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Thread: Understanding Faith in Real Life Troubled Situations

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    Understanding Faith in Real Life Troubled Situations

    It is a common knowledge that in troubled & adverse situations, it is faith that sails us across the storms. However, it is a known fact that human mind being what it is, is quickly drawn into a vortex of negative (and depression oriented) thoughts in prolonged periods of negative / troubled happenings? In these times our faith is shaken to the core as nothing seems to work and all our efforts seemingly end up in 'nothing'. In these trying times, it is natural to feel helpless and question faith in God.

    I am interested to know how does one "keep one's faith" in these adverse conditions? Is it by continuous Japa? Is it by reading spiritual books / articles? When all your efforts seem to go down the drain and there seems to be no light at the end of the end of a seemingly endless tunnel , how does one remain full of faith?

    Looking forward to an enlightened discussion.

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    Re: Understanding Faith in Real Life Troubled Situations

    Vannakkam: Tough question sidl, and I don't know if its even possible to stay within strong faith during deeply troubled times. if we were in strong faith, the times wouldn't be so troubling.

    I would view depression on a continuum from 'having a bad day' all the way to suicidal. So Depending on where an individual sits on that continuum, the answers would vary. Fresh air, sleep, doctor prescribed medication, and many more factors may come into play.

    Most people I know have faith reminders set out, like a small travelling picture or a murthi in their car, religious CDs top listen to, and the like. But just because something is there doesn't mean you're going to notice it.

    Aum Namasivaya

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    Re: Understanding Faith in Real Life Troubled Situations

    Quote Originally Posted by surrenderindailylife View Post
    It is a common knowledge that in troubled & adverse situations, it is faith that sails us across the storms. However, it is a known fact that human mind being what it is, is quickly drawn into a vortex of negative (and depression oriented) thoughts in prolonged periods of negative / troubled happenings? In these times our faith is shaken to the core as nothing seems to work and all our efforts seemingly end up in 'nothing'. In these trying times, it is natural to feel helpless and question faith in God.

    I am interested to know how does one "keep one's faith" in these adverse conditions? Is it by continuous Japa? Is it by reading spiritual books / articles? When all your efforts seem to go down the drain and there seems to be no light at the end of the end of a seemingly endless tunnel , how does one remain full of faith?

    Looking forward to an enlightened discussion.
    What a lovely and helpful conversation to start.<3

    I think often it depends upon our own constitution when it comes to reacting to the happenings in our lifetimes. For me, I don't ever downward spiral. So I do not think it is a "known fact" that we all will react this way.

    Glass half full...or half empty. We still got somethin'.

    Boy, EM sure hit the mark when he say..."If we were in strong faith, the times wouldn't be so troubling."

    When you believe in the things which must happen, will happen...and it's all a part of a very large ellaborate picture which we may or may not be so apparent to us. Then every thing, the "bad" and "good" will be taken with the same smile.

    Okay...this sucked...lesson learned...move on.

    That doesn't mean i don't have a bad day now and then. Today, my two twins home with a very bad flu, I am still recovering from the previous round of illnesses...and well it was a perfect day here on the hill. Perfectly normal anyway.


    For those still in this cycle of bad things happening...and then reacting very badly...and then good things happen ...and then they are okay for a while...with some progress made....and then bad things happen again they react badly which derails everything and the progress is halted once again. This cycle can be broken several ways. One of which is to learn how to control this animal. Control is learned, mastered with Sadhana...Japa, the Yogas...Bhakti...much things.

    These things bring us round Fully to the Truth.

    Faith comes from fire forged Truth...that type of Faith is happening everytime one of those crappier events happens. Our Faith is hammered and hammered and RAMmed back down into that Fierce Fire...and we become hardened as steel...

    The Truth, once you fill youself with it...it's like concrete...it hardens and makes you tough. It's hard to become unseated in the Truth, even in the darkest of times...in this state.

    My advice is very simple.

    Our progress is often like a sculpture being crafted....

    Have you ever watched someone as they sculpted, or painted?

    At first...there's junk everywhere! It's hard to see anything...much less beautiful art.

    But a day will come and the Master...will blow away the marble dust and fragments...and suddenly...it is magnificent.

    So keep striving...even when things look ugly....keep reaching.

    The day will arrive when the Master blow away all those broken fragments...and what lies underneath is a Being, well seated within the Light and Truth of Sanatana Dharma.

    I swear to you....each and every one of us is destined for this moment.

    May Beloved grant each of us Mercy to see it happen sooner than later.

    Hari Om, Beloved... Everything<3

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    Re: Understanding Faith in Real Life Troubled Situations

    Namaste all.

    Quote Originally Posted by surrenderindailylife View Post
    I am interested to know how does one "keep one's faith" in these adverse conditions? Is it by continuous Japa? Is it by reading spiritual books / articles? When all your efforts seem to go down the drain and there seems to be no light at the end of the end of a seemingly endless tunnel , how does one remain full of faith?
    "It don't come easy, you know it don't come easy..." - Ringo Starr.

    It's a struggle to remember that God(dess) is always with us. I personally feel, though I don't always remember, it's a "slap in the face" to God(dess) to think S/He has abandoned us.

    I am having a very bad week mentally and emotionally; it happens to me occasionally, as it does a lot of people. I am short of money; I had a flat tire at work and had to wait for roadside assistance. I cannot change the tire because of back surgery. I need new tires and brakes. I am short of money (did I say that already? ).

    Yesterday morning I got a text message from the bank that I received 2 deposits from my insurance re-imbursement program. When the man from roadside assistance came for my tire, it was not so bad that he couldn't plug the puncture on the spot. He told me I can ride with the repair until whenever I get new tires. I thanked Lord Krishna for sending Maa Lakshmi and Lord Ganesha to my aid. I am still thanking Them.

    As EM says, I have a small murthi of Lord Ganesha on my dashboard; I have small laminated images of Sri Sri Radha-Krishna, Lord Vishnu and Mahalakshmi, Lord Narashima, and Lord Shiva and Maa Parvati taped at the top of my windshield, so They are always looking down on me. I look up at Them (only at a red light, of course ) and smile. I listen to bhajans, kirtans, and mantras on my iPod, through the radio. These things are all uplifting.

    Bad things happen, and things can make you feel down. But there is always one tiny spark of something positive that comes from Vaikuntha, Goloka, Mount Kailash, or wherever you believe your deity resides. We just have to see it.
    śivasya hridayam viṣṇur viṣṇoscha hridayam śivaḥ

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    Re: Understanding Faith in Real Life Troubled Situations

    Namaste Surrender,

    You have raised some difficult questions. I am not sure how many of us have been personally through such situations to give our views as somebody 'who has been there'. So, by and large, the information would focus on what would I do if I got into a situation like that.

    It seems logical that dealing with and coming out unscathed from prolonged periods of negative/troubled happenings would depend on the foundation that the faith was built on. And this foundation is built and nurtured during good times, when the mind can think rationally and is capable of developing unalloyed relationship with God. For a deep personal relationship, I would have to employ all known means - daily japa, aarti, listening to/singing bhajans, visits to a nearby temple as often as possible and most of all, frequent company of other bhaktas - as starting points. Once a solid foundation has been established and some degree of detachment attained, further bonding may require bigger building blocks in the form of scriptural knowledge. Self directed or guided study of the scriptures should be to gain insights into them and not be performed as a critical reading of 'ordinary literature' whereby we accept only the things that our limited intelligence can comprehend right now and discard the rest. With my quiver loaded with spiritual arrows, I would view the negative situations as something outside of me that need to be dealt with. In other words, I would not associate 'my being' with the problems but be part of the solution; an outsider who has to view the events pass by without internalizing them and becoming part of them. As you have pointed out, in times of peril, we are drawn into the vortex of negative thoughts. And I don't know how I would fare under those circumstances. But having some regimen for attachment to divinity and keeping it functioning even under adverse conditions would give me a fighting chance of not cracking up under pressure. My faith can serve me only as much as I serve it. So, a solid footing in my faith and practicing it on a daily basis would go a long way towards propping me up when I am down and out.

    Pranam.
    Last edited by Believer; 02 March 2012 at 04:25 PM.

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