Faith Is Your Wealth

Weekly Knowledge #155 Bangalore Ashram 28 May 1998 India

Faith is a wealth. If you think, by having faith in God you are doing a favour to God, you are mistaken. Faith gives you strength instantaneously. Faith brings you stability, centeredness, calmness and love. You having Faith In The Guru Or God, Does Not Do Anything To Guru Or God. Your Having Faith Gives You Immediate Strength. Faith is a great wealth; it is a blessing. If you lack faith, you have to pray for faith. But to pray, you need faith. This is a paradox. (Laughter) People have faith in the world - but the whole world is just a soap bubble. People have faith in themselves - but they don't know who they are. People think that they have faith in God - but they have no idea of God. If you want to doubt, you have to doubt everything There are three types of faith : faith in yourself, faith in the world, and faith in God. You need to have faith in yourself -- without faith, you think, I can't do this. This is not for me. I will never be liberated in this life. You must have faith in the world. Without this, you cant move an inch in the world. Banks give you loans having faith that you will pay it back. You deposit money in the bank having faith that it will be returned. If you doubt everything in the world, nothing will happen. The same is the case with faith in the Divine - have faith in the Divine and you will evolve. All these faiths are connected. You must have all three for each to be strong. Bill : Atheists have faith in themselves and faith in the world, but not in God. Sri Sri : They don't have complete faith in themselves. Lack of faith in God, in the world or in the self brings fear. Faith in the world cannot be constant because there are always changes. Faith makes you full - faithful. If you have faith, you are full. Rajesh : What is the difference between faith and confidence ? Sri Sri : Confidence is the result. Faith is the beginning. Faith in yourself brings freedom. Faith in the world brings you peace of mind. Faith in God evokes love in you. You can be at peace by having faith in the world and without faith in God, but it is not complete peace. If you have love, there is automatically peace and freedom. People who are extremely disturbed should only have faith in God.

Colourful NEWS SPLASH! At the close of the Tamil Advanced Course, a satsang was held in the late afternoon in the Sumeru Mandap. After several bhajans, Guruji started chanting. Suddenly people started pointing into the western sky where a huge thundercloud appeared, the top of which was filled with brilliant colours of unusual intensity. The trees had been crying for water and within a few minutes, the wind started and it began to rain. What was it? It was not a rainbow. We contacted the weather observatory, but they had no idea of this phenomenon. When we asked the explanation for this, Guruji said, "Nature is our friend". Miscellaneous Newsplashes - After hectic activities in Bangalore, Guruji tried to escape to Mangalore for 24 hours but it turned out to be another party. Art of Living representatives, headed by Sharada Lavingia were invited to the G -8 Summit reception in Birmingham, U.K. Art of Living was also represented in the World Health Organisation Conference in Geneva, Switzerland. Teachers presented programmes in St. Petersburg, Russia. Women's prison programs have started in Bangalore. Reports of more seva projects are arriving from all over the world.