Aspiration is a call to the Divine. — The Mother
Faith
''Faith does not depend upon experience; it is something that is there before experience. When one starts the yoga, it is not usually on the strength of experience, but on the strength of faith. It is so not only in yoga and the spiritual life, but in ordinary life also. All men of action, discoverers, inventors, creators of knowledge proceed by faith and, until the proof is made or the thing done, they go on in spite of disappointment, failure, disproof, denial because of something in them that tells them that this is the truth, the thing that must be followed and done. Ramakrishna even went so far as to say, when asked whether blind faith was not wrong, that blind faith was the only kind to have, for faith is either blind or it is not faith but something else - reasoned inference, proved conviction or ascertained knowledge.
Faith is the soul's witness to something not yet manifested, achieved or realised, but which yet the Knower within us, even in the absence of all indications, feels to be true or supremely worth following or achieving. This thing within us can last even when there is no fixed belief in the mind, even when the vital struggles and revolts and refuses. Who is there that practises the yoga and has not his periods, long periods of disappointment and failure and disbelief and darkness? But there is something that sustains him and even goes on in spite of himself, because it feels that what it followed after was yet true and it more than feels, it knows. The fundamental faith in yoga is this, inherent in the soul, that the Divine exists and the Divine is the one thing to be followed after - nothing else in life is worth having in comparison with that. So long as a man has that faith, he is marked for the spiritual life and I will say that, even if his nature is full of obstacles and crammed with denials and difficulties, and even if he has many years of struggle, he is marked out for success in the spiritual life.''
- Sri Aurobindo [SABCL, 23:572-73]
emphasis added by poster
Faith is the soul's witness to something not yet manifested, achieved or realised, but which yet the Knower within us, even in the absence of all indications, feels to be true or supremely worth following or achieving. This thing within us can last even when there is no fixed belief in the mind, even when the vital struggles and revolts and refuses. Who is there that practises the yoga and has not his periods, long periods of disappointment and failure and disbelief and darkness? But there is something that sustains him and even goes on in spite of himself, because it feels that what it followed after was yet true and it more than feels, it knows. The fundamental faith in yoga is this, inherent in the soul, that the Divine exists and the Divine is the one thing to be followed after - nothing else in life is worth having in comparison with that. So long as a man has that faith, he is marked for the spiritual life and I will say that, even if his nature is full of obstacles and crammed with denials and difficulties, and even if he has many years of struggle, he is marked out for success in the spiritual life.''
- Sri Aurobindo [SABCL, 23:572-73]
emphasis added by poster
Comment
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Comment by kalpana on November 3, 2009 at 1:49pm -
>'' The fundamental faith in yoga is this, inherent in the soul, that the Divine exists and the Divine is the one thing to be followed after - nothing else in life is worth having in comparison with that.''The Mother
Thank you, Tina. May your faith be strong and bring you Light and Joy always!
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Comment by Barindranath Chaki on October 31, 2009 at 5:49pm -
Thanks, Kalpana, for this posting.
This is a very useful presentation on faith from The Master, which can very well form the base and the basis of our daily life, when one decides to turn the daily life a Sadhana of the Integral Yoga, on the principle of “All life is Yoga,” given by The Master Himself.
Let us further see some beautiful quotes from The Mother:
Faith is spontaneous knowledge in the psychic.
Faith is a certitude which is not necessarily based on experience and knowledge.
Faith ― confidence in the Divine and the unshakable certitude of the Divine’s Victory.
It is good to have this unshakable faith ― it makes your path easier and shorter.
True faith does not depend on circumstances.
Faith in spiritual power must not depend on circumstances.
A faith based on material proofs is not faith ― it is a bargaining.
Faith first, knowledge afterwards.
They who have faith will go through.
It is indispensable to keep the faith and the will to conquer.
Faith: you flame up and triumph.
faith is the surest guide in the darkest days.
In an unshakable faith lies all our hope.
The night always is full of promises and we must face it with full faith and confidence.
At every moment all the unforeseen, the unexpected, the unknown is before us ― and what happens to us depends mostly on the intensity and purity of our faith.
If we had a truly living faith, an absolute certitude of the almighty power of the Divine, His manifestation could be so evident that the whole earth would be transformed by it.
Keep an immutable faith. Truth will triumph.
Have faith in the Divine, and go deep inside yourself. My help is always with you.
Have faith and go on.
Our best help is faith ― the Divine is all merciful. With love and Blessings.
The Mother has given these enlightening messages to the disciples on different dates.
[Emphasis given by me.]
Barin
31-10-2009
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