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[Fwd: faith in HIM]

From the Bhakti List Archives

Mohan Sagar • June 3, 2001 


Dear bhAgavathas,

I tried sending this e-mail on Friday, but it appear in Bhakti for some reason.  I am posting this
message again for your consideration...



> Sri Bhadri,
>
> I think the question to ask is where this level of faith comes from in the first place?  How is
> it possible to place our faith in somone that we have not "seen," or know anything about?
> What is it that it is motivating us from within to accept His Presence and seek to adore Him in
> the form of the archa.  Our Acharyas teach us that this faith is the product of the Lord
> Himself, who solely out of His Compassion and Boundless Desire to help and save us, stays within
> as our antaryAmin and leads us in the path that leads us back to Himself.   It is He
> who places this faith in us in the hopes that someday He can put it to good use in meeting His
> Goal.
>
> The seed level of this faith is present in almost everyone.    But, often times,  because of our
> self interested desires, such faith  seems to be vacillating and skeptical.  At one moment, when
> things are not going our way, we seek Him out to help us.  If our prayer is answered, we feel
> happy and revel at how our Chosen Ideal is connected to us.  When things do not go our way,
> however, the very same believer can instantly become the skeptic, doubting Him or His
> Capabilities, or sometimes even questioning the meaning behind His creation or even His very
> Existence.
>
> Faith, it appears is like an oil lamp that vacillates with the wind.  What is needed then is a
> cover, something that turns the lamp into a lantern, so that not only does this faith become
> steady, it also burns all the more strongly such that it turns to Love.
>
> Such a level faith is something that none of us can gain by ourselves. The complexities of
> spending eons virtually unaware of Him and pursuing selfish desires have made us helpless
> victims to the laws of karma.  The only thing that can save us is His Mercy, His Compassion,
> which He provides just when we are ready in the form of the AchAryan.
>
> Our AchAryans use the analogy that the Teacher is like a fisherman who is sent to retrieve brass
> pots that  fell overboard from the sailing vessel of their Owner.  The fisherman finds the pots
> to be at different levels in the water, just as we souls are at different levels of attachment
> to our ego based on our prArabdha karmas.  The talented and experienced fisherman has just the
> right equipment (the Vedas, itihAsas, and Prabhandam) and just the right method (samAsrAyanam
> and/or bharanyAsam) to connect each pot to his fishing line and bring it up from
> the water back onto the ship, and back into the hands of the Rightful and True Owner.
>
> I hope this helps as a start.
>
> adiyEn rAmanuja dAsan
> Mohan


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