start mewing loudly trying to get attention. So the master instructed his disciple to tie up the cat to a tree on the other side of the monastery before the morning meditation.
A few days later the master died. His disciple continued his practice, and before long, a few young men became his disciples. Every morning, he would tie the cat to the tree, and then give them a teaching. Now this master became ill and died. The youngsters decided to continue their meditation practice as their teacher had instructed. They would tie the cat to the tree and then meditate.
One day, the cat died. The students were flustered. How could they meditate now! So they went searching the countryside, found another cat, brought it to the monastery and tied it to the tree.
In this way, what started as a perfectly sensible measure ended up as a ritual exhibition of foolishness, because the students did not stop to think of why the cat was being tied to the tree. Thus, a ritual was born.
This is not to say that rituals are to be condemned. Vedic rituals are much more than just chanting some mantras and tossing things into the fire. The instructions for these rites are extremely elaborate. They must be followed to the tee, with complete understanding of the meaning of what is being done. Only then will they yield results.
When thus correctly performed, these rituals, therefore inculcate in us mental discipline, faith in the scriptures and devotion. To such a person, the Vedas themselves say, “Drop these rituals – they cannot be relied upon. They will not save you from old age or death. You would be a fool to cling to it.” (plavah ete adrdha yajna rupah ashtadashoktam avaram yeshu karma. etat shreyo abhinandanti mudhah jara mrityum te punarevapi yanti – Mundaka Upanishad (I-ii-7)).
Now the seeker is told to approach a Guru, and with devotion and faith, follow the teachings. Adi Shankaracharya says that faith is that by which the ultimate is gained (sA shraddhA kathitA sadbhiH yayA vastu upalabhyate – Vivekachudamani (25)). So the seeker, whose mind is already well-trained, silences the mind and turns his attention to the higher and glimpses the infinite divine in his own heart.
Having once seen that Truth within, the seeker finds that the same divinity shining in all things and beings. This inner unfoldment is the culmination of faith. From here on, every inch of land is a temple, every being is a murti of the Lord, every action is puja, every breath is prayer. Such a person no longer has faith – such a person is faith itself. n
The writer is the editor of Balvihar, Chinmaya Mission’s international magazine for children.
The writer is a professor of economics at Department of Humanities and Social sciences, IIT Delhi. He is also an office bearer of the Indian Political Economy Association.