Vinay Kumar Aitha shared a memory.
Guruvagvaibhavam.....
SHRADDHA – FAITH IN THE WORDS OF GURU AND VEDANTHA
My guru is great soul. What he says is right even though I do not experience it now. The truth is beyond the mind and senses. The scriptures indicate this truth. Hence they are valid means of knowledge. The guru will interpret the scriptures rightly. He knows the best means for my self-unfoldment. He always has my welfare at heart and will never harm me. He loves me selflessly. He is himself realized and if I follow his teachings, I too shall reach this state. I have never seen GOD. But there is god and the guru will guide me to him.
Faith is always in the unknown. The known requires no faith as it is already known. I need not have faith that I have a nose. I know it. Faith is the bird that sings in joy when the dawn is still dark. Even though he has not seen the sun he believes that it will soon rise.
Only when there is such conviction can the seeker walk the path with determination and directly experience what he had faith in ( sraddhavan labhate jnanam). Faith enables us to listen to the scriptures with an open and alert mind. It does not stop enquiry. In fact it encourages the seeker to reflect upon and realise the truth. It is therefore not blind. It only gets strengthened through enquiry and culminates in knowledge. Without faith, the seeker will not be able to determine the goal or means to it and will doubt both as also his own efforts (samasayatma vinasyati) - one without faith destroys oneself.
It is most important to have faith in the GURU. He can instil faith in the scriptures, the goal, the means and even in our own ability to reach it.
Guruvagvaibhavam.....
SHRADDHA – FAITH IN THE WORDS OF GURU AND VEDANTHA
My guru is great soul. What he says is right even though I do not experience it now. The truth is beyond the mind and senses. The scriptures indicate this truth. Hence they are valid means of knowledge. The guru will interpret the scriptures rightly. He knows the best means for my self-unfoldment. He always has my welfare at heart and will never harm me. He loves me selflessly. He is himself realized and if I follow his teachings, I too shall reach this state. I have never seen GOD. But there is god and the guru will guide me to him.
Faith is always in the unknown. The known requires no faith as it is already known. I need not have faith that I have a nose. I know it. Faith is the bird that sings in joy when the dawn is still dark. Even though he has not seen the sun he believes that it will soon rise.
Only when there is such conviction can the seeker walk the path with determination and directly experience what he had faith in ( sraddhavan labhate jnanam). Faith enables us to listen to the scriptures with an open and alert mind. It does not stop enquiry. In fact it encourages the seeker to reflect upon and realise the truth. It is therefore not blind. It only gets strengthened through enquiry and culminates in knowledge. Without faith, the seeker will not be able to determine the goal or means to it and will doubt both as also his own efforts (samasayatma vinasyati) - one without faith destroys oneself.
It is most important to have faith in the GURU. He can instil faith in the scriptures, the goal, the means and even in our own ability to reach it.
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