Page 171 - Wisdom Unfurled

Absolute in view of the fact that he is yet a slave of his wishes and the animal in him refuses to get tamed despite all the efforts he has made under the guidance of his Master.
Introspection will reveal that a good majority of us have just drifted into the Natural Path mostly due to our good samskaras in the past and undoubtedly the supreme Grace of the Master, the Centre yawning towards the circumference. Thus it will be that the feeling of acute helplessness which arises only due to a great crisis of conscience or a matter of life and death literally, could be missing in most cases unless the thirst for Reality and a restless impatience to attain It have taken a deep root in the heart due to His grace.
Faith and Surrender
We have seen that faith plays a very important role in surrender. Faith encompasses faith in oneself, in the path or the means selected to achieve the goal and in the Master whom he has approached for guidance and support in his endeavour to attain the goal. The Master is categorical when He declares, ‘True faith is really an unspeakable virtue which is beyond the scope of religion, it is the dauntless courage which leads us on to success, it is the ubiquitous force which makes our path smooth, It is in fact the only thing that solves our problem of life’ (DR p 84). This kind of faith is the one termed ‘mahaviswasa’ supreme faith, the faith that moves mountains so to speak praised highly in tradition and especially in the context of surrender. This is the culmination or the final state of shraddha, the fifth of the shad- sampattis as depicted in the third of the four sadhanas of the Vedantins when the real faith begins to assume the form of self-surrender. This is not the ordinary faith with which the aspirant begins his spiritual journey, that is faith in himself and the initial faith in the Master formed mainly due to the aptavachana from our sincere, noble and self-less benefactors who have already trodden the path. The faith in the Master is promoted further by the assurance given by Sri Ramchandraji in particular that He makes masters and not disciples showing His absolutely self-less motive and genuine concern for the spiritual transformation of all human beings without any distinction. We will have further occasion to talk about the state of ‘mahaviswasa’.
The Master says that will, faith and confidence are the elementary factors which contribute to an easy success on the path of Realization. Strong will to achieve reality means that we are inwardly awakened to the thought of recognizing Self. It is quite essential that one has in his mind a clear and definite conception of the goal so that he may select the path which will directly lead him to the goal. The goal can only be one and can not be many. Multiple goals dilute the energy and distract the attention. There is an