Oct 31, 2011 12:32 PM
We all heard the word faith. But, what does it really mean? There are many versions of what faith means. Perhaps the best one I ever heard is “faith is believing in what we do not see today; the reward of faith is one day we will see what we believe.” Believing in what we do not see today is really the toughest part for many of us. It is because, most of us do not believe even in what we see right now.
History of mankind had proven time and again that for a person of faith who nurtures it ardently, there is no defeat or failure on earth, despite the fact that such a person may face innumerable difficulties and obstacles in nurturing his/her faith on a constant basis. For instance, Satya Harichandra had immense faith in Truth. Although he lost his kingdom and got separated from his family members, he ardently nurtured his faith without wavering even for a second. And, he won at the end. That is why we refer to Satya Harichandra as a benchmark for Truth even today, several thousands of years after he left this planet. Similarly, the Pandava brothers, especially Arjuna, had immense faith in Lord Krishna. In fact Arjuna had so much faith in Krishna, he was ready to do anything that Krishna asked him to do, even if that needed giving up his life. His immense faith in Lord Krishna was clearly evident when he went to Dwarak seeking the help of Krishna for the upcoming war at Kurukshetra. Krishna offered the choice of himself alone without ever handling a weapon in the battlefield or his entire army of soldiers, horses, elephants, etc. Arjuna chose to have Krishna alone rejecting the entire army of Krishna, against which he and his brothers have to eventually fight by default. Any prudent and pragmatic person in the worldly sense might have chosen the army of Krishna, instead of choosing lone and non-fighting Krishna. But, it was not the prudence or pragmatism that dictated the choice made by Arjuna. On the other hand, it was his faith in Lord Krishna, whom he believed from the depth of his heart as the incarnation of Lord Vishnu that made Arjuna to choose Krishna in preference to his entire army against which he eventually fought and won. Thus, faith is far superior to prudence, or pragmatism. Unlike prudence and pragmatism which are the products of a sharp, yet self-defeating, intellect, faith originates deep in the soul and is expressed through the heart in a Divine fashion. From the point of worldly sense it may appear inferior to reasoning. But it defies and rises above reasoning. It is because faith transcends intellectual debate and reasoning.
This brings us to the point - intelligence versus faith. Does it mean intelligent people have less faith? Not necessarily. But intelligent people, who consider themselves very prudent and pragmatic, may be often led by the strategic or logistic aspects of an issue or choice. That makes them to ignore or not recognize the potential “power of faith”. Of course, there are always exceptions, just in the case of Arjuna, who had a sharp intellect, and was a strong warrior, but was led by his faith in Lord Krishna. That is perhaps the supreme way of leading life - surrendering one’s intellect, power, might, valor and every virtue in the worldly sense, to faith in the Almighty. The outcome of such a phenomenon, which is well described in Bhagawad Gita as Jnana Karma Sanyasa Yoga, is the supreme way of living on this planet according to our scriptures.
Our ancestors, who ardently practiced such type of Yoga of supreme faith and sacrifice, were able to reap the best in both worlds – the one on this planet and the one in heaven. By doing so, they created and nurtured a very rich culture which was unparalleled in the annals of history of mankind. They passed on those jewels to us to preserve and take care. But we failed them by spilling the jewels on the floor and walking on them day and night. The end result is , as a culture we are not the best in this world any more.
We may try to repair our culture by talking about it all the time, and feeling great about the great virtues of our ancestors or our past glory. That is only comparable to picking up each pearl fallen on the floor and praising how great it was when it was in the necklace. But by doing so, we will not be able to rebuild the necklace. Because, the thread that holds the precious pearls is missing. We need to find it to thread the pearls into a necklace. Unless and until we find that missing thread and work on it, we are far from rebuilding our culture. The missing thread is none other than the faith.
We need faith by all means and all levels. We need to rebuild faith first in ourselves, in the Almighty, in our family, in our kith and kin, in our neighbors, in our community and in the destiny of our lands either the motherland or the adopted land. Then only the future of our children, grand children and great grand children will be assured of peace, harmony and true happiness.
On the contrary, by using our so called prudence and pragmatism, we can take care of our needs on this earth, we can educate our children, take care of their financial needs and future and then retire. But will that assure a great future for our children? Those of us who lived on this planet and watched at least three generations of people will agree with me, if I say that with each generation we moved away from the essentials of faith and became more materialistic and short -sighted in our lives. We have lost passion, patience and the ability to lead more meaningful and purpose-driven lives. We moved away from real happiness of associating with people, and moved towards transient pleasures of material life. We lost our ability to deep-dive into Ananda or true happiness, and we are stuck with superficial surf called pleasures. Unlike our forefathers, who used to possess things at their command, we are possessed by our own possession. How can we derive true happiness even in the material sense, when we are possessed by things, without any command on them? This is all because of lack of faith in ourselves.
So, obviously the solution for all these anomalies lies in developing and nurturing faith in oneself. How? In fact, faith is not something that one can find outside. It is there always within every one of us. With out faith life is not possible. It is a question of just manifesting it by constant attention and practice. It is similar to the skills that we use and practice in our profession – be an engineer or surgeon or any profession to that matter. Without faith in what we do, what we think and what we say, we cannot even earn our bread and butter. So, we constantly nurture and improve our skills in work to move upwards. So, also we need to nurture, manifest and improve the faith in ourselves, in the people and community we live in. If we do that then developing faith in the Almighty is just a question of time.
But instead of doing that, those of us who recognize faith as a powerful thing in our lives, try to do the other way. They start with faith in the Almighty, and at the same time ignore the community. They cannot believe even their own kith and kin or family members. The result of this type of faith is it does not allow for manifestation of itself. In fact, it can not be consider as true faith. It is because true faith does not create barriers. Faith is an absolute entity. Like truth, it has the power of breaking through all barriers. Please recall, some of the greatest manifestations of faith from our scriptures – Prahlada, who believed in the omnipresence of Vishnu in the pillar, and Mirabai, who drank poison sent by her husband with absolute faith in Lord Krishna. The greatest virtue of these people of faith is they did not look at the Almighty with faith and ignor ed or disrespected the people that were adverse to them. In fact the power of their faith is so vast, that it dwarfed any harm caused by their adversaries. This can happen only if one develops and nurtures the faith in its true form. This is the litmus test for us all to test our own faith in the Almighty. If we believe in the Almighty, then nothing in this world, however adverse it may be, should hurt us or even shake us. On the contrary, if we are shaken by every adverse condition, then our faith is not matured, or solidified. It is superficial like the surf on the ocean.
One can raise a question here: What is the use of such a faith in this world? May be it is useful for a Sanyasi or Himalayan Yogi. On the contrary, that type of solid faith is actually what is needed to achieve great things and a ttain great heights even in today’s materialistic world. Take for instance, when Mother Theresa started her Sisters of Charity, she was alone without a central aid from the mission that she was previously associated. She did not have money or a place to wo rk or people to follow. But she has one thing that can bring all these and much more – solid faith in the Almighty. She knew that there is nothing in this material world that is not within the purview of God. If God wishes, He can bless us with every material thing in a fraction of a second. That is what Lord Krishna did for Kuchela, his poor childhood friend. But on the other hand, all the riches in this world put together cannot buy even an inch of the Almighty. That is the greatest principle we al l need to understand and respect. Not able to understand this great principle is nothing but the sign of one’s own weakness and spiritual bankruptcy. What can such people do on this earth to make a difference? Perhaps nothing but leading a life that has no impact on the people, the community or the society they lived. Do we want such life, however comfortable it may be?
Even the lives of very successful people, such as Nobel Laureates like Marie Curie, are full of faith. Marie Curie hailed from a poor family in Poland. Her father could not afford to send her to a college. But she believed in herself and determined to be a physicist. She worked hard, often without enough food to eat and getting fainted, and earned a Ph.D. in Physics in France, the first ever awarded for a woman in France those days. Eventually her faith and dedicated work led her to win, no t one, but two Nobel Prizes the first woman to win a Nobel, and the first person to receive two Nobels. Thus, even scientists have faith in their work and abilities, despite the innumerable difficulties or uncertainties or hardships they face. Without that staunch faith and highly disciplined life, they could not have achieved what they did. So, the concept of faith is fully compatible w ith the modern life.
On the other hand, we often see people who are serious about nurturing and developing faith in the Almighty and/or the people around them. Some of them complain “you know I had so much faith in the Almighty, but he never helped me”. What do you mean by that? First, one has to understand that faith is not something that we should cultivate in a conditional manner. Faith should be followed unconditionally. If we expect that something good has to happen or fortune has to happen if we follow the faith for a certain period of time, then we are making a mockery of faith, instead of cultivating it. Faith is not for trading with God in return for something beneficial in the material sense. It is not for bartering. Faith is a Divine Principle. It should not be degraded to mundane level to fit our needs. Faith is a path to Divinity, Peace and Liberation. On the other hand, the byproducts of faith make our culture rich and noble. Not knowing these and expecting something miraculous to happen just because we have faith is nothing but a sign of our ignorance at its best and our foolishness at its worst.
Similarly, if we have faith in a person, then also it should be unconditional. You may wonder why? Because, faith is a Divine Principle, and wherever we apply it, we need to respect the Divinity of it. If we have that Divine faith in the people, it can change them for good even if they deviate from their path. Swami Vivekananda once said, “If I have a companion who believes me and loves me even if I turn to a devil tomorrow, then the power of such a faith will transform even the devil in me to an angel.” Out of that faithful companionship a man may find liberation as well. The most important thing here is to understand that when a Divine Principle, such as the faith is sincerely and ardently applied, it has the power of transforming even the devil into an angel. The power manifests out of our respect for that Divine Principle. There is a nice parable for t his from our scriptures. There was a guru with a few disciples. The guru is good, but he is not a highly evolved soul. But one of his disciples, who is an ardent student, has a higher level of Divine faith in his guru. One day, as the disciple was coming home from the woods, the water level in the canal which used to be knee-deep rose considerably to cross by walking through it. And there was no other mode of transportation to cross the culvert. So the disciple invoked his Divine faith in his guru, and by constantly reciting his guru’s name, he started walking on the water without being drowned. While he was crossing the culvert by just walking on the surface of it, his guru saw that. When the disciple reached the shore, he bowed and touched the feet of his guru as a sign of gratitude. The surprised guru asked his disciple how he could do that. The disciple told him that by invoking the faith in his guru and reciting his name he could walk on the water. Hearing this , the guru thought such was the great power in his name. So, he made an attempt to walk on the surface of water by reciting his own name. Immediately he drowned into the water. So, what made the disciple to do something great, which his guru could not do? Definitely it is not the power of the guru. Nor, it is the power of his name. But, it is the Divine faith that the disciple ardently nurtured and developed that gave him the power to walk on the water. Such is the power of faith, which unfortunately we forgot and so we are not able to cultivate or nurture it and thus derive the immense benefits of it.
The above parable brings us to another point. It is not really whom we worship or follow, but it is the depth of our Divine faith that ultimately helps us and guides us. So, let us all cultivate, nurture and develop such Divine faith and make our lives noble, and thus help to rebuild our lost culture to its past glory.
By Bellamkonda K. Kishore, M.D., Ph.D., MBA
Prof. Bellamkonda K. Kishore, M.D., Ph.D., MBA, FSB, FASN - An Altruist with a Social Conscience
Soft-spoken, unassuming and multi-faceted Prof. Kishore leads an internationally recognized kidney research laboratory at the University of Utah Health Sciences and VA Medical Centers in Salt Lake City, Utah. His research on the kidney in India,Japan, Belgium and the USA over three decades has earned him international recognition, patents, and citations in more than 90 books, European Biographical Directory and Marquis Who’s Who in Medicine and Healthcare (USA). Because of his standing in his field he was inducted as a Fellow of the Society of Biology (FSB), UK and a Fellow of the American Society of Nephrology (FASN), USA. Please see the links below for more details of his professional achievements.
Dr.Kishore is a born artist,a skilled freelance writer and innate lover of classical and devotional songs. He spends his limited free time in philanthropy, community service and promoting cultural and alumni affairs. A member of several Community Organizations, he is known for his proactive work therein.. Links to Dr. Kishore’s professional profile:
http://www.humis.utah.edu/index.php?module=facultyDetails&personId=8300&orgId=378
http://faculty.utah.edu/u0276355-BELLAMKONDA_K_KISHORE,_M.D.,_PhD.,_MBA/biography/index.hml
