From IIM Ahmedabad To Happiness

Author(s): Vijay K Jain
Publisher: Vikalp Printers

Page 77

EVERYTHING REVOLVES AROUND FAITH
without; the help really has to come from the soul itself who alone can open it. One has not to go out anywhere in search of happiness but has merely to remove the load of impurity from the precious gem lying within.
It is a spiritual law of universal applicability that whosoever shall save his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose it, shall find it. Thus, if a man regard himself as a miserable sinner, he must ever remain so; on the other hand, if he forget his small self, the ego of desires, and believes himself to be a God, he will soon actually become the enjoyer of the status of Godhood. Belief in one's own divine nature will counteract the poison of the suggestion of inferiority and evil, and gradually establish a reign of desirelessness and dispassion, which will bring peace and tranquility of the mind. Misery and fear arise from wrong suggestions which are accepted and acted upon by the soul. We must now determine to cure ourselves by auto-suggestion of a counter nature. Faith is the little seed to be sown, and it will do the rest, for belief translates itself into action without fail.
The ignorance of the godly nature of the soul has been the cause of trouble in the past and the change of belief, in the right direction, must bring about the state of oneness with the Self. In practice, however, it will be found that the strengthening of faith is a much harder task than many would imagine it to be. There are thousands, if not millions, of men who know and theoretically believe their souls to be ‘all-powerful' and 'all-knowing', yet they are hopelessly involved in delusion and utterly helpless against its temptations and snares. Self-actualization depends on unshakable, unchanging conviction of truth. Such a conviction necessitates a complete saturation of the mind with belief in one's own soul and in the harmful effects on it of the pleasures of the world.
When the mind is steadied and gives up the habit of wandering in the pursuit of the objects of the senses, it becomes quiescent,
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