by Sri Bmal Mohanty
VOL No. 22
Aug - Sept. 2002

PREPARATIONS FOR SADHANA -Part 3

"Based on the lectures by Sri Bimal Mohanty"

After sankalpa,swasthya, swadhyayana and sansuddhabuddhi there comes shraddha. I wonder if there is an english word that describes correctly this sanskrt expression shraddha. (This is one of the ever present difficulties in trying to understand spiritualism in any other language except sanskrit. We come across this all the time when having discussions on spiritualism here in english language. You see, sanskrit is not just not a language of verbal expression as other languages are. Each word of sanskrit, especially those used in explaining the ultimate knowledge or Bramhavidya are really in some ways like the Bramhan himself - self evolved and self revealing. Each dhatu or root, each alphabet, its positioning, the audible and inaudible waves, gross and subtle coming out of each element of a word, the extra sensory perception of the embedded thought all are packed in the most melodious, harmonious and unique, unalterable manner to convey a world of meaning before a word is born. Not just a meaning but a whole world of meaning radiates from every word in sanskrit language. They say that the sanskrit language was not created by humans. It self evolved when the original nadabramhan the sound aspect of Bramhan, decided to interact with akashabramhan or the space aspect of the Bramhan. The vibration that was born, is the sanskrit language which is described as the language of the Divine and not the language of humans. The depth of this concept is perhaps best exemplified in that sanskrit word Aum. This one single word is not even a word, it is veritable thesis on adhyatma the study of Bramhan in all its multifarious aspects. Innocent people see it as a three letter word of A U and M . Where as, it is not even a three letter word and in actuality a three and half letter word with the silent half letter or ardhamatra invisible at the end. This silent ardhamatra is as pregnant in thought as each of the other letters A U and M. When you correctly pronounce AUM it travels the entire length of human sound producing canal and finally rests in the mind. In which other language one can find such scientific construction?. It is indeed not difficult to understand when they say that sanskrit was not created by humans. It is the voice of the Bramhan.)

Shraddha is indeed a very difficult feeling to comprehend fully, so powerfully interwoven in our upanishads appearing in many places in our upanishads as well as in Bhagavad Gita.

So what then we shall understand from the word Shraddha ? Some say it is faith, some say love, others describe it as devotion some others explain it as adoration. Swami Sarvananda of Ramakrisna Math says` shraddha means faith, earnest belief, trust, loyalty, confidence, reverence, composure of mind and religious zeal', where as shraddha is all these and even much more. Desire of the heart, abundance of love, unconditional surrender, unflinching faith, and above all a childlike trust. All these are the limbs of shraddha.

Shraddha happens to be the most precious wherewithal or abalamban for one's spiritual quest. Nothing else is as important. We should try to understand a little more, why is shraddha so important for sadhana?

As we have often discussed in the past, when yogasadhana takes its first roots in the mind, it requires active participation of three things. The mind, the intellect and the ahamkara or the performing ego. Sri Aurobindo in his essay "Faith and Shakti " also expresses thoughts similar to this. The mind must participate by expressing a desire for development, a desire to realise the ultimate bliss. If there is no desire of the mind, there is no sadhana.

Then comes the intellect. The intellect provides the subject of achievement or the goal. In no uncertain terms, it gives you the first glimpse and promise of what we shall get when we are fully developed. In doing this the intellect itself, must show firm belief or a strong conviction that will be readily acceptable to the mind. Whatever the intellect may put forward, if the mind does not get convinced it will go its own way. The ahamkara or the self- ego will not give consent to participate actively. And without the consent of the ahamkara or self-ego who will undertake the Sadhana?.

These three independent elements are not necessarily prone to act willingly and in cooperation. Especially at the initial stages the conflict between the mind and intellect is very strong. After all how many of us are mentally prepared to look beyond the worldly enjoyments and go for the unknown? Any one from his own personal experience can vouch for this. In the initial stages, the mind does not have faith on the wisdom of the intellect. It is the perennial war between the faith and the so called wisdom. Earlier we have been emphasizing that everything has to be intellect driven or Buddhigrahya. Which is indeed true. Without acceptance and support by Buddhi or intellect, the mind has very little chance for further development. But then at the initial stages the wisdom is also not developed. As a result, for their own reasons both mind and intellect discard each other.

Mind often has at its foundation, in what we call faith. Whereas intellect has its only weapon which is wisdom. The doubts of the mind are so many in the initial stages that the wisdom finds itself weak to resolve them. And therefore it takes the easy way out - it rejects them. Our sadhana does not even take off.

Our seers have dwelt long on this issue. According to them, the mediator in this conflict has always been shraddha based on unflinching faith.

Mind does not get easily defeated when shraddha is strong. When the heart says "I believe in this", it is a very powerful argument.

Ultimately ofcourse both the mind and intellect have to reach their higher states to dwell in Bramha consciousness but in the initial stages unless their conflict is resolved and they work together, nothing can be achieved. Shraddha based on unflinching faith, is the mediator in this conflict.

This is good advice to think about.

Never ever undermine the power of faith. Again as Sri Aurobindo put it, faith in the heart is the reflection of a hidden knowledge even if obscure and often distorted. Naturally, the believer is often more plagued by doubt than most inveterate sceptic. Shraddha persists because there is something subconscient in it which knows.