Faith and Surrender

Sometimes I feel I have so little control on my own life. I didn't have any say in choosing my parents, my race or caste, my nationality, my IQ, my bodily constitution nor will I get to decide my death. Chance plays a significant role in life framing events, whether in meeting the person you end up marrying, or getting the interview call to the job you always wanted, or stumbling upon the business idea that changed your career path, or even contracting the disease you haven't heard of. Though the cause and effect rule holds, yet, in spite of all the learning and evolution, we still haven't found a formula for perfect happiness. Life lacks determinism. I guess there is divine intervention in our worldly existence.

We've created mechanisms like pension, insurance and social security to safeguard ourselves in an uncertain future. We attempt to earn more than we can spend presently and store excess earnings for the planned or unknown expenses of tomorrow. But, for those who lack the means or mechanisms to achieve a livable present, who continuously question their existence in tough circumstances, their life force comes in the form of faith in the presence of God and His divine nature. Faith is easy to understand, if God created us, it's His responsibility to maintain and destroy us too. Is faith only for powerless? It might be, but the pension, insurance, social security and investment funds of the powerful, haven't freed them from grief, pain and misery of old age, disease, disability and death.

We spend a lot of time wishing, planning, working, investing and worrying for the future. The time we get to live in the present is short and it flies by. Faith in the Almighty gives us more time to live the present, it relieves us of wishing and worrying for the future. Faith doesn't guarantee a better or secure future in the worldly sense; it helps us accept the ups and downs as God's grace. If God is all-good, He is our true well-wisher and sincere caretaker.

Faith begins where reason ends. Our senses have a limited capacity, yet we heavily rely on them to perceive the world around us. We have invented many devices and equipment to aid our senses. Modern science uses the process of induction, by analyzing and reasoning with what we see, hear, touch, smell or taste, it formulates the conjectures and laws of nature. Our gross senses could never sense the existence or presence of the spiritual being. For faith, we need to set aside reason. Then we can follow the process of deduction, i.e. we deduce the truths from scriptural texts summarizing the knowledge and wisdom granted by God and His messengers.

Faith in God means dependence on Him. He who depends on others for life becomes humble, tolerant and respects fellow living beings. But those who loudly declare their faith, when faced with questions about their philosophy/religion, assume the responsibility of proving the superiority of the school they are members of. If the school is only interested in growing its community in number and strength, victories in these battles, whether verbal or physical, do aid the school, but each debate or war won pumps the fighter's ego and real faith eludes him/her. So many "faithful" people become members of this community, not for the philosophy or religion, but for the political, commercial and social perks that come with being part of it.

So faith is belief in the existence and presence of God. Faith is knowing God to be all-good in nature. Faith is depending on God for life. Knowing God to be the creator, maintainer and destroyer, to accept life and whatever happens in it as His mercy. Faith is the first step towards developing a loving relationship with God. Just like parents create a child, not so it can go out and play around in the world, but to enjoy it's company and it's love, so did God create us, but we forget this and assume the purpose of our life to go out and conquer the world, no one has managed to do so yet, yet we continue trying till we die.

The culmination of faith is complete surrender to God's will. Surrender is when the last ounce of ego of being the great doer of deeds is wiped. In a scene from the Mahabharata, the Pandavas lost their wife, Draupadi, to the Kauravas in a game of dice the Kauravas had rigged. Draupadi was being disrobed in full public view by the Kauravas. Unable to further hold her sari from being tugged off, she let go her grip completely and surrendered to the will of God. She prayed to God that she has taken His shelter, it is now up to Him to do as He pleases. After that, Draupadi's sari seemed to have infinite length, the Kauravas pulled off wrap after wrap, but the sari never ended. They failed to disrobe the helpless woman. So is the power of surrender.