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Aspects of Faith
Now this is one way of looking at faith, that faith is something which
we apply to our work. That is, after all when we do some work we are
bothered about the result. So we have faith not in the work per se
but in the result that we anticipate out of that work. But here comes
a new interpretation of Sahaj Marg given by my Master that faith - is
it in the work that I am doing, is it in myself that I am doing this
work therefore it will succeed or is it in Him on whom I depend for
the success of this work? So there are three aspects to faith. In the
work itself or in my capacity to do the work or in that which governs
the ultimate result of all activities of this Earth.
So the faith first is in the process. Like we have it in Western technology,
Western science, Western industry, that we believe in machines, which
is exemplified, shall we say, to its ultimate limit in the faith in
a computer that it can never perform wrong. If the programme is right,
it must perform right. So every answer that is spewed out of a computer
on its endless ribbons of tape, we believe wholeheartedly. Now this
word 'wholeheartedly' has a relationship with faith, because if you
believe in something with a partial heart or with a part of the heart,
it cannot be faith. So in that sense, faith involves the whole human
heart, the whole power of the human heart put into the expectation
of the result that I am waiting for, put into that which governs, that
which is going to happen eventually.
Faith in the System: You know the ancient proverb in
English - you can take a horse to the pond but cannot make it drink.
So it is easy to bring people into the Sahaj Marg system. But can you
make them sincerely accept with their heart, the practice, the possibility
that it offers and most important, do the minimum that is necessary
to achieve this? At some places we are told we have to meditate four
hours - there are other systems which specify four hours every morning
and they do it religiously. When something is made very difficult we
like to try it. When it is made very easy, they don't want to do it.
They say, it is too easy, it is for children. So this is the sad conclusion
that it is all too easy a system, with all too kind and loving a Master
and too little that we have to do; and I think, more or less you can
say it is a natural thing that because we are to give so little of our
time to it, the rest of the time is given to other pursuits, other distractions
and therefore this sad fact that we don't progress as fast as we should,
as high as we should.
Master says that it is possible to move up to the Central region, in
the time that it takes to move your head from the left to the right.
It does not need even the seven months that Lalaji took. Then what is
the problem? We are unable to believe, we are unwilling to believe that
it is so easy. And we say how is it possible? You see, it is really
a distrust, a disbelief in what the Master says. It is not a conscious
disbelief. I would not say that we are here with a conscious disbelief
that our Master is telling us a lie; no! But it is something that inside
us, most of us, are not able to accept.
We are willing to believe that we are able to buy a lottery ticket
for ten rupees and get three crores. That is how lottery tickets sell,
obviously. We are willing to believe that we can write four words or
five words for a slogan for Lipton's tea or Lux toilet soap and we can
get tickets for two people from here to Sydney and back, with a week
in a hotel! But we are not willing to believe that half an hour of meditation,
twenty minutes of cleaning, and ten minutes of bed time prayer will
give us that which even the greatest persons on earth have not got.
It is my utter conviction that we have first of all to make ourselves
believe in the possibilities that Sahaj Marg offers. Let us, each one
of us, examine our hearts. Do I really believe that this system is efficacious?
Do I really believe this is possible that a mere human being steeped
in ignorance, steeped in corruption, steeped in vice, nevertheless can
achieve this in six years, seven years, ten years, two days, if Master
wishes? If the answer is yes, you will find that there is a fantastic
change in your attitude to Sahaj Marg, in your application to the system
and in your aspiration to reach the goal.
I therefore think that unless there is the foundation of truth, the
foundation of belief in what the Master has said, the system is not
going to work. If you don't believe, then it cannot. This is the reason
why I think there is the famous statement that the mountain cannot move
by itself, nor can you move it with a crane or any other earth moving
system, while faith can move it. I am examining this more and more these
days. Sometimes I wonder when a faithful abhyasi does something, whether
it is sadhana or prayer or anything and if it works, whether it is the
Master who is working or it is this faith in the Master which is working?
Please don't imagine that I am casting any doubt on the Master's powers.
The Master's powers are total. They are invincible. But they can work
for us only if you have faith in those powers. It seems in some way
that when we have no faith, there is some sort of a lock that is put
on that power. It refuses to flow out of the Master.
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