(Image Courtesy Mahanidhiswami)
Faith Is The First Step On The Journey To God Realization Then Satsang This Leads To A Personal Devotional Practice
अश्रद्दधाना: पुरुषा धर्मस्यास्य परन्तप |
अप्राप्य मां निवर्तन्ते मृत्युसंसारवर्त्मनि || 9.3||
aśhraddadhānāḥ puruṣhā dharmasyāsya parantapa
aprāpya māṁ nivartante mṛityu-samsāra-vartmani|| 9.3||
Shloka Translation
BG – Ch. 9- Ver. 3:
People who do not believe in this dharma will not be able to reach Me, O conqueror of enemies. In the cycle of birth and death, they return to this planet on a regular basis.
Explanation
No matter how good the knowledge or how effective the road, if one refuses to walk on it, it is pointless. Direct perception of God occurs later, as indicated in the previous verse; to begin the process, a leap of faith is required. People frequently claim that they will only believe in what they can directly perceive, and since God cannot be immediately perceived, they refuse to believe in Him. Belief in God is not a natural process that we go through as humans. We must use our free will and make a conscious decision to believe in God. In this verse, the Supreme Lord declares that people who refuse to believe in the spiritual will perish.
This verse’s meaning is that the unfaithful cannot complete this process of devotional worship. Association with devotees fosters faith. Even after hearing all of the evidence from great figures in Vedic literature, unfortunate people still have no confidence in God. They are hesitant and unable to remain committed to the Lord’s devotional service. As a result, faith is a critical factor in progress. It is said that providing water to a tree’s root satisfies its branches, twigs, and leaves, and providing food to the stomach satisfies all of the body’s senses; similarly, engaging in the transcendental service of the Supreme Lord satisfies all of the demigods and living entities.
Verse & what we can learn
Shri Krishna praises the knowledge he is about to provide before highlighting the good student’s qualifications. He addresses Arjuna as the “scorcher of adversaries,” saying that faith is the most important requirement for receiving this message. If we don’t have confidence, we’ll keep doing what we’ve always done, only to become imprisoned in this never-ending cycle of creation and dissolution.
Why is faith regarded with such reverence? We won’t be able to properly comprehend any teaching if we don’t have trust. What happens to people who don’t believe? Such people, according to Shri Krishna, do not acquire Ishvara. They have faith in their sense organs and the joys they derive from them. These people still believe that satisfying their senses with more food, entertainment, and physical and mental comforts will bring them long-term happiness. This erroneous faith traps them in the mortal world’s cycle of birth, old age, disease, and death, which repeats itself again and over.
To acquire knowledge and to implement that knowledge in life one needs to be mentally and physically active and healthy and for that daily meditation is a great tool.
There are various types of meditation like Buddhist meditation, heartfulness meditation, mindfulness meditation, meditation for stress, and each meditation benefits are countless. There are also numerous meditation techniques for beginners which help in practicing daily meditation so go ahead and start your journey towards a peaceful and balanced life.
In the next two shlokas, Shri Krishna conveys the chapter’s main message
Let’s learn to live with “The Gita” via Meditation Affinity…