Re: The Test of Complete Faith

Dear devotees,

      Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna!

      Like I said last time, first step to complete faith is to ACCEPT the reality -- the reality that this place is like a death trap. No situation is ideal. Spiritually the beggar in the street and the guy on the throne are both equally fallen and both are certainly in no ideal position for devotion materially. First one has to accept that, "I am where I am now. This is me, this is my path. I have to start / continue from here." Do not and I repeat, DO NOT look at others. When we look at others our vision becomes relative. We are all unique. Not superior or inferior, just unique.

      Someone may ask, "Why the need for all this acceptance thingy?"  Sometimes we see people arguing like this, "Why did God create me? Why did he do all this? Then there would be no suffering. I would not have fallen like this. I didn't ask God to create me. When He created me, did He bother about my choice, etc? Must there be all this? Can't there be another way?" and etc in heated moments when they are really frustrated in life. 

      But a devotee looks at it like this, "God is very very merciful to have created me because He wants me to be part and parcel of His infinite love and bliss. This is an opportunity for me to get closer to Him, so let me surrender to Him."  MORAL : Life's NOT what happens to you, but THE WAY YOU TAKE IT. Very important principle. Nowhere is this more important in devotion and faith than anywhere else.

      Why people lose faith is here. They have to accept their present position as it is. They have either been taught that God is someone who fulfills all our desires (God is our order supplier) OR they keep comparing their position to someone else. It is always one of the two. Both these approaches will be used my maya to frustrate the beginner. It is only meant for us to learn that we must first accept our situation and accept who we are. The Lord always accepts anyone, even the most sinful creatures. So we should also accept our situation.

      Now coming to what we have to do. We have to look at the Lord, talk to Him, be honest and tell Him the truth. We can speak to the deity or meditate on His form. We can pray to His name because He is the naam too. We have to tell, "Look my Lord. I am this. I am fallen. I am in this situation. I feel that wherever I am is the opportunity to grow spiritually, but I have no idea what to do, which way to look, where to turn. In this situation I am praying to you for help. You are the only one whom I can trust. Only You know what's really good for me. Please guide me."

       It is only a little sincere prayer for guidance. But it has to be Honest. Honesty is the best policy. Here we have to be very careful. We have our limitations. We do not know what is spiritually good for us. There is  a HUGE difference between what we THINK is good for us and what is REALLY good for us. But the Lord knows. When we ask Him for help, we must keep an open mind and listen to what HE wants to say and not what we want to hear. He knows what's the right path for each one of us. That is COMPLETE FAITH. Faith means we trust the Lord, trust completely. Not taking anything in our hands we should ask Him. And the answer will come. It has come. I have seen it. It has happened to me. A sincere soul will always receive guidance. No doubt.

    But we must ask for the truth and not what we want. We all have a conscience. And when we do something wrong, there is always that little instinctive feeling in us that we know we are going against. We have to learn to listen to that. That is the Lord, the Supersoul in everyone's heart. He speaks silenty but strongly. We have to pray to Him to give us the ability to listen to Him. Then we will get the idea what we have to do. It doesn't come in words, it is very subtle. We just know where our conscience is and we have to follow Him.  I was under pressure last semester for the exams and I was wondering, "Every time these exams come I forget chanting, what do I do." So following my spiritual master's tip I asked the Lord for guidance. And I knew that I should not give up my chanting, he will guide me. So I chanted and I held NO EXPECTATIONS. I would just know that I have to use my time better and that I should not get desperate. So fight against my mind I did. I chanted, fighting against every brain cell that was screaming at me. Believe it or not, it worked! I was able to do what I needed to do and yet I could chant peacefully as normal.

So the next time you are under material pressure, any kind of pressure, please keep your cool and tell yourself, "Yes. Now I am being attacked by maya. Now I must surrender to the Lord. Otherwise I will fall down. I am being tested and I have to pass it." We all need help. It is our right and duty to ask for help. But we should not expect the Lord to do anything the way we imagine. We should just follow our instinct, praying for guidance all the time. The Lord is always guiding, but we have to listen. The mind will fight, the senses will demand, people will mock or challenge. But we should keep the strong WILL POWER. We should keep listening to that voice within. We should listen to the Holy names. They will give us inspiration. But trust must be there. Trust that the Lord knows what's good for us. And very soon, you will see yourself crossing over the cosmic ocean of material existence like a small puddle of water in a cow's footprint.

Daaso'smi,
Srinath

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