Power of Faith
What is Faith?
What, after all, is faith? The dictionary calls it rather blandly, trust or confidence. But
those who experience it, know that it is a living thing, a flame that lives in the heart, a
connection with the Source of all life, a certainty of being loved, cherished and taken
care of, and a strength that sweeps away all fear and doubt. Those who are robed in
faith are unshakeable, invulnerable and immovable. No disaster can confound them, for
their faith tells them that all that comes from the Creator is good. In bad times they
stand steady as a rock, undaunted. In good times they are miracle workers, alight with
energy. In touch with the Invisible, they can do the impossible. And as their faith
deepens and strengthens, they attract miracles, good fortune and deep impenetrable
peace. For faith is akin to surrender and through surrender one enters the domain of
God.
Faith is the sole sustaining power of those who walk the spiritual path. It is faith that
gives them the courage and strength to take risks and follow hunches, the trust that they
will be looked after, the power to do the impossible and the willingness to surrender.
Nothing is deeper and stronger than faith. Faith is like love. It is above expectations.
Nothing can match the connection that you feel when you experience faith.
‘Faith is not belief, it is love.
Faith is not belief, it is not half, it not total.
Faith is not belief because there is no doubt in it,
so how can you believe?
But how does faith begin?
Here’s a story of a village struck with terrible drought.
Finally, the village priest gathered
everyone together for a pilgrimage to the mountain, where they would pray together and
ask for the rain to return. At the mountain top his eye fell on a young boy, clad in a
raincoat. “You foolish boy,” he said, “don’t you know that we have not seen a drop of
rain for years?” The boy replied, “I have a cold, father. If we are going to ask God for
rain, can you imagine the way back from the mountain? It’s going to be such a
downpour that I need to be prepared.” At that moment, a great crash was heard in the
sky and the first drops began to fall. Oh, for the absoluteness of childlike faith.
For those whose lives have been overshadowed by doubts and despair, there comes a
time when faith breaks out like the sun from behind dark clouds and starts shining
brilliantly in the life. Mostly, this happens through a direct experience of God or when a
prayer uttered from the very depths for our heart is answered beyond our wildest
dreams. Then we cannot but believe.
By their very helplessness and trust, the faithful trigger divine intervention. Just like the
parent, who is so moved by faith and trust of his child in him, that he will either kill or die
to protect it, the Divine too will move mountains to respond to the faith reposed in Him.
True Faith
True faith, But how do we distinguish between blind faith and the true faith that burnishes our lives
and supports and strengthens us? Perhaps the single most defining characteristic is
that true faith is based on personal experience, while blind faith arises from a belief
system, or through various ego-based convictions. The belief that God is only on our
side and not on that of those from differing faiths is an example of blind faith.
True faith is simply experience; it rests on one’s experience of reality. To be able
merely to define a truth, is not to know that truth, really. One must experience it. Only
by such experience may one say that he has achieved true faith. Certainly, reason is
above blind faith. But enlightened faith, like any experimental test, is far, far above
ordinary reason.
It is only when we are willing to leave behind the comforting security of blind faith and
take a step into the unknown that real faith dawns. Once we step into the path of faith,
life changes dramatically.
Living by Faith
The life of one who lives in faith is extraordinarily different from one who tries to control
his/her life through planning, cast-iron guarantee, astrological forecasts or through the
external security of money, status, power, control of others and manipulation.
Faith makes you less critical and more accepting. I liken the life of faith to a video game
where you have to make the moves that guarantee success or failure, but you know that
all these moves are pre-planned. Someone out there has already created the program,
which we are expressing through our actions. Secondly, one is no longer insistent that
life should work according to fixed ideas. While you act as vigorously as you can to
achieve your goals, you surrender the outcome.
One experiences being part of a flow that operates with mysterious purpose. The
people and opportunities we need for our greater growth, materialize; coincidences
abound. You call someone and they say they were thinking of you; you express an idle
wish for an opportunity and behold, it comes to you. Your path is paved for you before
your eyes and all you need to do is to walk on it unfalteringly. It is thrilling to be in such
close contact with and in co-operation with a Higher Power that seems to delight in
giving us what we need, sometimes even pampering us silly.
How does it happen that God takes such good care of the faithful? Is He guilty of
partisanship? It may look that way but the truth is that God is constant; it is we who
move closer or more distant, depending on our relationship with Him. The closer we
are, the more powerfully do we feel the Divine presence and guidance in all that we do.
Just as the sun remains constant but the earth swings closer to it in summer and
therefore basks in its warmth, and moves away in winter and therefore, endures bitter
cold, it is our movement that determines the proportion of God’s presence in our lives.
Those, who live in faith, move ever closer and consequently find their lives more
blessed.
To live by faith is the most practical thing a person can do. Most people, in the name of
being ‘practical’, put God last in their lives. They wonder, then, why nothing ever goes
quite right for them. A devotees, on the other hand, in the name of practicality (since his
dedication is to truth), puts God first in his life. He attains fulfillment on every level of his
existence. To his continued amazement, he finds himself protected in adversity, saved
from the jaws of disaster, and guided in every crisis in ways that often leave his worldly
friends shaking their heads in wonder.
“When you know somebody is really behind you, who loves you so dearly that you can’t
even imagine, then the surrender has happened… when a cup of water feels, ‘I am in
the ocean’ and the water in the cup knows that ‘I am connected with the ocean’, it gains
strength. Belongingness happens. When there is belongingness, there is no fear. It
cuts the roof of fear.”
When you enter this timeless dimension of the present (by letting go of resistance),
change often comes about in strange ways without the need for a great deal of doing on
your part. Life becomes helpful and cooperative.
Life becomes more and more silken, conflict-free and harmonious, for we have
submerged our own will and found our joy in the will of the Lord. Our faith has delivered
us to the sanctuary we sought, that zone of prefect peace, joy and life that some may
call ‘enlightenment’…
THANK YOU
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