What is faith? || Acharya Prashant, on Vedanta (2020)

Acharya Prashant

‍♂️ Want to meet Acharya Prashant? Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquir...   Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books? Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...   Read 3 handpicked wisdom articles, just for you: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articl... ➖➖➖➖➖➖  Video Information:  04.07.2020, Shastra Kaumudi, Greater  Noida  Context:  ~ How to get freedom from bondages? ~ What is meant by ultimate freedom?  ~ Is there any final freedom or salvation?  ~ Why methods of meditation are called bondage? ~ What is meditation?   Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~~~

Transcript

00:00Faith is not an act of thought, or memory, or conditioning.

00:17Faith is not something that you do for your protection or aggrandization.

00:24Faith just is. You can say you believe on something, but you cannot say the same thing

00:37about faith. You cannot say I have faith on such and such thing. If your trust has an object,

00:49then it is mere belief. Faith is when you are alright without an objective reason to be alright.

01:01So there is no object associated with faith. Belief is I will be rescued because my friend

01:10will come to rescue me. This is belief. I will be rescued because my friend will come to rescue me.

01:18What is faith? I do not bother whether I will be rescued or not. I am alright whether I am rescued or not.

01:30So faith therefore is not dependent on an occurrence, a person, a reason, on anything.

01:38Faith is, I said, object independent. Faith is obviously another name for a totally fulfilled

01:58self. When the self is totally fulfilled, then it bothers not. Or it says that my

02:07botheration has been submitted to or surrendered to a very very reliable, dependent, dependable

02:20force. This is faith. Either you could say I do not bother at all or you could say I

02:28have given all my botherations to Ram. And who is Ram? The one who cannot falter. The one who

02:36will not fail me or deceive me. These two are the same thing. You could either say now I am

02:42not bothered at all. My friend may come to my rescue, not come to my rescue. I feel already

02:48rescued. Or another use of language is how to save me. This is no more my personal worry. Ram

03:10is the saviour. This is his portfolio. Let him take care of me. Why should I worry? But in either

03:20case you see faith is object independent whether you say I do not worry at all or whether you say

03:27Ram will take care of my worries. Because even though in the second case you are talking of Ram,

03:35Ram is nevertheless not an object. Ram is an abstraction. Are you getting it? Ram is an

03:46abstraction used to communicate the idea that I am no more bothered about myself. And because

03:59you wanted to communicate it in an affirmative way, so you said I am no more bothered about

04:04myself. My worries now belong to Ram. That's as good as saying I have stopped bothering. Or the

04:13one who bothers or the one who used to be bothered. I am no more that. I was never that. It's just

04:25I was in a spell for a while. Now I am out of that spell. Are you getting it? Talking of Ram

04:50as an abstraction for positive affirmation is an example of Sambhuti. We can say this. No. When Ram

04:57becomes an object for you then it is Sambhuti. But when Ram is just another name for Nirakar

05:05Brahm then it's not. If Ram becomes an object with attributes then it is Sambhuti. Now you

05:14are imagining Ram. Now you have an image of Ram. Then it is a problem obviously. But when Ram is

05:22just a metaphor for that which is indescribable then it's a different Ram. So basically we are

05:37saying that it is indescribable yet I am dependent on that. Yet I am dependent on him. That is faith.

05:43Now that's a tricky thing. That's why faith is such a rarity. What you are saying is I am dependent

05:49on something or somebody not only I do not know but is actually unknowable. Bad. We find it so

06:00difficult to depend even on somebody we know and know a lot. Are you ever fully convinced

06:12when you have to depend on somebody who is even your family member? Are you fully at peace? Are

06:27you? So that is the condition of those who depend on something that has a form or something that is

06:38objective. Even if that thing is tried and tested a thousand times yet there would lurk a suspicion

06:47within you. Because there can be no absolute certainty in this world that fellow has remained

06:57dependable since the last 10 years. What is the guarantee that he will prove dependable even

07:05today and deliver the goods? Is there a guarantee? So some kind of a disquiet will remain within you.

07:10That is the ordinary belief. In faith you do not even know who it is you are trusting and yet you

07:22are secure. In ordinary belief you fully well know the one you are trusting. He is my brother or my

07:35father, my wife, my boss, whatever, my organization. I know and I am trusting them. Yet one phone call

07:45can shatter all your belief. While you have been trusting them since long, you say well sir your

07:56support is my rock of Gibraltar and all those big things. But one phone call is enough to dynamite

08:04the rock. Faith, you have no idea who you are trusting and yet you are alright. But who is Ram?

08:26Why should I bother? All my botherations are with Ram. So why should I bother who is Ram? Even

08:36this botheration let Ram take. Let Ram bother about who is Ram. Tulsi bharose Ram ki nirbhay hoke soye.

08:44Now he does not say Tulsi bharose guard ki nirbhay hoke soye. If it is some guard then Tulsi cannot

08:52be nirbhay and his sleep can never be deep. Because the guard can ditch you. If the one you

09:02are depending on is a mortal person, some objective thing of this world, then you can be anytime

09:12ditched and let down. Ram, no chance boss. Sleep peacefully. An honi honi nahi, honi hoye so hoye.

09:28That's faith. I can never be let down because there is nobody to let me down. There is no Ram

09:36in the objective sense. So there is nobody to break my trust. What is Ram then? If I just say

09:53there is no Ram then it's quite quite hollow and lifeless. So there is Ram. Ram is there but not

10:06in the sense the guard is there. Ram is there in some other dimension. What is certain is Ram is

10:17not in the dimension of the guard. Equally you cannot say there is nothing called Ram because

10:25had there been nothing called Ram how come Tulsi is snoring away so peacefully. So there certainly

10:31is something called Ram but that something is not in the same plane as the guard. What is the

10:42proof that Ram is there? See how his snores are echoing. That's the proof. Not one tension this

10:59man has. This is the proof that there is Ram. There is no proof of God other than the godly

11:15man said that elsewhere. Getting it? As long as the guard is there you will get no peace,

11:40no sleep. Now there are two options. Get ten guards, get the entire army or dismiss this one

11:51guard that you have. Most people if they are not able to sleep peacefully with one guard what do

12:01they do? They bring in ten guards. They say now maybe we will feel secure and sleep. But the

12:08thing is if you couldn't feel secure with one you cannot feel secure with ten. What if these ten

12:17collude? One was one. I could have even overpowered him. But now there are ten of them. Insecurity is

12:31mental. Who can stop imagination? So the way is if one guard makes you insecure don't get another

12:45one. Dismiss this one. Remember that old poster? Everything that you gather, everything that

13:00you gather for your security makes you all the more insecure. So there is this doha that has

13:19stuck with me by Kabir Sahab. And similarly I have also seen you that you know being worried

13:36about things and missions and everything. So on one hand you totally tell us that you know depend

13:46upon Ram. But on the other hand, so these are two different dimensions you see. Dukhiya Das Kabir

13:55hai jaage aur roye. The jaage bit, the awakened part pertains to vidya or the subject within.

14:13The roye part which implies concern and tension and restlessness, this pertains to the worldly

14:25conduct. Are you getting it? Within there is nothing but pure awakening, constant awakening.

14:39Externally the being is responding to the worldly situation at hand and the worldly situation at

14:54hand is such that it brings tears to the eyes of the mortal being. Are you getting it? The mortal

15:07being, he is influenced by the situation of the world because as far as the mortal part is concerned,

15:21it has to be influenced, it will be influenced. But within that mortal exterior lives someone

15:34whose nature and work is just pure light and awakening. Jaage aur roye. In fact because he

15:45is awakened within, therefore he is in tears outside. The ones who are not awakened within

15:55are found rejoicing outside. Are you getting it? So it is not as if awakening necessitates a certain

16:08type of blissful external conduct. It's a fallacy and it's a fallacy that has been promoted by not

16:22merely ignorance but actually ill will. You see it has been said that if you are awakened from

16:31within then externally you would be composed and peaceful and smiling and all those things. If that

16:38be the reason then why is Kabir Sahib saying here that in the middle of this happily sleeping world,

16:47he is the only one awake and tearful. Awakening is a certain thing in all saints. This will be

17:07something common amongst them. All of them are awakened from within. Except for this,

17:13if you find anything overlapping in their external behavior or characteristics, it is merely a

17:22coincidence. There is no certainty, no guarantee that the outsides, the external behavior or

17:33conduct or mannerisms of awakened beings will be similar. No, not at all. What is similar among

17:47them is inner awakening, not external conduct. But we have been made to believe that all awakened

17:57beings must display a particular type of external conduct. You know what that does? That merely

18:05enables the fraudsters to exhibit that kind of conduct and convince everybody that they too are

18:14awakened. For example, if it has been drilled deep into you that an awakened being walks in a

18:27particular way, wears in a particular way, carries a particular something around the neck with beads,

18:42or rings, or some holy mark or vermilion or something, his eyes are half closed,

18:59he's always found chanting the holy name, he smiles in a particular way,

19:09and you have been said that the holy man will display all these characteristics. He eats this

19:21much and in this way. He has had wonderful and extraordinary experiences. And if I am a trickster

19:43trying to dupe you into thinking that I am an enlightened being, then what will I do? You have

19:51made it very easy for me, have you not? You have made it very easy for me to trick you. I will just

20:00start exhibiting all the signs that you commonly associate with enlightenment and you will quickly

20:10believe that I too am enlightened. Don't fall into that trap. Enlightenment is something very

20:23very subtle. It is so subtle that I call it non-existent. Therefore, I refute the common

20:31concept of enlightenment itself. The commonly held and displayed enlightenment is nothing but

20:46a trick and it is a trick to cheat you. Why don't you understand? If you will read about the lives

21:10of saints, so many of them have done so many things that will shock you. They are totally

21:17against your idea of enlightenment. It is just because you are in ignorance about the life

21:30stories and work and behavior and mannerisms of the saints that you continue to call them holy.

21:40Otherwise, if you will measure them by your yardstick of holiness, then you will be forced

21:49to declare that none of them are holy. It is a very strange situation where you have

21:56dreamt up standards of holiness for yourself that are so foolish that you declare all the

22:12frauds as enlightened and all the saints you will declare as ordinary beings or even wild

22:26beings if you come to know of the real life stories of those saints. Just because you will

22:35think that the saints are wicked or fallen, it will do nothing to the saints but it tells a lot

22:47about your stupidity. We imagine a saintly figure to be some kind of a superhuman. One

23:15he has to be a superhuman. Secondly, he needs to exhibit supernatural powers. How is he to be a

23:32superhuman? He is to be a superhuman by his total lack of emotionality, by his total lack of

23:48experience of everything that you call as worldly or carnal. Everything that besets you and defeats

24:04you should never be seen in him and it helps your belief if that fellow declares that he can

24:34heal wounds or fly off his body or do some kind of magic this and that.

25:04In contrast, saints were deeply human. You may call them enlightened, unenlightened as you please.

25:21Doesn't matter. What matters is that they were human to the core. They were concerned, they cared,

25:41they bothered and that's the essence of sainthood. The field of your concern extends far beyond

26:05yourself and this you can technically also call as transcending body identification. So,

26:27the common man weeps, so does Saint Kabir. The difference does not lie in one weeping

26:39versus the other not weeping. The difference lies in the fact that the common man weeps

26:45for himself and Saint Kabir weeps for the entire world. The field of his concern is very inclusive.

27:01Concerned he is, worried he is. He is worried just as the common man is. He weeps just as

27:11any common man or woman does. It's just that when a commoner weeps, it is because he has lost some

27:17money or some desire has not been met. When Kabir Sahib weeps, it is for another reason. Similarly,

27:27he will display all other emotions. Disappointment, anger, desire. It's just that the common man

27:44desires for himself. The saint will have a much more intense and ferocious desire. The desire of

27:55the common man is lukewarm. The saint's desire is unmatchable. Intense drive and desire he has.

28:06It's just that he's not desiring for his personal sake. But if you will look for desirelessness in

28:13a saint, you will be deceived because some charlatan, some trickster will display a cultivated

28:24desirelessness and take you for a ride. He will say, look at me, I have no desire. And you will

28:32say, wow, this is the real enlightened being. See, he has no desire. No, the saints had tremendous

28:38desire. It's just that when there is saintliness, then desire itself gets consecrated. By the touch

28:57of the center, the exteriors are turned holy. Are you getting it? On the exterior is the dance of

29:14all these worldly things, mind, desire, anger, disappointment, all these things. But when at

29:20the center is Ram, then all these external things, they do not die. They become holy. So it's not

29:33that the saint does not have desire. He has desire. But his desire itself is holy. His desire will

29:41have holy effects. Do not be stupid enough to accuse him of having desires. If he doesn't have

29:50desires, why will he work for you? If he doesn't have desires, what is he doing amongst you? Why

29:57should he be found with you? He is with you because he has desires. Don't judge him on that.

30:03The nature of his desire is dimensionally different. The nature of his anger is

30:16dimensionally different. The nature of his tears is dimensionally different. Do you get this?

30:38No part of this recording may be reproduced without Mooji Media Ltd.'s express consent.

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