“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” — Thomas Aquinas
Faith is an essential element in life, just like an air or oxygen is for the body similarly faith nourishes the heart. Faith isn’t just a notion that some people hold onto in tough times but we need it in all parts of our lives. We couldn’t drive our cars without faith that someone wouldn’t cross the divider and crash into us. If we didn’t have faith, how could we fly in an airplane, a metallic machine flying 35,000 feet high in the air? Without faith, how can we marry and decide to stay together for a lifetime with a person who has just met a few times before? A leap of faith, in its most commonly used meaning, is the act of believing in or accepting something outside of the boundaries of reason.
Similarly, faith is the root of Bhakti. Bhagavad Gita(9.3) explains, "those who are not faithful to the devotional service won't achieve Krishna." Faith goes beyond the logic, reasoning, and explanations. One who is always suspicious can't lead a happy life either materially or spiritually, “For the doubting soul there is happiness neither in this world nor in the next(BG 4.40)." A devotee has explicit faith that the Lord will protect him in every circumstance thus he keeps taking leaps of faith for service and mission of the Lord.
In the case of neophyte devotees when things go in their way they feel elated and joyful which increases their faith in Krishna but sometimes, when things don’t go according to plan, they tend to lose faith, not only in themselves but also in any potential outcome in their lives and in omnipotent God. Failure will do that to us unless we are deep rooted in spiritual understanding based on scriptures and teachings of saintly beings. When we experience life’s monumental failures, it’s easy to lose hope and faith in God and start doubting his abilities this is a time when our faith starts leaking out.
Despite having troubles in life to continue with one's faith in Bhakti process is a remarkable thing, in fact, such troubles deepen one's faith. It requires a significant leap of faith to believe that we can succeed where so many others have failed. Our scriptures give plenty of examples of such fixed up devotees like Dhruva, Prahlad, Parikshit, Kunti, Draupadi etc. who were amidst problems and dangers but continued to serve and to have faith in Krishna. They didn't get distracted by temporary upheavals, such devotees are determined to execute teaching and instructions of the lord in favorable or unfavorable situations. We see in the life of Prabhupada also that he had to face so many reversals and challenges to establish worldwide Krishna conscious society. It was a struggle but he did that without questioning Krishna and now we can see the fruits of that faith which has expanded into thousands of temples and millions of followers all over the globe.
In conclusion, when we go through situations when our faith gets challenged or weakened we must observe and study the lifestyle of great devotees who had put their faith explicitly in the mercy of Lord and continued their devotional service during bad times.
By Rupesh Gauranga Dasa
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