- Division of Faith
- The three fold faith
- Shraddha traya vibhaga
- The entire Prakriti and each individual is made up from the Guna's
- Our past actions impact the combination in current life. And our current choices will determine our next life and our progress to reach the Lord.
- 28 shlokas
- 17.1-17.22 : Faith as rooted in the gunas
- Faith is determined by the dominance of one or other Gunas (SRT)
- Faith is rooted in natural disposition which is derived from past experiences and karmas
- Who they worship, the foods dear to then, the likes and dislikes, choice of words, tone of speech, charitable acts for the 3 categories or people are different
- The intentions / feelings while doing an action are also typical of persons with dominance of S/R/T
- The awareness ( a Satwa quality) can help us avoid the Tamsic qualities like laziness, ungratefulness or the Rajasic ones like arrogance and selfishness.
- 17.23-17.28 : Om, Tat, Sat : these 3 words summarises the entire universe
- Om : Essence of all sounds. The universal frequency. The original and final sound.
- Tat : That , denoting the lord
- Sat : what is True . Good.
- Sattwa : divine, pure, selfless in nature. Likes healthy, fresh, juicy nourishing foods. Worships Devas and reads scriptures, chants mantras, prays for the larger good.
- Rajas : worldly, commercial, transactional in nature. Enjoys sour, salty and pungent foods. Worships with personal fruits gains in mind.
- Tamas : selfish, lazy in nature. Eats stale and tasteless foods. Worship if any lacks faith and mantras etc.
Summary in poetry
A story related to the message
The Thirsty Crow
Faith of the embodied is a threefold kind
It depends on how their innate natures bind
Pure, passionate or dark
It depends on their inner mark
Know about three types of food, sacrifice and austerities
And the threefold way of giving charities
Harmless, truthful, helpful and pleasant
In austerity of speech, these are present
Discipline of the mind brings silence and calmness
And self restraint, purity and gentleness
Without any faith, one who does all these in haste
In this life and hereafter, goes only waste
A story related to the message
The Thirsty Crow
It was a hot summer day. A crow was very thirsty. He flew from place to place looking for water. He could not find water anywhere. Ponds, rivers, and lakes were all dry. The water in the well was too deep. Crow was very thirsty for water. He flew and flew. He was getting both tired and thirsty, but he did not give up the search.
At last he thought death was near and remembered God and started to pray for water. He saw a pitcher of water near a house. This made him very happy as he thought there must be water in the pitcher. He sat on the top of the pitcher and looked into it. To his great frustration he found that the water was at the bottom of the pitcher. He could see the water, but his beak could not reach the water. He became very sad and started to think how he could reach the water. Suddenly an idea came into his mind. There were stones near the pitcher. He picked up stones from the ground, one by one, and started dropping them into the pitcher. The water began coming up. Soon the crow could reach it easily. He drank the water, thanked God, and happily flew away.
Thus it is said, “Where there is a will, there is a way.” The crow did what we all should do. He did not give up. He had faith that his prayer would be answered. Here is another good story:
The Rabbit and the Turtle
A turtle always moves very slowly. His friend, the rabbit, often laughed at the slow turtle. One day, the turtle could not bear the insults and challenged the rabbit to run a race with him. All the animals in the jungle laughed at the idea because a race is usually between equals. A deer volunteered to be the judge.
The race started. The rabbit ran fast, and soon he was ahead of the turtle. As the rabbit came closer and closer to the winning post, he felt sure of winning. He looked back at the slow moving turtle, who was far behind.
The rabbit was so sure of winning that he thought, “I will sit under the tree and wait for the turtle. When he comes here, I shall run fast and cross the finish line before he does. This will make turtle angry, and it will be fun to see the turtle insulted.”
The rabbit then sat under a tree. The turtle was still far behind. A cool wind was blowing gently. After some time passed, the rabbit fell asleep. When he woke up, he saw the turtle crossing the finish line. The rabbit had lost the race! All the animals in the jungle were laughing at the rabbit, and he learned a valuable lesson:
“Slow and steady wins the race.”
You can succeed in any work if you work hard with strong faith. Be enthusiastic about what you want, and you will get it. We are the creator of our own fate. Thoughts create our future. We become what we always think of. So never think a negative thought or allow doubt to enter your mind. Keep working toward your goal. You cannot get anythingthrough laziness, negligence, and delay. Keep your dream alive in your heart, and it will come true. All difficulties can be removed by faith in God and a firm determination to succeed. But the fruits of success must be shared with others. If you want your dream to be fulfilled, help fulfill someone else’s dream!
Here is a story of a man who learned
that God helps those who help themselves.
A Man Who Never Gave Up
Yava was the son of a sage who practised hard penance to get the blessings of Indra, the King of Devas. He tortured his body with austerities and thus awakened the sympathy of Indra. Indra came before him and asked why he was hurting his body.
Yava answered: “I wish to be a great scholar of the Vedas. It takes a long time to learn the Vedas from a teacher. I am practising austerities to get that knowledge directly. Bless me.”
Indra smiled and said: “Son, you are on the wrong path. Return home, find a good teacher, and learn the Vedas from him. Austerity is not the way to learn; the path is study and study alone.” With these words, Indra went away.
But Yava would not give up. He did his course of spiritual practise (austerities, penance) with even greater effort. Indra again came before Yava and warned him again. Yava announced that if his prayer was not answered, he would cut off his arms and legs one by one and offer them to the fire. No, he would never give up. He continued his penance. One morning, during his austerities, when he went to bathe in the holy Gangā River, he saw an old man on the bank throwing handfuls of sand into the river.
“Old man, what are you doing?” asked
Yava.
now to cross it. Useful work, isn’t it? ” Yava laughed and said: “What a fool you must be to think you can build a dam across this mighty river with your handfuls of sand! Go home and do some other useful
The old man replied: “I am going to build a dam across the river so people can cross the river easily. See how difficult it is to work.”
The old man said: “Is my work more foolish than yours of learning the Vedas, not by study, but by austerities?”
Yava now knew that the old man was Indra. Yava earnestly begged Indra to grant him learning as a personal wish.
Indra blessed him and comforted Yava with the following words: “I grant you the wish you want. Go and read the Vedas; you will become learned.”
Yava studied the Vedas and became a great scholar of the Vedas.
The secret of success is to keep thinking about what you want all the time and never give up until you get what you want. Do not let negative thoughts, such as delaying to start work, laziness, and carelessness stand in your way.
Related posts on this blog
- Intentions in eating
- The Guna's
- Guna's a revisit
- The 3 Little Pigs & the 3 Gunas
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