A Belief - Is it Superstition or Faith?-Part II

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We will now arrive at altogether a different type of belief for which there is a spiritual background which we call faith. We know that for a long time, spiritual masters have been emphasizing to believe the existence of the Lord Almighty, the saviour of the universe. Lives of those people who believe this and lived accordingly became successful. Some people who are unable to comprehend the truth in this universal statement and who are unable to walk the divine path, prattle that this statement is superstitious because they have not developed properly the power of enquiry and the power of discrimination which requires a high scientific and psychological state of mind. Here the belief simply never remains as mere belief. It becomes a faith - a divine faith which is the foundation in the lives of the great souls. Number of examples can be quoted regarding this.

We can quote an incident from the life of the great master, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa regarding faith in the divine. Once Keshab-Chandrasen, the founder of Bramhosamaj was not feeling well. Having heard this, the master swore that he would offer sugar and tender coconut to Kali-Mata if Keshab was cured. How is one to understand the expression of this simplest type of faith by such an extra-ordinary spiritual master who had attained the highest spiritual level? He has the speciality to come down to the lowest level to save the souls and at the same time rising to the highest to care for the higher souls; Being himself the Brahman, poses himself as a simplest devotee expressing simple faith.

Another similar type of belief which Swami Vivekananda had in his life also, can be quoted here. Narendra, when he was young suffered from some illness. For its cure, his mother had sworn to the Lord of Mathura that his son (Narendra) would serve him going round the temple rolling his body after taking cold bath (Uruluseva). Due to some unknown reason Swamiji had forgotten to offer this service to the Lord of Mathura. After he returned from America, with world fame, he accidentally remembered the promise made by his mother. He simply proceeded to Mathura and offered the service to the Lord like an ordinary devotee in order to satisfy the soul of his mother.

The above act of Swami Vivekananda shows that realised souls do not make any difference between low and high beliefs. The Lord accepts whatever they perform. The seekers of truth should understand their actions properly with proper divine interpretation. These actions of the great spiritual masters, can be taken for granted as their teachings, that if the devotees heart is full of pure, divine love all his desires are undoubtedly fulfilled. Personality of a person depends upon the type of beliefs and faiths which he develops during his life time. Human life is like a circumcircle which passes through the three vertices of a triangle formed by the three points – belief, superstition and faith.

About the author

Shamachary

This article is written by Shamachary and featured in the Vedanta Vani of Chinmaya Mission.