THE MIRACLE OF FAITH.
Faith is the essence of life! Without faith life becomes meaningless. It is the binding force between the husband and wife,mother and children as well as man and God! Any worship, bhajan and good work without faith is utterly futile! They turn out to be empty rituals carried out for mere social compulsions. Man can transform his inner self not by these outward trappings but through intense faith. It is the root of inquiry that engenders inner faith. “ When the truth is known , faith is rendered firm”. When the truth is realized that it is , after all, a rope you have no fear and the faith in its harmlessness is firm in your mind. The fear and illusion that it is a snake disappears immediately! But faith can never establish itself without severe tests! In the life of devotees like Prahlada, Dhruva and Markandeya there was intense struggle between faith and hatred and extreme difficulties. In fact the impediments take the form of demons and other situations that could defeat the most courageous individual! It is only when there is firm faith and the devotee is as imperturbable as a rock he is saved by God from imminent danger!
Draupadi’s story in the Mahabharata is a classical example of how her inner faith in God saved
her from the outrage of her modesty in the royal court in front of her own husbands and the great Bhishma Pitamaha and others! It is her intense prayer and faith in Krishna that saved her as she was being disrobed! Faith of such magnitude and purity resulted in an endless supply of dress through Divine intervention! Faith really works miracles! Innumerable instances can be cited to prove the efficacy of true faith in the lives of many saints and sages and true devotees who threw their burden on God and yearned for Him! It is better to have faith in God than in the fickle minded man! While the former rewards the latter deceives finally! Sri Satya
Sai baba narrates the story of a thief whose implicit faith brought the Lord to his immediate
presence! He heard a discourse by a pundit on the Divine sports of Lord Krishna. Attracted to the costly adornments of the Lord, he wanted to steal them and enquired where Krishna could be found! The pundit directed the thief to Vrindavan on the banks of the Yamuna. The robber went to Vrindavan and found young Krishna with cows! He was stunned at the Divine beauty of the Lord and went on drinking deep the beauty of Krishna! The thought of robbing Krishna, of his jewels, did not come to him at all! The thief lost himself in ecstasy! Krishna himself enquired what he wanted and gave him all his jewels!! The thief was overwhelmed with joy and fell at his feet! But when he rose young Krishna had disappeared! Returning to the pundit, the thief verified if the jewels were really those of Krishna! The pundit fell at the robber’s feet and wondered at the miracle his faith had brought about!
Radha loved Krishna passionately but her love was ennobling spiritual bhakti! Once, people envious of her attachment to Krishna, wanted to test her. They gave her a pot full of many holes and directed her to bring water from the Yamuna! Poor Radha didn't know anything about it. As usual, Radha, repeating the Lord’s name every fraction of a second,went to the Yamuna and filled water in the pot. Her Krishna consciousness and faith sealed all the potholes and she brought water without spilling a single drop! Faith has its effect on inanimate objects also! “What ever things you may lose, whatever amenities you may enjoy, only faith in God will confer real peace of mind. An air conditioner may cool your body, but only grace of God can cool the heated brain and the troubled heart.” according to Sri Satya Sai baba.There is another story equally amazing, related to a staunch devotee of Shirdi Sai baba. She was simple, illiterate,and lived in pahalgaon. Keeping three bright brass pots called Ganga,Yamuna and Saraswathi, she used to quench the thirst of wayfarers by offering a mixture of water from all the three brass pots.
She called the water as,’Triveni Teerta’ and had an unshakable faith that the bras pots were connected to the three rivers that joined at ‘Prayag’ the confluence of the three rivers! When her husband left for Varanasi, his mother gave him a gold ring as a talisman and asked him to take care of it. But unfortunately he lost it while bathing in the Manikarnika Ghat. After his visit he told his mother that Ganga wanted the ring and so she has taken it! But his wife said that Ganga would never take the property of a poor old lady! Ganga would surely return the ring. Saying that Ganga is there in her kitchen, she prayed with folded hands before the pot named Ganga! When she searched the pot, amazingly, she found the same gold ring lost by her husband in the Manikarnika Ghat!!! She visited Dwarakamayi with her husband and mother in law later! It is faith that is important. “ The form and then name on which it is fixed do not matter.For all names are His; all forms are His” (SSS 23.11. ‘62)
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