Faith and Belief: Faith: Staircase to God  

By Soma Chakravarty  

Faith and Belief: Faith: Staircase to God  

Yours faithfully - A letter ends there. However, faith is the beginning of the human quest for self-discovery and the Absolute. Faith can be neither forced nor taught; it is an experience that transcends trust, reason, belief and ideology.

Belief in religious scripture confines the mind; the trust we repose in an individual, too, is a limiting factor. The intellect can only too often weave a cobweb of theories, and reason can cause mistrust, taking us away from discovering the great scope and depth of an infinite power that's faith, that can otherwise serve as an effective spiritual guide.

Zen Master Hakuin said: "Not knowing how near the truth is, people seek it far away. What a pity! This very Earth is the Lotus Land of purity and this body is the body of the Buddha".

The Upanishads say Brahmn, the Absolute, is nothing but the self. The will as Brahmn, transcends all relationships; it is non-dual or nir-dvandva . Duality or dvandva is an illusion ( maya ) that leads us to desire worldly pleasures, kama, and fear of death, mara . When this veil of delusion is lifted, the realisation that boddhi is the ultimate truth - that we are all part of the Supreme Soul, (Tat Tvam Asi - thou art that) emerges.

Faith is heartfelt rather than knowledge-fed. It is the unquestioned surrender to the will of the Almighty. We have to become aware of the light within to know God, to become God-like. Yajnavalkya says that the self is its own light when the sun has set, when the moon has set, when the fire is put out - atmaivasya jyotir bhavati . This light is the faith that gives us the vision of the eternal and eternity. Faith becomes reality when the mind concentrates on the Real.

The Brhadaranyaka Upanishad says: "Those who put their trust in the intellect cannot attain to a knowledge of Brahmn, yet there is an apprehension of His being by those who are childlike". It is faith, rather than intellectual understanding or theoretical knowledge, that is needed for revelation of the Supreme in the individual soul.

One has to rise above religion and rituals, dogmas and doctrines that cloud our vision. "Faith is an oasis in the heart which will never be reached by the caravan of thinking", said Kahlil Gibran. To discover faith that can lead us to consciousness of the infinite, we have to calm the mind, fill our heart with unconditional love and compassion, and listen to the sound of silence, the eternal song of the Absolute.

Faith is the staircase for our inner ascent to reach the supreme reality. Faith is anubhava that tells us about the human soul's sacred relationship with the ultimate reality, the Infinite Spirit, which is satyam, jnanam and anantam - truth, consciousness and infinity. Rabindranath Tagore says: "Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is yet dark."

According to Swami Surya Jowel, faith is a bond that builds a bridge between us and the Almighty. Suryayog and meditation help us build the resolve to penetrate the dark world of spiritual ignorance. Jesus tells his followers: "What-ever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours".

Faith is that Sakha, the ever-faithful friend, who helps us proclaim our kinship with Narayana, who is the immortal dwelling in mortals. Faith leads us to perceive that we are a part of divinity; that every individual identity is sacred. Faith is where body, mind, soul and spirit merge, leading us to an ever-present awareness of the Absolute within. This in itself is self-liberating and eternal.

(www.suryayog.org)

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More from same author see: Soma Chakravarty  

See also: Faith and Belief, Faith and Belief, Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)