Faith comes into play only at the time of crisis, and the funniest thing is, at the time of crisis the first thing one loses is faith. There is a story about a Japanese newlywed couple going for their honeymoon in a boat. While on the boat ride, suddenly there was a big storm. The lady got perturbed but the man was very calm and smiling as usual. The lady asked him, ‘I am so nervous and so afraid that this boat may capsize but you are so calm. We may drown and die.’
Suddenly, he took out his dagger and put it on her neck. She started laughing and said, ‘Is this the time to tease? Think about our future.” He said, ‘Why are you not scared? I am going to kill you.’ She laughed, ‘When the dagger is in your hand why should I be worried? I know you won’t do any harm to me.’ He replied, ‘I have the same relation with nature and God. When my life is in his hands, he won’t let me die in a storm like this. He won’t let me down. I am not afraid because the strings of my life are in his hands. So why should I worry?’ And the story says that very moment she also became prayerful with her husband and the sea calmed down immediately.
So, when it is most needed that is the time when people lose faith. That is why even faith is a gift. It is not your making. It is a gift given to you.
Faith leads to prayer and prayer is a vital tool to improve your life. Prayer nurtures values such as integrity and honesty. You don’t need any special qualifications or abilities to pray. It is something that comes from within. Similarly, prayer doesn’t mean just sitting and chanting. It’s about being in a serene, calm, meditative state. That is why, in the Vedic tradition, before prayer comes dhyan (meditation) and there is dhyan after prayer. When the mind is focused, the prayer becomes far more powerful, it is the cry of a soul.
There are three types of faith: In oneself, in the world and in the divine. And the three are connected. One must have all three to be strong. To have faith is to realise that God is protecting you. This is a necessary and a sufficient condition to move ahead in life. When the knowledge that “I am blessed” is established firmly in one’s life, it is called faith.
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