Question::
Why ‘faith’ is necessary in our daily lives? How does ‘faith’ inherently drives our day-to-day lives? What happens when “faith” disappears from our every-day lives?
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What is ‘natural faith?’ What is ‘complete faith?’
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How does ‘faith’ help develop individual and collective life?
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Why “faith in oneself” is necessary? How does FAITH enhances one’s ‘character’ and ‘confidence’?
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What are the qualities that foster ‘mutual faith’?
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Why ‘unshakable faith in oneself’ is rare? When can one’s ‘self-confidence’ be ESTABLISHED SECURELY?
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Why “faith in Master” is utterly important? What does “faith in a Master” facilitate??
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How does ‘faith in a Master’ drives one to his/her Divine destiny?
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Are ‘faith’ and ‘critical reason’, really that anti ?
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What is ‘True faith’ based on?
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What happens when ‘critical reason’ is implemented together with ‘faith based on pure intuition’?
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Why ‘rational intellect’, at times, cannot fathom ‘True faith’ grounded in pure intuition?
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How is “true faith” different from ‘beliefs’ and ‘opinions’?
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It is said that one’s faith in one’s Master– who is God-realized, WAVERS because of a deficiency in the person. What sort of deficiency is that?
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What sort of confidence develops a reliable character of a person?
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It is said that ‘desires’ influence one’s faith. How so?
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What is a “living faith”?? How come it is “creatively dynamic”??
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It is said that ‘true faith’ is a matter of GRADUAL GROWTH. How so? How does it grow, basically?
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How come ‘living faith’ is said to influence the psyche?
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How does ‘living faith in the Master’ expresses through the disciple?
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It is said that ‘living faith”– which ultimately culminates in “obedience”, is ALWAYS a gift from the Master to the “disciple”. How so?
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Is it a matter of concern for a Master whether a person believes in Him or in someone else?
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What does the Master see-in/expect-from his “disciples”??
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To whom does the Master gives proof of His divinity, and why so?
Answer::
(Extracted from Meher Baba’s literature, which is a copyright of Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust(©AMBPPCT), Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, Bharat/India)
One of the MOST important qualifications for the aspirant is “faith”. There are three kinds of ‘faith’:
- faith in oneself,
- faith in a Perfect Master,
- faith in life.
“Faith” is so indispensable to life that unless it is present in some DEGREE, life itself would be impossible.
- It is because of ‘faith’ that co-operative and social-life becomes possible.
- It is ‘faith’ in each other that facilitates a free give-and-take of love, a free sharing of ‘work’ and ‘its results’.
When life is burdened with unjustified fear of one another, it becomes cramped and restricted.
Children have a natural faith in their elders. They INSTINCTIVELY look to them for ‘protection’ and ‘help’ without requiring any letters of introduction. This quality of TRUSTING OTHERS persists in later life unless a person is RUDELY SHOCKED BY OTHERS who, through ‘self-interest’ DECEIVE and EXPLOIT him.
So, though ‘faith’ is NATURAL to man, it GROWS and FLOURISHES in a society where people are:
- reliable,
- honest, and
- worthy of faith;
and, it FADES in a hostile environment. “Faith” in one another becomes COMPLETE and STEADY when it finds its counterpart in those “qualities” that INVITE and CONFIRM faith!
‘Being WORTHY of the faith others place in one’ and ‘having faith in others’ are two complementary virtues. They are the conditions for an unhampered flow and development of individual and collective life.
UNQUALIFIED and IMPLICIT faith in each other belongs to the “world of ideals”. In actual practice it exists only in special cases. Though it is very much to be desired, it cannot come unless the world is populated by persons who deserve ‘unlimited faith.’ This CONDITION requires a perfect development of the qualities of being
- reliable,
- steadfast, and
- invariably helpful.
But these qualities that foster “mutual faith” remain undeveloped unless one has supreme faith in oneself.
If an individual has no faith in himself, he cannot develop those ‘qualities’ that invite and foster faith from others.
The confidence that you can remain loyal under all sorts of trying circumstances– to your own perception of ‘what is right’ is the very foundation of the superstructure of a “reliable character”.
‘Unshakable faith in oneself’ is as rare as “implicit faith” in some other person. Few have developed it to the degree that ensures effective and constructive CONTROL OF ONESELF.
In most persons, ‘faith’ in ONESELF is always being CHALLENGED and UNDONE by the constant experience of one’s own ‘frailties’ and ‘failings,’ which often prove to be UNYIELDING, even when one knows ‘what is right.’
“Self-confidence”, which is thus in perpetual danger of being shattered, can be securely established only when the individual has before him the vision of a living example of Perfection and has ‘faith’ in it.
‘Faith in Master’ becomes all important because it NOURISHES and SUSTAINS ‘faith in ONESELF’ and ‘faith in LIFE’ in the very teeth of –
- setbacks and failures,
- handicaps and difficulties,
- limitations and failings.
Life– as a person knows it in HIMSELF or in most of his fellow beings, may be narrow, twisted, and perverse; but “life”– as he sees it in the Master is unlimited, pure, and untainted.
- In the Master, the aspirant sees his own ideal realized.
- The Master is what his own “deeper self” would rather be.
- He sees in the Master the reflection of the best in himself which is yet to be, but which he will surely one day attain.
‘Faith in the Master’, therefore, becomes the chief MOTIVE POWER for realizing the ‘divinity’ that is latent in man.
“True faith” is grounded in– the ‘deeper experiences of the spirit’ and the ‘unerring deliverances of PURIFIED INTUITIONS’. It is not to be regarded as the antithesis of critical reason but as the UNFAILING GUIDE of critical reason.
When ‘critical reason’ is implemented by a ‘deep’ and ‘living faith’ based on ‘pure intuition’, it’s functioning becomes creative, fruitful, and significant instead of barren, ineffective, and meaningless.
On the other hand, many forms of naive credulity cannot be broken through, except by the FEARLESS and FREE WORKING of “critical reason”.
However, it remains true that ‘critical reason’ can touch and inform only those kinds of ‘faith’ that are not based upon ‘pure intuitions.’
True faith grounded in ‘pure intuition’ always remains an imperative that cannot be ultimately reduced to the conclusions of rational intellect. It is not DERIVED from the limited intellect but is more fundamental and primary, with the result that it cannot be silenced by any intellectual acrobatics.
This does not mean, however, that ‘faith’ need at any stage be blind, in the sense that it is not allowed to be examined by critical intellect.
‘True faith’ is a form of SIGHT and not of blindness. It need not be afraid of the free functioning of critical reason.
The right of testing the Master through critical reasoning has always been conceded to the disciples. But,
if, after testing and being satisfied about the Perfection of the Master, a disciple shows any wavering of faith, it is a result of a deplorable DEFICIENCY in his
- sincerity of approach, and
- integrity of purpose.
As there is much uncritical and undeserved credulity given to claimants of spiritual wisdom, so there is much ‘unjustified wavering of faith’ in spite of a convincing basis for it in one’s own experience.
Just as ‘uncritical credulity’ is ultimately the result of the unconscious operation of WORLDLY WANTS, ‘unjustified wavering of faith’ is also due to the unconscious operation of DESIRES that run contrary to the effective manifestation of a ‘rationalized faith.’
In the first case, ‘desire’ is the source of ‘unwarranted belief’, and in the second case desire is the source of ‘unwarranted doubt.’
‘Cravings’ have a tendency to pervert the functioning of ‘critical reason’! An unwavering faith grounded in pure intuition can come only to a mind that is free from the pressure of diverse wants. ‘True faith’ is therefore a matter of gradual growth! It grows in proportion to the success that the disciple attains in freeing his consciousness from diverse cravings.
‘Faith’ must be carefully distinguished from mere intellectual ‘beliefs’ or ‘opinions.’ When a person has a good opinion about someone, he is said to have a certain kind of faith in him. But this kind of ‘opinion’ does not have that SPIRITUAL POTENCY which belongs to a living faith in a Perfect Master.
The ‘beliefs’ and ‘opinions’ of a person often constitute a very superficial layer of the human psyche. They do not have any integral relationship with the deeper forces of the psyche. They remain in one region of the mind without bringing about any radical changes in the core of personality which determines the attitude toward life.
People hold such ‘beliefs’ just as they wear clothes to suit their immediate purposes. In such cases, ‘beliefs’ are unconsciously determined by ‘other purposes;’ the ‘purposes’ are not consciously determined by ‘beliefs.’
‘Living faith,’ on the other hand, has the most vital and integral relation with all the deeper forces and purposes of the psyche.
‘Living faith’ has the most vital and integral relation with all the ‘deeper forces’ and ‘purposes’ of the psyche. It is NOT held superficially nor does it hang like mere intellectual beliefs in the periphery of consciousness.
On the contrary, ‘living faith’ becomes a powerful factor that RECONSTRUCTS the entire psyche; IT IS CREATIVELY DYNAMIC! There is no ‘thought’ un-enlivened by it, no ‘feeling’ un-illumined by it, no ‘purpose’ not recast by it.
For the disciple, such living faith in the Master becomes a SUPREME source of inspiration and unassailable self-confidence. It EXPRESSES itself primarily through the SPIRIT of ‘active reliance’ upon the Master and not merely through some ‘opinion’ about Him.
‘Living faith’ is not a sort of certificate given by the ‘disciple’ to the ‘Master.’ It is an ACTIVE ATTITUDE OF CONFIDENCE in the Master, expressing itself not only through ‘implicit’ and ‘trustful’ EXPECTATION of help from him but also through the SPIRIT of ‘self-surrender’ and ‘dedication.’
Such ‘fruitful’ and ‘living faith’ in the Master is ALWAYS born of some ‘deep experience’ that the Master IMPARTS to the deserving disciple. It is fundamentally different from the “beliefs” people hold either through UNCRITICAL acceptance or superficial thinking.
Mere intellectual beliefs for the most part have very little spiritual importance. The Master, therefore, is utterly UNCONCERNED with whether the disciple believes in him or in someone else; and he is equally UNCONCERNED with whether the disciple, at any moment, does or does not believe in him.
If in some fortunate case, the Master, through His benign intervention, WINS for Himself the ‘living faith’ of the disciple, as distinguished from ‘mere belief,’ it is because He knows that the disciple will be helped through it.
Just as the disciple is testing the Master’s capacity to guide him, the Master in turn is testing the disciple’s “integrity of purpose.”
The Master is UNCONCERNED whether the disciple DOUBTS Him or has faith in Him. What He tests is –whether the disciple is or is not SINCERE and WHOLE-HEARTED in his spiritual search and pursuit.
The Perfect Master is not at all interested in GIVING PROOF of His own ‘divinity’ to the disciple, except when He FEELS that such ‘proof’ is likely to be unfailingly useful and unavoidably necessary for the SPIRITUAL BENEFIT of one who has surrendered himself to Him.
– Meher Baba
Source ::
Discourses, Pg:: 365 – 369
© AMBPPCT, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, India/Bharat
