Do Not Lose Faith In God

M L Nakhasi  

In this hour of dejection, the KP who is politically Emancipated, requires to create faith, courage and self-confidence not only in himself but in the entire community as well. Taking inspiration from a number of spiritual masters in the past who fought bravely during the dark days of savage misrule of Pathans in Kashmir, these spiritual masters have silently suffered at the hands of the dominant order. but did not yield. Arjun Dev (1581-1606) The fifth guru of the Sikhs who was brutally tortured to death. in Lahore on the orders of the Emperor Jehangir Mian Mir, a Muslim divine, begged the guru to allow him to use his supernatural powers to destroy the agents of tyranny But he did not agree to his entreaties:

"Who gave you these powers?" asked Arjun Dev "You yourself, my lord," replied Mian Mir. "Then can I not myself punish them?" asked Arjun Dev "But I will not, because I love the will of the Lord. Whatever you ordain, O Lord, appears sweet to me!

Pressed by Mian Mir, the Guru continued: "I can undo all this with my powers. But what about those who believe but do not have such powers? It is to give strength and courage to such believers who stand up for truth at any cost, that I am undergoing all this. To teach them to remain happy is the will of the Lord, whatever the circumstances"

Narendranath Dutta-later to become celebrated Swami Vivekananda-never forgot the period of distress and financial difficulty that followed his father's death

Looking back, he wrote: "Dizzy from lack of food, I had to go from office to office barefoot in the blazing Sun, carrying my application papers Everywhere I met with refusal. From that first experience, I learned that unselfish sympathy is very rare in the world, there is no place here for the poor and the weak. Even those who, only a few weeks. previously, would have regarded it as a piece of luck if they could do me a favour, now made wry, reluctant, faces. One day, the soles of my feet became blistered. I was completely exhausted and had to sit down in the shade of a monument"

To console Naren, a friend recited to him a poem in praise of Brahman, the universal overself: "Here blows the wind, the breath of Brahman it is His grace we feel

Thinking of the helplessness of his mother and brothers Naren was filled with despair and rage That fanciful nonsense is all night for people living in the lap of luxury, people who have no idea of what hunger is," he shouted "No doubt it sounds true and beautiful to them-as it did to me in the old days. But now I have seen what life is really like. That song is just a pack of lies"

It was Naren's practice to repeat the Lord's name as he got out of bed every morning One day, his mother said bitterly "What is the use of that? You've been repeating the Lord's name since childhood, and what has He done for you?

Naren had known his mother as the most pious of devotees. Shocked at the change that despair had wrought over her, he began to be plagued by doubt himself. How could God exist, he asked, if the most piteous prayers remained unanswered? How could He be benign when His Creation was so full of evil?"

It is, seemingly, the more sensitive and intelligent who are subjected to the roughest tests. The logic. perhaps, is that only those who are ready for a test are made to undergo it.

Christ by the time of his crucifixion had already demonstrated his extraordinary powers. Why, then. did he not defy his tormentors? Why did he choose, instead, to humbly accept humiliation and suffering as his lot? Towards the end of the ordeal, he even cried out in agony "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"

Some may well ask whether the fact of the crucifixion does not deal faith a severe blow if such is the fate reserved for one so dear to God, what of ordinary mortals? But was Christ truly helpless before his fate, or was he deliberately teaching humanity a profound lesson in fortitude?

Believers are being tested all the time. For all their prayer and upright conduct, their tribulations only seem to mount. They begin to wonder: "Why is this happening to us?" Struggling between faith and doubt, they find themselves in a state of interior conflict, made worse by daily contact with a majority motivated by base values. Is the battle of faith then

lost?

No, faith is strengthened by every successive ordeal, as gold is refined by fire. As is well known, Naren eventually made a complete spiritual recovery, through his guru, Sri Ramakrishna

DISCLAIMER:

The views expressed in the Article above are Author’s personal views and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. The article belongs to its respective owner or owners and this site does not claim any right over it. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing."

Courtesy:- M L Nakhasi and 1996 November Koshur Samachar