Faith and Conviction.

विश्वास और निष्ठा

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Two days ago I wrote in Hindi, a post about this title. Still I think / feel I should write one in English also.

I came across the understanding that trying to find out a philosophy from the scriptures  that leads us in believing to a certain faith, is quite different from that of trying to find out the conviction about the Truth. 

An unflinching conviction which can remove finally and ultimately all our confusions and ignorance, doubts and prejudices about the essential Reality / Truth as well. 

Discussions, dialogues, talks, debates go on without an end whatever, whenever we try to reach at an intellectual conclusion. And we think this is the final and ultimate truth, while this is merely an intellectual result of an intellevtual process, which still keeps us tethered to a certain philosophy, and yet we feel we have arrived. 

Then we say: "This is my faith".

So, what is "conviction"? How the conviction is different from the "faith"!

Let us see the conviction is intrinsic to our very being and our spontaneous knowing that I / We (always) exist. By whatever logic, argument or experience, this fact about our existence could never be denied or refuted.

Faith is always acquired from the knowledge from outside, from a scripture, from some-one who has been given the status, authority, and is supposed to know better than what we think we know.

Most often such a man seizes this authority, this opportunity by / from from tradition, by serving his superiors, who too might have captured the same probably in this way only.

Could we perhaps deny all tradition and the authority that is forced upon us according to certain philosophy in the name of religion, God, scriptures, and can we turn inwards to our heart, to the gut-feeling within our own and see that this simple knowing "I am", and the quite simple knowing :

"I know that I am" 

may be the whole and the only truth!

Maybe, if we give it a try, we could discover the above conviction within our own heart, and see what happens next.

Even after this revelation, perhaps still we could get more and more self-centered and selfish, even more confused a bit, may soon forget all about this simple realization, and get stuck deep in the quagmire of ignorance, or this may bring out in us the awareness of our own very true reality.

Depends upon how we proceed further from there.

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