The power of unshakable belief

Most of us believe in the presence of a supreme power and its capability in our final deliverance. However the question is how strong this belief is. It ebbs and flows with the events of our lives as we are put through trials and tribulations from time to time. Complete surrender to the Lord with an unshakable belief that He will take care of us is the only way to achieve our objective.

But as we all know, it is far from easy as indicated by some
of the instances below:

A person while walking down a mountain slope, slips and just about manages to grab a tree root. Dangling from the sheer cliff, he beckons God to save him. To his surprise, God answers him and says, ‘Let go of the root and I will take care of you’. For which he replies, ‘But if I do that will I not fall off?’. Such is our confidence these days.

A milkmaid was serving milk daily to a sanyasi who lived in an ashram across a river. The sanyasi found that the milkmaid was not punctual on some days. When he asked her why she responded that the ferry is sometimes irregular especially on rainy days. The sanyasi smiled and mentioned that if she had the belief she can walk on water and bring the milk on time.  He forgot all about that in a few days but one day he suddenly realized that she was no longer tardy. She responded casually that these days she walks on water as advised! Unbelieving, the sanyasi asked her how she did that. She then nonchalantly stepped on water and was able to stand on it. When the sanyasi attempted the same he promptly fell in. Feeling ashamed, he requested why he, the possessor of great knowledge couldn’t on walk on water but an uneducated person like her could do that easily. The milkmaid humbly submitted, ‘Dear sir, when you tried to tread on water you held your clothing high as though it might get drenched. Does that mean you didn’t believe?’ The sanyasi hung his head in shame.

Several people were taking a holy dip in Ganga when an elderly person slipped and was about to drown. On seeing this, a saint shouted at the bathers, ‘the one who is free of sins alone can rescue him.‘ On hearing this no one came forward thinking of their wrongdoings but one rough looking man jumped in and brought the drowning person to the shore. People found out that he was a thief by profession and mockingly asked him if he even listened to the saint while coming forward. The person replied, ‘Oh I know I had sinned, but weren’t we all bathing in Ganga for cleansing our sins? Have I not become free of sins now?’ He was the only believer that day.

And finally, once there were a group of people getting ready to perform rituals to invoke the rain god. One of them was calling his daughter to hurry up. The young girl came after some time carrying a heavy umbrella. The man laughed at her and asked why she is carrying that. She replied, ‘Dad, aren’t we going to perform these rituals to get rain? Then won’t we get drenched when rain comes?’ Children can teach us life lessons that even acclaimed philosophers can’t do.

So how strong is your belief?

In collaboration with Ramalingam