What can help us develop faith?
Answer Podcast
Transcript
This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, what can help us develop faith? Mahaprasade Govinde, Naam Brahmani Vaishnavi Swalpa Punya Vratham Rajan Vishvaso Naivajayate Vishvaso Naivajayate Vishvasa doesn’t take place for whom? For those people who have Swalpa Punya. Swalpa Punya is piety is less. And what is the faith lacking? They don’t have faith in the Prasad, they don’t have faith in the devotee association and they don’t Mahaprasade Govinde, Naam Brahmani Vaishnavi Naam Brahmani, that is the name of the Lord, the spiritual name of the Lord.
So, basically when our piety is less, we don’t have faith in these things. But if we do these very things, our faith will develop. That means, if we chant the holy names, if we associate with devotees, if we take Prasad, by these, our faith will develop.
And among these three things, taking Prasad, chanting the holy names, associating with devotees, associating with devotees is most important. Because when we associate with devotees, they will give us Prasad and they will ask us, are you chanting? So, the other two things will happen automatically. We just associate with devotees.
And so, in association, if we hear the philosophy, if we understand, as I said, faith is based on, it is sensible and verifiable. So, if we study the philosophy, understand, ask questions, get understanding, see, all this makes sense. And it starts making sense, then we want to do it.
And verifiable, if we come in the association of devotees we have, we see that yes, this practicing bhakti actually makes me peaceful, it makes my head clearer, I can take better decisions, I become a better person, then that will also inspire us, that will become the experiential realisation for us. And then we will be able to become more committed. So, faith is a journey.
It is Adav Shraddha. In the beginning, there is a little faith which is like a favourable curiosity. Let me go and find out what are these people doing? These people have a program, they say they speak on the Bhagavad Gita, let me find out what is going on.
So, then from that Shraddha, Adav Shraddha Tatha Sadhu Sangam. Sadhu Sangam, you come in the association of spiritually minded people. Then when you come in the association of spiritually minded people, Bhajana Kriya.
You do some bhajan, some chant some holy names, worship Krishna. And then when you do that, then Anartha Nivrutti. Anartha Nivrutti is the fourth stage.
That means the undesirable cravings, the undesirable feelings in the heart, they start going away. The anxieties go down, the unwanted desires go down. And when this happens, then the fifth stage is Nishtha.
Nishtha is strong faith. Shraddha is tender faith. It is basically a favourable curiosity.
So, at the stage of Shraddha, the faith is like a banana tree. It can easily be shaken. But by the stage of Nishtha, when one has seen that my own heart is getting transformed, my life has become better.
Then at that stage, the faith is very deep rooted. It is like a banyan tree. It can’t be shaken.
So, if we come in the association of devotees and practice bhakti, Sadhu Sangha, Bhajana Kriya, association of devotees, we practice bhakti and we start experiencing the transformation that happens in our own life. Then our conviction can become very deep. So, by understanding how it makes sense and then practicing the process which gives us the experience of the change, then our faith can become very strong.
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