The dawn of Realisation-Shraddha
What is Faith? When does it dawn? A few musings
Carl Sagan, the American Astronomer had said.. “I don’t want to believe.. I want to know.”
As a species, mankind has always strived for exploring newer territories and discovering the truth.. The governing laws of Nature, persuit of Happiness or in the field of Scientific and Technological Advancements..
While the truth is all prevailing in the Golden Womb of the Universe, what covers or uncovers the truth in each one of us?
In Gita, the word Shraddha has been used widely across. It roughly translates to faith. shrat + dhar.. ‘holding of truth’. There are four kind of people who seek for Knowledge.. The very troubled ones, The seekers of welness, The Curious and The Gyanis.. Perhaps the moment of truth dawns during these transition windows for a person having faith and striving for the Knowledge to flow through him.. Shraddhavaan labanthe gyaanam.. A person with the hollow of shraddha perhaps is entitled for the Knowledge.
In the domain of unknown, it is either optimism and shraddha or the element of doubt and sanshaya.. shraddha perhaps leads to convergence and sanshaya diverges one from this realisation. Hence the cosmic intelligence is endowed to the one with shraddha..Shraddhavaan labanthe gyaanam..
In Katha Upanishad, the young boy Nachiketa sees his father donate ‘old and sick’ cows in a yagna. Nachiketha has an ‘epiphany’ or realization of the truth.his father was doing the wrong thing. shraddha avivesha ie shraddha entered him.
I used to wonder.. Gita and scriptures need an element of intellect. How does the message get into the simple people when they seek for it?
The message that is delivered at the time on adversity changes a person. When we have the faith, even a simple message can be philosophical and of paramount importance.The sadhus in the village and wise wise people perhaps just gave the message that was relevant for the moment..
Vishada or sorrow is entry point and then shraddha is needed.. Shraddhavan labhante gyaanam.. Gita and scriptures are like Doctor’s manual. A patient needs to have shraddha and get the right medicine.
I came across this beautiful line on nirvishesh Brahma..‘silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation..’. In that silence perhaps shraddha sprouts.. Real Knowledge is effervescent in nature and all the lofty words and books are mere approximations.
A journey of a 1000 miles begins with a single step.. The truth that was potential and dormant inside perhaps sprouted after the word of a teacher, or a friend.
I spoke to my very dear college friend nearly after two decades.. As I had nearly forgotten a lot of things, I checked with her on the time spent in Hyderabad where a bunch of us were placed after graduating from college. She told me something that startled me and highlighted the meaning of Shraddha..
Apparently she found her coding assignments very hard as we were from Electronics background. And apparently she confided her struggle in me. She had a lot of respect and faith in me and it seems I had advised her not to be fearful of the gap. “Instead leave early to work 30 minutes every day and stay back 30 minutes extra. Do this till you gain familiarity and confidence with the computer, typing etc.” And she followed the mantra with full faith. And whenever a new project or a tight situation would arrive in the future years, she would remember the inspirational advise and latch on.
Few years back she was asked to speak to a NGO organisation something that was dear and had changed her life.. and she quoted this incident..
I was absolutely stunned with the narration. I had no memory of my words or this incident. Her shraddha, trust and wanting to seek help in that situation mirrorred the confidence that was residing right inside her.
In Viveka Chudamani, Shankaracharya says guru vakyam and shastras are pathways to shraddha
śāstrasya guruvākyasya satyabuddhyavadhāraṇam |
sā śraddhā kathitā sadbhiryayā vastūpalabhyate || 25 ||
Shankaracharya includes Shraddha in the list of attributes shad-sampatthi that is essential for a spiritual seeker.
Patanjali defines in his Yoga Sutras the different pathways to the truth Pramaana. When truth cannot be experienced directly (Pratyaksha) then Paroksha(inference) and Shastra references serve the purpose.
