Post by radha on Aug 12, 2013 6:42:24 GMT 5.5
OM SRI GURUPYO NAMAHA:,RESPECTFUL PRANAMS TO SRI KANCHI MAHA PERIVA.
Advaita-saadhanaa
8. ShraddhA (Faith) Necessary
Therefore let me warn you rightaway. All this is going to be a slow
process. It will take a long time to see progress. So let no one despair.
The feeling that ‘nothing is happening’ may always be there. ‘Maybe I am
not capable of achieving anything on the spiritual effort’ – is the frequent
thought that may appear. Don’t despair or give up.
Where there is a will there is a way. Efforts will not go waste. Keep going
with all your efforts, persistently. Don’t worry about the time it takes. In
due time, you will see the signs of progress and will also reach the
destination. Faith is the fundamental requisite. That is what they mean
by ‘shraddhA. ‘The Lord will never forsake us. The path shown by the
shAstras and the Guru will never go unproductive’. It is that strong
conviction that goes by the name of shraddhA.
Whenever we say that someone has done this with shraddhA, we mean it
has been done with the whole heart, most sincerely. In fact the sincerity
has come from that faith which is implied in the shraddhA.
Whenever we have a direct proof, there is no question of ‘faith’ coming in.
But many of the things which religious books talk about do not have
this kind of ‘direct proof’. Indeed some of them may be the exact
opposite. ‘Punya (Meritorious action) results in good and sin results in
bad’ is a statement that every religion adheres to. However, what we see
right before us in the world is the sight of the suffering of people who do
good and that of the happy living of those who do evil actions. To this our
Hindu shAstras say: ‘You should not expect the results of good and bad
actions in this one life itself. The consequences will be had only in the
course of several lives of the individual. If a sinner is happy today and if
a good man suffers today, it only means that the sinner has done
something good in his previous lives and similarly that good man must
have done something evil in his previous lives’. There is no way to ‘prove’
this. This is where ‘faith’, that is, ‘shraddhA becomes necessary. In
the same way several other things have to be agreed to only by our
shraddhA.
In ordinary parlance we talk of believers and disbelievers (aastikas and
naastikas). An aastika does not mean simply that he agrees that God
exists. Just by accepting that there is an ultimate power which is the
source for everything, one does not go very far. ‘Believing’ (aastikyaM) is
far more than that. That Ultimate Power is watching all our thoughts and
actions and is meting out results accordingly; in His compassion He is
constantly directing us, through the various scriptures,
to do good;
and, to boot, He is often sending His messiahs (Acharyas) to show us the
Maha-swamigal’s Discourses
13
right path; and therefore we have to follow these Acharyas and the
Shastras that they communicate to us; only then we can reach the
Absolute. A faith in all this constitutes aastikyaM or Believing. So
ShraddhA is what makes you a believer. In Chandogya Upanishad (vii.19)
it is said that only he who has shraddhA will do the enquiry into Atman;
and our Acharya in commenting on this, says ‘ShraddhA is nothing but
aastikya buddhi’. In other words, ShraddhA is the faith in all the above.
Let me dare say here that the westerners have gone one step ahead of us
in this matter. The word for religion in our language is ‘matam’. It means
‘what is obtained by the intellect’. When the intellect researches on a
maxim and convinces itself by elaborate inquiry, it arrives at a ‘matam’.
Also when we cannot ‘prove’ something, but great men and shAstras
have accepted that something and therefore it must be right – Such a
faith is also ‘matam’. But the real meaning of ‘matam’ is that conviction
which arises from the intellect that is convinced by reason – not by
another’s word. The latter means of conviction is what ShraddhA means.
On the other hand the English people call ‘religion’ itself as ‘faith’. They
have given that much importance to faith, in matters of religion. In later
times of course, they started giving importance to ‘reason’ in matters of
religion also – and also pulled us into the same pattern of thinking. But
in earlier times they thought of faith in the scriptures as religion, ‘matam’
and must have used the word ‘Faith’ for ‘religion’ in that manner.
ShraddhA is most important. We shall come back to this topic much
later. In the peak stages of advaita SAdhanA, there will come a stage
when shraddhA will have to be talked about more formally. What we are
now talking is only a simple plant which will grow into a grand tree of
Shraddha with deeper roots, in that peak stage of discussion. But
remember. It is this plant that has to grow into that big tree. When we
learn to dive into the depths of the ocean, first we have to stay near the
shore and learn to hold our breath under water just for a short time. But
in due time we learn to dive into deeper waters and also collect gems
from the bottom of the sea. The shraddhA that we are talking now is like
learning to swim in shallow waters near the shore. The ShraddhA that
will come later is like diving deep to gather pearls and gems.
I note a coincidence of language here. The word ‘pearl’ (‘muttu’ in Tamil)
is of significance. The Sanskrit word ‘mukta’ means ‘the released one’.
The Tamil equivalent is ‘muttar’. And that is very near to ‘muttu’. The
concept of ‘release’ is there in both the Sanskrit ‘mukta’ and Tamil
‘muttu’. Muttu is what is released by by being pryed out of the shell of a
pearl oyster; and a ‘mukta’ is the one who gets his release from the cycle
of births and deaths.
SRI KANCHI MAHA PERIVA THIRUVADIGAL CHARANAM
Advaita-saadhanaa
8. ShraddhA (Faith) Necessary
Therefore let me warn you rightaway. All this is going to be a slow
process. It will take a long time to see progress. So let no one despair.
The feeling that ‘nothing is happening’ may always be there. ‘Maybe I am
not capable of achieving anything on the spiritual effort’ – is the frequent
thought that may appear. Don’t despair or give up.
Where there is a will there is a way. Efforts will not go waste. Keep going
with all your efforts, persistently. Don’t worry about the time it takes. In
due time, you will see the signs of progress and will also reach the
destination. Faith is the fundamental requisite. That is what they mean
by ‘shraddhA. ‘The Lord will never forsake us. The path shown by the
shAstras and the Guru will never go unproductive’. It is that strong
conviction that goes by the name of shraddhA.
Whenever we say that someone has done this with shraddhA, we mean it
has been done with the whole heart, most sincerely. In fact the sincerity
has come from that faith which is implied in the shraddhA.
Whenever we have a direct proof, there is no question of ‘faith’ coming in.
But many of the things which religious books talk about do not have
this kind of ‘direct proof’. Indeed some of them may be the exact
opposite. ‘Punya (Meritorious action) results in good and sin results in
bad’ is a statement that every religion adheres to. However, what we see
right before us in the world is the sight of the suffering of people who do
good and that of the happy living of those who do evil actions. To this our
Hindu shAstras say: ‘You should not expect the results of good and bad
actions in this one life itself. The consequences will be had only in the
course of several lives of the individual. If a sinner is happy today and if
a good man suffers today, it only means that the sinner has done
something good in his previous lives and similarly that good man must
have done something evil in his previous lives’. There is no way to ‘prove’
this. This is where ‘faith’, that is, ‘shraddhA becomes necessary. In
the same way several other things have to be agreed to only by our
shraddhA.
In ordinary parlance we talk of believers and disbelievers (aastikas and
naastikas). An aastika does not mean simply that he agrees that God
exists. Just by accepting that there is an ultimate power which is the
source for everything, one does not go very far. ‘Believing’ (aastikyaM) is
far more than that. That Ultimate Power is watching all our thoughts and
actions and is meting out results accordingly; in His compassion He is
constantly directing us, through the various scriptures,
to do good;
and, to boot, He is often sending His messiahs (Acharyas) to show us the
Maha-swamigal’s Discourses
13
right path; and therefore we have to follow these Acharyas and the
Shastras that they communicate to us; only then we can reach the
Absolute. A faith in all this constitutes aastikyaM or Believing. So
ShraddhA is what makes you a believer. In Chandogya Upanishad (vii.19)
it is said that only he who has shraddhA will do the enquiry into Atman;
and our Acharya in commenting on this, says ‘ShraddhA is nothing but
aastikya buddhi’. In other words, ShraddhA is the faith in all the above.
Let me dare say here that the westerners have gone one step ahead of us
in this matter. The word for religion in our language is ‘matam’. It means
‘what is obtained by the intellect’. When the intellect researches on a
maxim and convinces itself by elaborate inquiry, it arrives at a ‘matam’.
Also when we cannot ‘prove’ something, but great men and shAstras
have accepted that something and therefore it must be right – Such a
faith is also ‘matam’. But the real meaning of ‘matam’ is that conviction
which arises from the intellect that is convinced by reason – not by
another’s word. The latter means of conviction is what ShraddhA means.
On the other hand the English people call ‘religion’ itself as ‘faith’. They
have given that much importance to faith, in matters of religion. In later
times of course, they started giving importance to ‘reason’ in matters of
religion also – and also pulled us into the same pattern of thinking. But
in earlier times they thought of faith in the scriptures as religion, ‘matam’
and must have used the word ‘Faith’ for ‘religion’ in that manner.
ShraddhA is most important. We shall come back to this topic much
later. In the peak stages of advaita SAdhanA, there will come a stage
when shraddhA will have to be talked about more formally. What we are
now talking is only a simple plant which will grow into a grand tree of
Shraddha with deeper roots, in that peak stage of discussion. But
remember. It is this plant that has to grow into that big tree. When we
learn to dive into the depths of the ocean, first we have to stay near the
shore and learn to hold our breath under water just for a short time. But
in due time we learn to dive into deeper waters and also collect gems
from the bottom of the sea. The shraddhA that we are talking now is like
learning to swim in shallow waters near the shore. The ShraddhA that
will come later is like diving deep to gather pearls and gems.
I note a coincidence of language here. The word ‘pearl’ (‘muttu’ in Tamil)
is of significance. The Sanskrit word ‘mukta’ means ‘the released one’.
The Tamil equivalent is ‘muttar’. And that is very near to ‘muttu’. The
concept of ‘release’ is there in both the Sanskrit ‘mukta’ and Tamil
‘muttu’. Muttu is what is released by by being pryed out of the shell of a
pearl oyster; and a ‘mukta’ is the one who gets his release from the cycle
of births and deaths.
SRI KANCHI MAHA PERIVA THIRUVADIGAL CHARANAM