“What is the exact Tamil word for faith?”, asked an old ex-colleague and friend of mine who lives now with his children in far away America. It was a casual question but I somehow could not get myself to be anything but serious about it.
I replied:
Sir, you are the expert …Is it நம்பிக்கை? Or விசுவாசம்? The exact Sanskrit word for “faith” is श्रद्धा (śraddhā)…
And he responded :
“The second one is more appropriate, I think. The first one in English I think is Belief.”
I couldn’t have agreed more with my good old friend on the definitions.
Belief demands evidence , rationale, “pramaanam”… and with new evidence or emerging facts and conviction, beliefs can change over time.
Faith on the other demands no such thing …
Faith is more about commitment and enduring trust, even in the face of uncertainty or doubt. It is not just intellectual agreement, but also a matter of the heart, and often compels action or loyalty, especially in spiritual or religious context.
In the last 2 weeks, every evening I turned on the TV to savour a YouTube series of video upannyaasam by brahmasri Sri B. Sundarakumar on Srimad Bhagavatham.
Yesterday after listening to the discourse, my mind was in fact dwelling upon a few of the enchanting stories of Krishna’s Leelas in Gokulam and Brindavanam. And I kept thinking about how inexplicably and with what awe and wonder those Gopikas there regarded Sri Krishna? What moved or drove them to feel such intense unconditional , unwavering devotion towards him? Why could they never tear themselves away from him ?
It was such silent yet mind-stirring thoughts that also made me, to some degree, understand then the difference that certainly exists between believing that the Srimad Bhagavatham is true and the abiding in faith that Krishna as a divine avatar did walk the soil on earth.
To believe in anything — a person, a body of thought or just an idea — or to keep faith in it , are both clearly deliberate choices to be made. Not however for a child or infant … it holds no belief that its mother will ever protect and nurture it. But was born however with absolute faith that its mother will protect it … without even knowing what the idea of faith is. We are all thus born only with Faith … we acquire Beliefs only much later in life, in adulthood .
You can endlessly research into, argue over, and go on gathering evidence about whatever you think is true or else in the Srimadh Bhagavatham … or you could reject whatever might strike you as incredible in the purana . But so long as you are unable to accept or embrace Sri Krishna with the same unquestioning, unlearned and innocent faith that the Gopikas reposed in the reality of his person, the Srimad Bhagavatham will remain always a mere Vedantic scriptural text — a collection of tales and miracle-stories — and can never turn into an article of faith for you.
Belief is definable . Faith is indefinable . Belief is a wispy cloud floating high in the sky above you. You can see it but cannot touch or feel it. Faith on the other hand is will-o’ the-wisp wafting about here down upon earth in the morning mist in the lush forests surrounding you… You can’t see it, but you will feel it if you walk slowly through it.
Sudarshan Madabushi