Hello and welcome to episode 25 of The Ask Sri Vishwanath Show. I’m really happy with how we are progressing with the show. Thank you to everyone who is watching and thank you for sending in so many questions.
Today I want to talk about the power of faith and how it can move mountains and can literally get you anything that you want.
Today’s question comes from Graham who lives in the UK. He asks “What is faith? Is it belief in the unknown or is it knowledge of the known?”
I picked your question because I found it to be very poetic. Is faith belief in the unknown or knowledge of the known? Well it’s actually both. And it’s more than that as well.
Shraddha
Vivekananda says that the right word for faith is Shraddha. Shraddha cannot be defined. It is the catalyst for realisation. So faith is the catalyst for realisation which in turn is the realisation of god. Everyone comes with a seed of faith that we nurture. As we nurture it, it grows and we can feel its power and we can also feel its peace. It will be something for you to take shelter under.
Krishna says in the bhagavad gita “he (the consciousness) who nurtures these values with supreme faith knowing me Krishna paramhansa to be above all. He is dearest to me.”
So now I want to tell you a very interesting story about faith. I’m sure you will like it. It’s the story of a mother and a little boy who were living in a dense forest. The boy was about 5 years old and it was time for him to go to school. They lived in dire poverty but she did her best to get by. The mother really wanted him to go to school. She wanted him to have a better lie than she did.
Fear
The school was on the other side of the dense and dangerous forest. The first day of school the mother walked with her son to make sure he got there safely. The child was really afraid so the mother would walk him back from school as well. He told his mother that he didn’t want to go anymore as he was too afraid of the forest alone. His mother was busy ad couldn’t walk with him every day.
The mother was a devotee of Krishna and she told her son that he didn’t have to worry because he could call his brother to accompany him to school. She told that that if he was afraid he should call out to his brother and he would come to him. He took his mother’s word as it was. He didn’t disagree or question her.
The older brother
So the next day he set off through the dense forest to school. Again he became very afraid so he called out his brother’s name. No one came so he called again, louder this time. Suddenly a charming blue eyed boy appeared from the trees. The young boy was not aware that this older boy was none other than Krishna. He was so excited at the prospect of having an older brother. The talked as the older boy accompanied him all the way to the school.
The child returned home from school that evening and he was so excited. He relayed the story to his mother. How he called out and his older brother had come to help just like she said he would.
The mother was initially confused but then she fell at the feet of Krishna because she knew this was a miracle. She had invented the story of the older brother just to make him feel safer.
Days passed by and every day the child would walk to school and every day he would meet this older brother who would walk with him.
A miracle
One day at school they hosted a feat and every child had to bring a dish that could be served to one hundred people. The boy went home and asked his mother if she could prepare a dish. The mother cried, she didn’t have enough to feed two people never mind 100.
The mother told him to ask his older brother to help. The child thought this was a great idea. The next day as he walked through the forest he asked the older brother if he could help him provide food for the feast. The older boy handed over a small pot of curd. The boy stared at the small pot and wondered how this small pot would feel 100 people. Still he knew that something was better than nothing so he thanked the older brother and went to school.
All the children had brought forward there dishes but the boy was embarrassed by his meagre offering. The teacher asked him for the pot so he handed it over to her. The teacher served ten people and then they noticed that as they served the curd the pot kept filling itself up. It would never empty. Everyone was amazed by this miracle.
The teachers called the boy over and asked him where this pot had come from. He explained that his older brother from the forest had helped him. The teacher thought he was speaking nonsense. That it was impossible. The boy couldn’t explain so the teachers asked to meet this older brother. The boy agreed and so they all left for the forest.
Disbelief
He took them to the place where he would meet his brother and he called out to him. He asked him to come forward and explain that he had given him this pot of curd so they would believe him. He called but no one came. He called louder, again and again but still, no one came.
The teachers berated the boy and scolded him for lying to them. They told him not to come back to the school anymore. The poor boy was so upset that he broke down in tears. The teachers turned to leave when suddenly they heard a voice.
The voice said “your mother’s love and your faith brought me to thee but tell these teachers they will have to wait a long time to see thee”
Nurture your faith
That is the power of faith. Krishna, Christ and all the great teachers say that to really see them you must have faith and you must nurture that faith. The young boy had faith and his mother had love. The combination of devotion and work led Krishna to them. When you nurture faith it blossoms into realisation. This is when the true magic happens.
Nurture your faith and you can have anything you want in the world. I hope I answered your question. Remember you keep asking questions and I’ll keep answering them.
