Listen
to me, king, with an unsophisticated and clear intellect. Mistrust in a well-wisher’s words is the surest way to ruin.
Faith is like a fond mother who can never fail to save her trusting son from dangerous situations. There is no doubt about it.
The fool who has no faith in his well-wisher’s words is forsaken by prosperity, happiness and fame. A man who is always suspicious can never gain anything worthwhile.
Confidence holds the world and nourishes all. How can a babe thrive if it has no confidence in its mother?
How can a lover gain pleasure if he does not trust his beloved? Similarly, how is the aged parent to be happy who has no confidence in his sons?
Would the husbandman till the land if he had no confidence? Mutual distrust will put an end to all transactions.
This is something which I observe again and again. A person will ask Gurudev or Chandrakant or myself a question and when an answer is given, the questioner argues that the answer must be wrong. This also shows up in satsang in a similar fashion: The one presenting will make some claim and others will very doggedly try to prove the claim wrong.
This always brings two questions to mind: First, does the person believe that Gurudev, Chandrakant, myself or any teacher is trying to deceive them? Second, why do they want so badly for the person up front to be wrong?
I’m not suggesting that anyone should believe the person up front just because they are up front! Anyone who knows me has heard me say, “Do not believe a single word I say!” but that is not an injunction to disbelieve me either.
Swami Prabhavananda, in his commentary on the Bhakti Surtas, explained it this way:
According to the Bhagavad-Gita (see B.G 4.34), the seeker must do three things: One must prostrate before the guru—which means one must approach the guru humbly with a heart full of longing to realize God. Then one must question the guru. When the guru gives an answer, one should not just accept the answer at face value but try to understand the teachings in order to remove all doubts from the mind. Also, one must give personal service.
When you hear something you don’t understand or agree with, whatever the source, there are a few things to consider: Is the person speaking from their experience and not just parroting what someone else told them? Are you there to learn from this person? If the answer is yes to either question, then when you don’t agree with what has been said, you need to ask yourself (or the person speaking) one question: How? How does what has been presented work?
If
you can’t reason it out yourself, have the courage to ask. Question the teacher and explore their understanding not by denying what they’ve said but by investigating what they’ve said.
To do otherwise, is to scream into the wind.
Jai Bhagwan