Two Instruments: Doubt and Faith

Two instruments: doubt and faith, a destructive force and a constructive force, a negative force and a positive force. Doubt bewilders us; doubt baffles us. Doubt is nothing short of physical poverty, vital insecurity and mental impurity. Faith loves us; faith teaches us. Faith loves us because we are of God and God is for us. Faith teaches us precisely because God wants us to be His chosen instruments, His perfect instruments, so that we can distribute His Light in the world and manifest His Love on earth.

Self doubt and doubt of God. He who doubts himself discovers that self doubt is the precursor of self destruction. He who doubts God discovers birthless and deathless futility. He who has faith in himself becomes a hero warrior in the inner world and achieves immediate success. He who has faith in God becomes a supreme God-lover and a reality which continuously proceeds. A continuous progress becomes his name.

Doubt itself is a treacherous theory and a destructive practice, whereas faith is precious and prosperous. This is what we hear from God in our heart. This is what we hear from God in our entire being. Whenever we doubt, we not only weaken ourselves but also separate ourselves from the whole, from the Universal Reality. Each time we doubt, we lose an opportunity. Each time we show faith in others, we fulfil that opportunity and grow into a larger reality. And at that time, the fulfilling reality becomes ours. What is opportunity? Opportunity is an unconditional boon which descends from above to illumine the consciousness of humanity.

Doubt is always over active. It wants to destroy the world in a shockingly horrid manner. Faith is active, selflessly active, continuously active. Faith begins the Cosmic Game at God's choice Hour and ends the Cosmic Game at God's choice Hour. But when we follow the road of faith, we come to see that there is no real end. We are all walking along Eternity's Road. Each time we reach a particular destination, that destination becomes the starting point for a higher, more fulfilling and more illumining goal. Today's goal is tomorrow's starting point. So when we live in faith, glowing faith, we grow into this ever transcending Reality, into this ever transcending Reality's Goal.

Doubt is capacity. This capacity can take us back to our animal life, the life of destruction. Even now, when we cherish anger, jealousy and other destructive forces, we feel that we are roaming in the animal kingdom. Unless and until each human being is totally transformed and illumined, there will always remain in him an amount of animal qualities and propensities. But if the same human being invokes Light from above, then there comes a time when his life is inundated with Light and Delight. At that time, he not only gives up totally the animal in himself, but he also grows into the divine in himself. The divine in him is his transcendental Vision and universal Reality.

Each human being starts his journey with faith. A child has implicit faith in his parents. The mother tells the child, "This is the letter 'A,' this is 'B.' " The child listens to the mother and learns the alphabet. The child goes to school and listens to what the teacher teaches. He learns. But when his mind develops, it unconsciously, if not consciously, wants to establish a free access to the doubt world. Anything that is new to the mind offers temptation, fascination. So the mind tends to enter into the world of doubt. The journey was started with faith, with the heart's implicit faith. But while the seeker is walking along the road, the mind takes over. The mind finds it easier to divide and destroy than to unify and build. But when we start aspiring and try to compel the mind to swim in the sea of the soul's light, the mind eventually surrenders to the soul's light.

There are two minds. One is the doubtful mind, the suspicious mind, the mind that does not care for light, for the inner wealth. There comes a time when this mind sees that there is no satisfaction, not to speak of abiding satisfaction, in the domain that it inhabits. So it surrenders to the heart. The heart always tries to play the role of identification. The heart of a child maintains its oneness feeling with his parents, his brothers and sisters and the members of his world-family. A seeker is he who is in the aspiring heart, of the illumining soul and for the fulfilling God. Here we are all seekers. Our heart tells us that oneness is satisfaction and satisfaction is perfection. Again, when we descend for world illumination, we go from the rung of perfection to the rung of satisfaction, and from satisfaction we come down to oneness. Satisfaction is founded on oneness and perfection is founded on satisfaction. If we walk along the road of the heart, we discover the supremely divine Reality, which we eternally are. And this Reality is nothing but oneness-our oneness with the Supreme, the Inner Pilot.

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June 5th, 1976
Friends' House
Canterbury, England