Faith in the Heart

"Faith allows you to see that all that is necessary arises, all that is needed is obtained without effort."
-Shyamdas

With faith, the false ego dissolves, and all that is left is love. This sort of faith is an unwavering conviction. It requires a certain loving power of confidence, and trust in the higher forces at play to work in favor of your heart's true desires. Faith provides a shelter for a practitioner to take refuge in, a focus or intention to work for, a heart centered belief.

There is a story of a mystical Cataka bird who is a "guru of conviction" and forsakes all water except for the raindrops from certain clouds and only falls for two weeks during the fall.  The birds preforms seva (service) and worship for the water he receives, but never feels ownership of it. Regardless of the situation or source, this is the only water it will taste, for it has set its heart on the one. Because of the birds faith in those clouds, when the time is right the clouds always shower for that blessed bird. It is its confidence and trust in those waters that bring the rainfall. 

Similarly, the yogi has all sacred desires quenched through the practice. Faith is brought into practice through not only trusting in yoga to reveal deeper layers of yourself but to offer your practice up to a higher power, to preform actions without worrying about the end result, to do the work you do on the mat and in your life for the benefit of others. Faith lets you see that with practice, all that is necessary arises. This conviction produces unshakable refuge and ends all doubt. To take refuge in your yoga practice is to take refuge with Isvara (your favorite form of God). This way, the fruits of your practice are obtained without effort and once attained no false sense of ownership is placed on anything, with this understanding the practitioner's false ego is dissolved and duality no longer exists, what is left is Love- your most natural state.

Should the practitioner loose its refuge, their heart divides, opens, and the sweet magic that faith brings pours out. This is when the Ego starts to take over and the discursive mind takes control. Instead of feeling the limitless possibilities in the heart, the analytical mind steps in breaks things into pieces. This brings the practitioner away from union and into duality.

The primary goal of yoga is union- to transcend duality, come to see your true self as a vessel of pure divine love, and then to see others in this same light. To believe such a realization is possible and eventually come to it, can not be done with the analytical mind. It must be done with faith in the heart.

On the yoga mat (with asana, pranayama, meditation, intention) much work is done to dissolve the discerning Ego, keep the mind free, and heart devoted on remembering your true self, which is nothing but love. With that knowledge comes faith in the path and the strength to persevere, to continue to believe in your heart's true desires.




The majority of this post is inspired by Shyamdasji's track #13 on Lover's Life.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/shyamdas/id287622796