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Keeping the Faith

This post is also available in: हिन्दी

To move towards growth in life, we require faith in three things – in oneself, in the goodness in society and in God. However, looking at the recent incident in Kedarnath, where so many innocent lives were lost, one wonders if God exists. If He does, why would He do such things to His own devotees? It is on these occasions that faith becomes fragile and one tends to lose it. However, it is also on these occasions that faith is most needed too. We must remember that God is impartial; He is present everywhere and not confined to particular location, although pilgrimage centers are centers of high energy bringing solace and touching the innermost chord of faith. When disaster happen in such places those who die anyway attain Him, those who are saved thank Him and retain their faith but it is the relatives of the departed, whose faith goes through a testing time. They reel with the question, “Why? Why? Why?” and it is quite natural that they turn negative. When your near and dear ones leave suddenly, your faith is shaken but faith is what helps pull you through the tragedy.  We do not get anything by losing our faith. In fact, faith holds our mind together in times of crisis and prevents it from falling even more in despair and blame. This is a time for prayer. When fear takes over our mind, prayer helps keep it steady. Let us pray for peace to those whom we have lost and for strength to their families to overcome this grave tragedy.

Let us also be grateful for all the lives that have been saved. The passion with which volunteers have come forward to help out in this calamity stands to show that there is a lot of humaneness in people. Stories of crime and corruption in the news may cloud it, but we must not lose our faith in the goodness in society. If we start believing it is full of thugs and thieves, we cannot function at all. Having faith in the people and the world around us is essential to move ahead.

Finally, having faith in ourselves, we must do what is within our capability as well. For example, millions of people visit our pilgrimage places, but we do not have arrangements to handle that kind of crowd there. Except a few, all of them are in bad shape due to neglect. We cannot totally stop natural disasters from happening but we can certainly be prepared for them. Many such places, including Kedarnath, don’t even have proper roads. The passage to Amarnath is just a few feet wide and caters to lakhs of pilgrims going up and coming down at the same time. Even the shortest way, through Baltal, is a 14km long one way trek through hilly terrain without a place to rest or any arrangement to carry someone in an emergency or a blockage. When these places attract people in such large numbers, they need to be developed accordingly with better facilities, medical support, transport and communication systems.

At the same time, the paranoia in the minds of people about going on pilgrimages due to the Kedarnath flash floods must be addressed. We do not stop flying because of air crashes or going on the road because of accidents. Without faith, we are frightened by events, feeling lost and anchorless. Difficult times can bring out our hidden courage and potential in more ways than one and unshakable faith gives us the strength to smile even through catastrophes.

This post is also available in: हिन्दी

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  3. Suchismita

    GuruDev, I travel every night alone from office. And in most days, I used to be so scared. But I think its my faith in YOU that helped me everyday and every night and finally its YOU who showed me the solution out of it. what I am trying to convey is, its Faith which helps us to move forward in the toughest of times and through every situation. Though I am still scared inside on how to face the darkness of night, but I know YOU will protect me. Jai GuruDev!!!

  5. priyanka

    Jgd Guruji:) I was myself feeling so disturbed due to this recent disaster. Thank You for the beautiful knowledge! Its healed my feelings and emotions..

  8. Manoj Hirway

    There is not such thing as GOD. Only your sub-conscious mind that plays tricks on you.
    A religious place like Kedarnaath is only a dangerous adventure if seen scientifically. Its the human mind that believes that God exists there and people go there seeking HIM.
    We should understand that God is nothing but your own sub-conscious mind. It has the power to do miracles.

    Read the book : The Power of Your Sub-Conscious Mind -by Joseph Murphy.

  9. Latha

    Dearest Guruji,

    Being with u , our faith will not get shaken that easily,even if it does , a sentence from u will get us centered imm, but the bigger question is when will there be enough political will to give the country proper infrastructure ? Pls reply

  11. Sarika Shah

    No but Guruji bhagwan ke ghar pe aisa end.Aisa hum soch hi nahi sakte hai.Wahan toh hum total safety ka ehsaas karne ki asha rkhte hai.Aur kahin bhi par unke dar par nahi.

    1. Rosan

      Sarika Ji,

      My view:
      Even in our home, we have little temple where we pray/worship every morning, evening & there are millions of houses like that all over the world, as Guruji said, God is everywhere that means at our own homes’s little temple too however often we hear on the news that, houses were swept away or damaged in earthquake or so on which results loss of property & lives too.
      So for me, Prilgrimes are not imune to divine interventions or natural disasters , it was our naive belief that it indeed was! time & again, devine try to tell us, it isn’t & we should accept it.

      1. arna neogy

        yes God is not in temples and whatever other religous places…they are within us as Guruji always says..He is in the nature…we should respect nature and pray to them,keep nature beautiful..that what God tried to say with this incident..going to temples and praying to God wont help rather we should devote time to help nature become stable,pollution free and beautiful..that’s what God has always tried to tell us..Although this is my own thinking..Guruji am i r8??

  13. manju s mundhra

    Gurudev satkoti pranaams..aapka diya saral gyaan,sudarshan kriya, meditation ,seva,satsang and most is faith hamaare jivanko kitna saral n sunder banaa deta hai.. Guruji aapko sache dilse dhanywaad..salaam..Jai Hind …Jai gurudev!!!

  15. Neema

    Your way is always the practical and uplifting one. No flaky lines. But real sutras that can be practised by simple people like us. Thanks for so easily clearing our doubts 🙂
    What you say is effective becoz we know you and your volunteers are doing what you can for the flood-affected.
    Pranaam.

  16. Capt Suresh Sharma

    Very well written … simple … straight .. viable … very motivating …

  17. nawal chhangani

    thanks a lot gurudev i had this doubt since the disaster that why all that happened at the doorsteps of shankara but now my doubt is cleared.

  19. Radhakrishnan KG

    Well well said Guruji. It is in these times that makes us emerge stronger, and very important not to lose faith.

    My heart goes out for the people who had to suffer this devastation. Our country and policy makers should put the safety of the citizens first. Hope things will change for the better with a new government in place in 2014.

    Rk

  20. Dr.C.Khandelwal

    Does that mean we should continue going to Hills rather than helping someone somewhere wherever we can !! JGD

  21. Narayan S Srivastava

    Very well said. We must preserve our faith. It should also lead to improvement in infrastructure facilities, roads, resting places, and safety and health issues.

  23. Bharatimal a

    It is really true Guruji because though I don’t have any body in uttarakhAnd tragedy I was having the same doubt regarding faith. You have answered my question. Jaigurudev

  24. Birjoo

    So many inspiring stories of courage, commitment and compassion! Doctors and volunteers hiking to interior areas despite blocked roads, heavy rains and landslides to help stranded locals with medical and relief supplies, volunteers hiking for miles carrying grains, working side by side with the paramilitary to care for the evacuees from before dawn to past midnight…. Just hearing these accounts is enough to restore the faith in humanity! For more updates about the relief efforts please visit
    http://www.iahv.org/us-en/appeal-for-uttarakhand-flood-relief/
    You can also leave comments for the volunteers / soldiers on
    Facebook.com/UttarakhandreliefIAHV

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