Total Thoughts (November 23, 2009): Shraddha & Samadhanam (Tattva Bodha pages 27 - 30)

If we want to go to Mumbai (Moksa), we approach a travel agent (Guru) to make enquiries as to the best mode of transport (sadhana), book our ticket, board the vehicle on time and reach the destination. We control other expenses (the sense organs and the mind) so as to afford the ticket, have faith in the travel agent and the vehicle that transports us (scriptures) and endure all the travails of the journey (titiksa) in order to reach Mumbai (Moksa). We continue our journey this week with the following thoughts…

 

Total Thoughts (November 23, 2009):  Shraddha & Samadhanam  (Tattva Bodha pages 27 - 30)

• Faith is an intrinsic quality to human life. We are all born with it, but we express and identify with it differently.
• Faith is in the unknown. The known requires no faith. Faith encourages enquiry, reflection and realization of the truth.
• It is strengthened through enquiry and culminates in knowledge. As such, there is no such thing as "blind" faith. Faith exists only in the present.
• Just as we have faith in tomorrow's sunrise, or in our next breath, so we must have faith in our Guru and scriptures.
• Our experience is in the limited (mind), yet we use it to project our belief in the world of objects, emotions, and thoughts. Instead, why not project it in the unseen world usingsraddha upon our scriptures.
• To reach this single-pointedness of the mind, one controls the mind (sama) and the senses (dama), withdraws from worldly pursuits (uparama), endures the pin-pricks of life (titiksa) and faithfully follows the path indicated by the Guru and Scriptures (sraddha). The resultant absorption of the mind in the Self is samadhanam.

 Foundation for our upcoming discussion:  Mumuksutvam (Tattva Bodha pages 30 - 33)