Shraddha

Have we, in the middle of living our life, stopped to think, what’s the end goal of all this?

Sometimes life comes in the way. At other times, we don’t know whom to talk to. In this age of information overload, we have a deluge of information at our fingertips. To some of us, the mere availability of the solution is comforting and it helps postpone addressing the question. For others, the sheer variation of help available online with infinite variations, is more confusing. If I knew how to assess the best option, I’d have done so, fixed my problems and would not have needed help.

The modern mind, trained to think that it has the answers to life’s vexing questions, may deem seeking help as a sign of weakness. Alternatively, one may reasonably conclude that the sources of help seem to be in a similar boat, thus questioning their assistance. Curiously, when we fall sick, our trust in the doctor is generally paramount. Truth is, we have no option but to trust the doctor. The fact is, we don’t know how to fix our problem, and we don’t know if the doctor will make us better, but we trust them. This is Shraddha. Pujya Swami Brahmavidananda (Arsh Vidya) often says, if I want to know if you have a note of 100 Rupees in your pocket, I have to trust that once you check, I’ll know if you have the note or not. It is not blind belief, a phenomenon the modern mind dislikes, predisposed perhaps to question most beliefs that predate them.

Shraddha gives you strength. It can be strengthened over time with constant practice. Shraddha has no quarrel with the outcome. It modulates, enables us to face the factual uncertainties of life. Whether we like it or not, life is uncertain. The question is not whether I gain the outcome I desire by having Shraddha. The issue is what I lose by not having Shraddha. One can spend the 100 odd years in this lifetime without Shradhha, or one can realise the benefit of Shraddha and attenuate the accompanying anxiety of not knowing life outcomes.

To the modern Indian who has no exposure to Shastra, several arguments may arise. To a nastikta, Shraddha may appear to be a justification, a shield against adverse outcome. A concept, one may conclude, not borne of reason, they may argue. It’s not as if the nastikta doesn’t make substitute assumptions instead. Ask them and they offer, I don’t know if I’ll get fired today for sure, I hope not because I have a mortgage and bills to pay. Read the preceding sentence again! Even their lives are replete with uncertainty and they don’t know outcomes. Yet they use mental reassurances to keep going. They build substitute concepts and phrases, which wane in intensity depending on the situation they face. The tougher the situation, the more reassurance one tends to give to oneself. The Shastra then says to the Astika: here, learn what this racket is all about so you face life with a shield. In facing life itself, you don’t have an option. In relating to life, it’s preferable to have a source of strength that never depletes, is free and ever present. You just have to choose.

Shraddha then can be presented to the modern mind initially as an attitude of reliance on something permanent, a guide to navigate life. To this mind so inclined to verify everything for one’s own self, live an hour with Shraddha and compare it to the next hour without. Compare how you felt regardless of the outcome. Try it!