First, we give rise to the right motivation, which consists in receiving the Teaching in order to tame the mind, eliminate ignorance, and attain Liberation. Motivation is the intention that precedes the perception of the Teaching, and such an intention is based on faith. If you have no faith, or if your faith is weak, you will not be able to develop an intention, or it will be narrow and limited.
To develop the right motivation, we spend some time recollecting the Refuge and the objects of faith. The text “The Creed of the Teaching of Laya Yoga” was specially composed by me in order to give rise to such right motivation.
The Role of Faith in the Spiritual Teaching
The Teaching and Dharma are always connected with faith. If we think that the Teaching is connected with intellectual understanding, this is not so: it is so by five percent, while ninety-five percent is connected with faith, since it is possible to logically substantiate and give rise to intellectual clarity only in relation to some part of the Teaching.
For example, how would you logically substantiate Brahma, Shiva, or Vishnu? I would like to know that. How would you logically substantiate Parabrahman? The infinite processes in the Universe? This is impossible in principle. Here, simple faith is needed.
In the atheistic world of the West, it is customary to disregard the principle of faith, since materialism and pragmatism have prevailed there, along with positivist, pragmatic science, which is accustomed to substantiating everything through clarity; there is such a disregard—“reason” and “blind faith.” But the concept of shraddha in the Teaching does not at all imply blind faith. It implies precisely that we use a deeper, subtler apparatus of awareness. Different laws operate here: not the laws of logic, but the laws of awareness.
The Universe as a System of Beliefs
The entire Universe is made of faith. And even those who think that they do not have this faith in fact believe very strongly. It is just that each person has their own system of beliefs.
For example, someone believes in love for another person. If you tell him, “Logically substantiate your love,” he will say, “Are you crazy? How can that be substantiated?” Someone believes in a mother, in their children, in attachment to children, and if you say, “This is blind faith; substantiate it logically,” she will say, “Why? That is foolish.” There are things that are accepted a priori, without proof.
Someone believes in power, in wealth; it is useless to say to him, “Your faith is illogical.” He will say, “What do I care? I believe in it, I want it very much, and it greatly inspires me. My illogicality in no way prevents me from striving for it.” Someone believes in his own egoism, pride, and ambitions, trying to satisfy them. He believes in this completely irrationally; he needs no logical justification; he believes in it subconsciously, illogically.
Scientists themselves have already become convinced that a human being seems to be a rational creature only on the surface, but if one digs just a little deeper inside, irrational mysticism begins, and there only questions of faith are at work.
The entire Universe is a vision, a system of belief. Vision, view—this is belief. It becomes the way we believe it to be. For example, hungry spirits believe in an impure perception of the world, and therefore their beliefs are embodied in the world of pretas. Gods believe in pure vision, and the Universe becomes the way they believe it to be. It turns out that faith is the basis, the path, and the fruit.
The Difference Between Blind and True Faith
What, then, is blind faith? Blind faith is shallow, declared faith, only in words. A person says, “I believe,” but as soon as something happens, he no longer believes. This cannot be called faith. Or another person says, “I believe, but I am not aware of it.” Instead of true faith connected with awareness, he creates certain wedges in the mind or certain fetishes, fixed ideas, images in duality; the object of faith is, as it were, distant from him, he is not united with the object of faith. He believes only at the level of the mind, at the level of a rigidly jammed mind. This too is blind faith.
True faith is connected with awareness, with unity with the object of faith; that is, it is not at the level of the mind, but beyond concepts.
The Paradox of Faith in the Practice of Advaita
For some reason, many practitioners of Advaita, especially Neo-Advaita, ignore the fact that faith exists. They think it is enough to reason about Brahman, to self-liberate words, to affirm the philosophy of Advaita, and that this is sufficient. But this is a paradox. When they approach the subconscious, they believe that since everything is non-dual in the tradition of Advaita, there is no place for faith. And so they approach the subconscious and discover that their subconscious believes: in causality, in the law of karma, in kleshas, in images, in the body, in suffering—their subconscious believes strongly.
It turns out that they believe in nothing, only in the philosophy of Advaita, but for some reason it does not help them. Then they become disappointed: “Why does the philosophy of Advaita not help me eliminate karma?” But the philosophy of Advaita itself must become a strong faith; only then will it save. Dry, lifeless intellectual knowledge has never saved anyone.
Then one can become like that pandit who taught everyone that everything is an illusion, but when an elephant chased after him, he shouted: “Remove the elephant, the elephant is real.” And when the elephant was stopped, he again began to say that everything is an illusion.
The Importance of Faith for Spiritual Practice
It is very difficult for a person without faith to practice. He has not found himself; he has not found God. He rushes first one way, then another. He has conflicting programs in his head; he has not come to an agreement with himself. Such a person is a failure on the spiritual path; he is unlucky, and one can feel sorry for him. And even his sincere search comes up against obstacles where another passes through them effortlessly, because deep within, the deity has not yet blossomed.
Guru Yoga as the Foundation of Faith
The first step toward acquiring strong faith is to believe in the Guru, that the Guru is Dattatreya himself. I recently heard a lecture by one teacher; he said that your first mistake is that you look at the teacher as an ordinary person, you look at him not as a Buddha, and this is the root cause of the fact that you revolve in samsara. If you want Liberation, look upon the Guru as a Buddha, that is, as Dattatreya.
This is not because the teacher needs respect, but because it is beneficial for spiritual practice. This is what the saints and sacred texts say. And when we look at the teacher not as Dattatreya but as an ordinary person, then accordingly we cannot generate the consciousness of Dattatreya within ourselves either. If we cannot see Dattatreya in the Guru, how can we see him in ourselves? Then we have absolutely no chance at all, that is, not in this life. But if we generate the vision of the Guru as Dattatreya, then the transmission and the generation of ourselves as Dattatreya become quite possible.
It is very important to change the state of one’s mind. This is the principle of faith concerning Guru Yoga. Gradually, from Guru Yoga we move on to extending the principle of faith to the saints, to the sacred texts, to the Ishta-devata, and to ourselves. This principle of faith must flood everything, and when it gradually floods us, pure vision naturally awakens within us.
Faith as the Foundation of Liberation
The cause of our fundamental ignorance is not that our kumbhaka is short or that we do not sit in padmasana enough, but the absence of faith. Even if you do not sit in padmasana enough and your kumbhaka is short, if you have strong faith, you can attain Liberation. But even if your kumbhaka is long and you sit in padmasana for a long time, if your faith is weak, then in your next life you should plan to continue doing kumbhaka.
Because when we believe, our soul within us unites with the Absolute. Techniques, technical forms of practice—all of this must be subordinate to the essential: faith. Then everything is in its proper place. But if there is selfish technical practice, a selfish intellectual logical mind on its own, and faith is weak, then all of this takes first place, while there is no faith inside; all of this can be called pseudo-practice.
Refuge as the Embodiment of Faith
Faith is embodied by Refuge. Therefore we always say that it is beneficial always to confirm and restore Refuge. But Refuge should be understood more deeply than a conceptual description. In the absolute sense, Refuge is Brahman himself; therefore, by believing in Refuge, we believe in the Absolute.
The Creed of the Laya Yoga Teaching
This is the text “The Creed of the Laya Yoga Teaching,” which I wrote specifically for this purpose. I think this will make not only practice easier for many people, but also communication with others. For example, someone asks: “And what do you practice?” You immediately say to him: “I believe in this. If you want, you too can believe in this,” and you do not need to explain much.
Why is there no need to explain much? Because faith does not need proof. You will be told: “But prove it?” and you will say: “Why? Faith is irrational. Faith is beyond proof. We do not ask Christians to prove the existence of Christ, to logically substantiate his love or his holiness. That is foolish. Likewise, there is no need to ask us for logical substantiations. Faith is directly experienced in the heart, bypassing the intellect.”
All of this can be substantiated logically for a very long time; that is exactly what I spent ten years doing — philosophy. But in fact it can be simpler: directly through the heart, bypassing the head.
But the true Creed of the Teaching is, of course, not in words and not on paper. It is in the heart, in non-conceptual awareness.
