LIVE YOUR FAITH

LIVE YOUR FAITH

By His Holiness Sacinandana Swami Maharaj

My life in our little ashram by the lake is as peaceful as you can imagine. Thinking, writing, chanting, reading, praying, worshiping and hosting the many guests who come by, including the swans. But from time to time my peace gets unsettled when I have to think about an answer to a difficult question. A few days ago such a question was found inside my inbox. Here it is for you:
“My question is, how can I bridge the gap between the deep faith I feel for Krishna who is so mercifully affording me in mounting installments as the years go by and the frequent inaccessibility to it on a moment to moment basis?”

This is what I wrote back:
Let me thank you from the deepest corner of my heart for your wonderful question which I have thought about over the last few days. I have found deep inspiration in exploring it but needed time to formulate my answer.

This maybe is the central question for all practitioners. It has to do with living one’s faith.
I believe that your overarching faith has been given to you by Krishna. It is a divine investment from above. Now, it is necessary for you to learn – step by step - how to realize what you believe in. In other words – after Krishna has moved into your life, He wishes to see that you are moving into His. You will now have to close that gap between what you believe in and your actual experience. Experience is the best proof that something is true.
In my mind there are three steps you need to take in the journey of faith: Improve your practice, pray for divine empowerment, take a risk.

IMPROVE YOUR PRACTICE

I would really like to help you understand this essential point with the help of a little story, which will both inspire and make you think:

Once there was a well-known saint. He lived by the side of a mountain in a little straw hut. Because he was old, he could no longer travel, so he stayed mostly by himself, absorbed in the Lord. Some considered him a guru who had answers to their questions and therefore he was occasionally visited by people – but on the whole he stayed on his own.
Once, a hermit came down from his cave in the mountains. He had heard about the saint and hoped to get an answer to an inner dilemma he was facing. After he sat down, the saint nodded silently indicating that he should speak. “I know very well what is the purpose of life, I have faith in the scriptures and in the practice”, said the hermit. “And yet, I often find myself unable to live according to my knowledge and am often overcome with clouds of dullness and a painful emptiness within the heart. What should I do?”

The old saint sighed and remained silent for a long time. Then he said: “Please, come back tomorrow. I myself am interested in the answer. Let me stay up and pray.”
When the hermit returned the next morning, the holy man had the answer: “There is a big ocean with currents and waves. It is almost insurmountable. On the other shore there is a crystal white beach. A little further you will find a city with golden roofs, a market place where you can get everything for free and temples where the Lord personally talks to His devotees.”
Then the old saint again became silent. After some time he stared intensely into the eyes of his visitor and decisively said: “Brother, let us stop talking for now about that place. You first need to find a boat, a boatman, some oars and a compass. Then he became silent again.
The visitor understood. Instead of meditating on his spiritual ideal (the golden city) he needed to turn his attention onto the process of how to get there.
In the same way, I think you need to concentrate on your practice – the boat, so to speak - put everything you got into it, consult an experienced seaman and use the oars. There is an ancient song which talks about this:

WHO WILL GO – OH WHO WILL GO, BROTHERS?

hari-nama naukakhani om guru-khandari
sankirtana koroyala dubahu pasari
The holy name of Hari is the boat,
Sri Guru is the captain,
and the singers of kirtan, moving with upraised arms, are the oars.
(By Locana Dasa Thakura)

The author of this song gives further encouragement; all souls can cross over the ocean of birth and death with the favorable winds of prema by the mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
But, what is the compass, you might ask. In my humble understanding, the compass is the Scripture, Srimad Bhagavatam. By regularly reading this purest of all scriptures, one can get all the light which one requires to walk one’s path – even in this darkness of Kali-yuga.

PRAY FOR BHAKTI WITH TASTE

Most probably you are already practicing this – but is it alive within you? Do you experience deep taste? The acaryas talk about bhakti with nectar and bhakti without nectar. Pray for that bhakti with taste like a drowning man for a boat, a man dying of thirst for water, a lover for the long absent beloved. Only bhakti with taste will take you beyond where you are already.
But please know that you cannot force your way into the kingdom of God. It is not by your own strength that the door which leads you further opens. That door can only be opened from the inside – by the hand of the Lord. However, our efforts can show the Lord that we are not indifferent to receiving His gifts. Diligent practice puts us into a position whereby we can receive. Thus, they are important, but it is always up to Him to answer in exactly the way He chooses. Maybe He has already done so – but because you expected something else and looked out of the back window, you might not have recognized the gifts already laid before your door.

START NOW, TAKE THE RISK

I have always said that the whole path only shows itself when we start walking it. Have we not all stood at some time before a path going into the forest and did not know where it would bring us? And have we not struggled with the question: Should I stay or should I go? Then, when we took the risk of stepping into the unknown, we were actually most of the time pleasantly surprised by what we had found.

There is a secret: When you go forward in your spiritual life you are never alone. According to how much you wish to know, the Lord will reveal accordingly. To the degree we make spiritual progress the priority in our life, to that degree we will actually realize and move forward – it works immediately. If we make it our first priority in life then we will make rapid progress. Our faith comes alive with the nourishment of realization. However, if we make it a second or third priority, reaching our ideal becomes progressively slower – and the gap between what we believe in and what we actually experience remains open.
So, please, do start enthusiastically and know that you are not alone: Today is the first day of the rest of your life.

"Chant Hare Krishna and be happy"
हरे कृष्ण हरे कृष्ण कृष्ण कृष्ण हरे हरे || हरे राम हरे राम राम राम हरे हरे||

Proper Association:

The car has 4 tyres, and it is very important that those 4 tyres are balanced properly. What if you put too much air in one tyre? What will happen to your drive?

For our life to go on a smooth drive, we need to properly balance it using our intelligence.

Sometimes you want to go into so much of your spiritual life that family life is neglected, and your career is collapsing; that is unsustainable. Sometimes you go into so much of your career that every moment is so precious, that every moment means progress, that every moment means working towards promotion, towards more money and more power and because of that your family is suffering and your spiritual life is nil. And sometimes you just immerse into doing things for family that spiritually and economically things are collapsing. You see, if any one of these is not properly nourished, everything else suffers.

Proper association is where we come together to actually become inspired to balance our lives in such a way that we are on the path to liberation, to perfection, to pure love of God.

Intelligence, knowledge, freedom from doubt and delusion, forgiveness, truthfulness, control of the senses, control of the mind, happiness and distress, birth, death, fear, fearlessness, nonviolence, equanimity, satisfaction, austerity, charity, fame and infamy — all these various qualities of living beings are created by Me alone....Lord Krishna Bhagwad Gita 10.4-5 

Bhagavad-gītā As It Is 10.4-5

buddhir jñānam asammohaḥ

kṣamā satyaḿ damaḥ śamaḥ

sukhaḿ duḥkhaḿ bhavo 'bhāvo

bhayaḿ cābhayam eva ca

ahiḿsā samatā tuṣṭis

tapo dānaḿ yaśo 'yaśaḥ

bhavanti bhāvā bhūtānāḿ

matta eva pṛthag-vidhāḥ

SYNONYMS

buddhiḥ — intelligence; jñānam — knowledge; asammohaḥ — freedom from doubt; kṣamā — forgiveness; satyam — truthfulness; damaḥ — control of the senses; śamaḥ — control of the mind; sukham — happiness; duḥkham — distress; bhavaḥ — birth; abhāvaḥ — death; bhayam — fear; ca — also; abhayam — fearlessness; eva — also; ca — and; ahiḿsā — nonviolence; samatā — equilibrium; tuṣṭiḥ — satisfaction; tapaḥ — penance; dānam — charity; yaśaḥ — fame; ayaśaḥ — infamy; bhavanti — come about; bhāvāḥ — natures; bhūtānām — of living entities; mattaḥ — from Me; eva — certainly; pṛthak-vidhāḥ — variously arranged.

TRANSLATION

Intelligence, knowledge, freedom from doubt and delusion, forgiveness, truthfulness, control of the senses, control of the mind, happiness and distress, birth, death, fear, fearlessness, nonviolence, equanimity, satisfaction, austerity, charity, fame and infamy — all these various qualities of living beings are created by Me alone.

PURPORT

The different qualities of living entities, be they good or bad, are all created by Kṛṣṇa, and they are described here.

Intelligence refers to the power to analyze things in their proper perspective, and knowledge refers to understanding what is spirit and what is matter. Ordinary knowledge obtained by a university education pertains only to matter, and it is not accepted here as knowledge. Knowledge means knowing the distinction between spirit and matter. In modern education there is no knowledge about spirit; they are simply taking care of the material elements and bodily needs. Therefore academic knowledge is not complete.

Asammoha, freedom from doubt and delusion, can be achieved when one is not hesitant and when he understands the transcendental philosophy. Slowly but surely he becomes free from bewilderment. Nothing should be accepted blindly; everything should be accepted with care and with caution. Kṣamā, tolerance and forgiveness, should be practiced; one should be tolerant and excuse the minor offenses of others. Satyam, truthfulness, means that facts should be presented as they are, for the benefit of others. Facts should not be misrepresented. According to social conventions, it is said that one can speak the truth only when it is palatable to others. But that is not truthfulness. The truth should be spoken in a straightforward way, so that others will understand actually what the facts are. If a man is a thief and if people are warned that he is a thief, that is truth. Although sometimes the truth is unpalatable, one should not refrain from speaking it. Truthfulness demands that the facts be presented as they are for the benefit of others. That is the definition of truth.

Control of the senses means that the senses should not be used for unnecessary personal enjoyment. There is no prohibition against meeting the proper needs of the senses, but unnecessary sense enjoyment is detrimental for spiritual advancement. Therefore the senses should be restrained from unnecessary use. Similarly, one should restrain the mind from unnecessary thoughts; that is called śama. One should not spend one's time pondering over earning money. That is a misuse of the thinking power. The mind should be used to understand the prime necessity of human beings, and that should be presented authoritatively. The power of thought should be developed in association with persons who are authorities in the scriptures, saintly persons and spiritual masters and those whose thinking is highly developed. Sukham, pleasure or happiness, should always be in that which is favorable for the cultivation of the spiritual knowledge of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And similarly, that which is painful or which causes distress is that which is unfavorable for the cultivation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Anything favorable for the development of Kṛṣṇa consciousness should be accepted, and anything unfavorable should be rejected.

Bhava, birth, should be understood to refer to the body. As far as the soul is concerned, there is neither birth nor death; that we have discussed in the beginning of Bhagavad-gītā. Birth and death apply to one's embodiment in the material world. Fear is due to worrying about the future. A person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness has no fear because by his activities he is sure to go back to the spiritual sky, back home, back to Godhead. Therefore his future is very bright. Others, however, do not know what their future holds; they have no knowledge of what the next life holds. So they are therefore in constant anxiety. If we want to get free from anxiety, then the best course is to understand Kṛṣṇa and be situated always in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In that way we will be free from all fear. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.2.37) it is stated, bhayaḿ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syāt: fear is caused by our absorption in the illusory energy. But those who are free from the illusory energy, those who are confident that they are not the material body, that they are spiritual parts of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and who are therefore engaged in the transcendental service of the Supreme Godhead, have nothing to fear. Their future is very bright. This fear is a condition of persons who are not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Abhayam, fearlessness, is possible only for one in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Ahiḿsā, nonviolence, means that one should not do anything which will put others into misery or confusion. Material activities that are promised by so many politicians, sociologists, philanthropists, etc., do not produce very good results because the politicians and philanthropists have no transcendental vision; they do not know what is actually beneficial for human society. Ahiḿsā means that people should be trained in such a way that the full utilization of the human body can be achieved. The human body is meant for spiritual realization, so any movement or any commissions which do not further that end commit violence on the human body. That which furthers the future spiritual happiness of the people in general is called nonviolence.

Samatā, equanimity, refers to freedom from attachment and aversion. To be very much attached or to be very much detached is not the best. This material world should be accepted without attachment or aversion. That which is favorable for prosecuting Kṛṣṇa consciousness should be accepted; that which is unfavorable should be rejected. That is called samatā, equanimity. A person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness has nothing to reject and nothing to accept save in terms of its usefulness in the prosecution of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Tuṣṭi, satisfaction, means that one should not be eager to gather more and more material goods by unnecessary activity. One should be satisfied with whatever is obtained by the grace of the Supreme Lord; that is called satisfaction. Tapas means austerity or penance. There are many rules and regulations in the Vedas which apply here, like rising early in the morning and taking a bath. Sometimes it is very troublesome to rise early in the morning, but whatever voluntary trouble one may suffer in this way is called penance. Similarly, there are prescriptions for fasting on certain days of the month. One may not be inclined to practice such fasting, but because of his determination to make advancement in the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he should accept such bodily troubles when they are recommended. However, one should not fast unnecessarily or against Vedic injunctions. One should not fast for some political purpose; that is described in Bhagavad-gītā as fasting in ignorance, and anything done in ignorance or passion does not lead to spiritual advancement. Everything done in the mode of goodness does advance one, however, and fasting done in terms of the Vedic injunctions enriches one in spiritual knowledge.

As far as charity is concerned, one should give fifty percent of his earnings to some good cause. And what is a good cause? It is that which is conducted in terms of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is not only a good cause, but the best cause. Because Kṛṣṇa is good, His cause is also good. Thus charity should be given to a person who is engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. According to Vedic literature, it is enjoined that charity should be given to the brāhmaṇas. This practice is still followed, although not very nicely in terms of the Vedic injunction. But still the injunction is that charity should be given to the brāhmaṇas. Why? Because they are engaged in higher cultivation of spiritual knowledge. A brāhmaṇa is supposed to devote his whole life to understanding Brahman. Brahma jānātīti brāhmaṇaḥ: one who knows Brahman is called a brāhmaṇa. Thus charity is offered to the brāhmaṇas because they are always engaged in higher spiritual service and have no time to earn their livelihood. In the Vedic literature, charity is also to be awarded to one in the renounced order of life, the sannyāsī. The sannyāsīs beg from door to door, not for money but for missionary purposes. The system is that they go from door to door to awaken the householders from the slumber of ignorance. Because the householders are engaged in family affairs and have forgotten their actual purpose in life — awakening their Kṛṣṇa consciousness — it is the business of the sannyāsīs to go as beggars to the householders and encourage them to be Kṛṣṇa conscious. As it is said in the Vedas, one should awake and achieve what is due him in this human form of life. This knowledge and method is distributed by the sannyāsīs; hence charity is to be given to the renouncer of life, to the brāhmaṇas, and similar good causes, not to any whimsical cause.
Yaśas, fame, should be according to Lord Caitanya, who said that a man is famous when he is known as a great devotee. That is real fame. If one has become a great man in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and it is known, then he is truly famous. One who does not have such fame is infamous.
All these qualities are manifest throughout the universe in human society and in the society of the demigods. There are many forms of humanity on other planets, and these qualities are there. Now, for one who wants to advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, Kṛṣṇa creates all these qualities, but the person develops them himself from within. One who engages in the devotional service of the Supreme Lord develops all the good qualities, as arranged by the Supreme Lord.
Of whatever we find, good or bad, the origin is Kṛṣṇa. Nothing can manifest itself in this material world which is not in Kṛṣṇa. That is knowledge; although we know that things are differently situated, we should realize that everything flows from Kṛṣṇa.