What is faith
Faith is the power to keep afloat despite life’s peaks and troughs
To know that it will be okay in the end.
Faith reminds that I am not in power nor in control of anything other than my own intentions,
which regulate the state of my spiritual heart.
Faith is to believe that the Creator has a plan for me,
Faith is to know
that God loves all His creation.
Faith affirms that I am here to fulfill my duty,
to strive against my own ego, not to fight others.
Faith helps endure hardship and suffering for a purpose greater than ‘I’!
To keep afloat, energy must be generated from within,
The energy can be fueled by evil or by the divine.
There are manners and rituals prescribed by God that the Prophets practiced
The Prophets were teachers to mankind as well as to the jinnkind.
Energy from the divine is what the soul will thrive upon,
the lasting one, the illuminator of the unknown path I tread, that to me is faith!
The energy from the evil will only flare and burn, leaving behind ashes
to be consumed and blown away in the storms of life.
Abraham the father of prophets,
taught how to keep afloat with the Divine
The prescription of belief in One God, no parallel no partner unto Him
Daily prayers with prostration, a sign of humility and submission
and remembrance of the divine words from the scripture
To Keep a sound moral code;
Preservation of life, faith, wealth, family and lineage.
Preservation of the intellect,
“O you who believe, speak the upright speech”!
Interestingly the evil energy requires an anti-moral code;
To pledge allegiance to other than One God
Strive and sacrifice in the cause of material, power, fame…
Do not pray nor purify your body for forty days! orders the black magic practitioner
Hence denouncing the proximity of the Creator and the assigned guardian Angels
“Indeed mankind has been created in kabad”! (Quran 90.4)
Man is designed to function amidst struggle and difficulty that this life has to offer.
Whether one chooses the path of the divine or evil, it will be a journey of toil.
The difference is that, in the end the divine liberates and vindicates the soul, while the evil
abandons it into a burden of sorrows and regrets.
What is faith was written by Dr. Shazia Anwar and originally published in House of Faith, a book in the House of series.
Remembrance
Remembrance
Light, love, memory
all live in the ritual.
Hearts calling out the loss
of ones so dear
mother, grandmother
father, grandfather
husband, wife
aunt, uncle
cousin, best friend
and beloved child.
Lives well-lived, lives well-loved, lives abbreviated untimely.
Love becomes light in the river.
Pain rises and becomes peace
as lanterns illuminate the darkness.
We remember those we love
and those we never knew.
Their light once vibrant in our days
now floats in memory on a river of remembrance.
Remembrance was written by Retreat House Covenant Partner Regina Hunt and originally published in House of Remembrance, the 11th book in our House of series. You can purchase a copy here.
Your Valor is Unequaled
Make it stand out
Retreat House Partner Lavanga Schlette Reflects on Psalm 105:1-11, 45b
We meditate on:
Your all attractive bodily features such as lotus eyes and beautiful hair.
The fact You are the source of highest pleasure and attract everyone’s senses.
How You are the owner of all knowledge, beauty and power.
We rejoice because:
We know You are never lost to Your devotees and will never fail them.
By Your nature You never deviate from Your word.
Your valor is unequaled.
We are in awe due to You:
Being eternal, boundless and inexhaustible, unlimited by time or space.
Possessing unlimited strength and supreme control.
Having capability of performing all activities marvelously, as if with a thousand mighty arms.
Our hearts are given to You because:
You are the Lord and shelter of the universe.
We are under Your protection due to Your sweet, honey-like nature.
You pervade the entire universe, and deliver us from the ocean of birth and death.
All inauspiciousness is removed by You.
You steal the hearts of Your devotees by serving them.
Lavanga shares a similiar text from her Hare Krishnan tradition:
We know this to be true because You have told us...
"I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who perfectly know this engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.
The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are fully devoted to My service, and they derive great satisfaction and bliss from always enlightening one another and conversing about Me.
To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.
To show them special mercy, I, dwelling in their hearts, destroy with the shining lamp of knowledge the darkness born of ignorance."
Lavanga Schlette is a licensed massage therapist and yoga teacher who has found her passion and calling in the Hare Krishna community. Retreat House is delighted to share more of Lavanga's faith journey next week on the blog as we continue to celebrate our core value of cross pollination this month.