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Recorded on: 20 Aug 2009
Language: English, Czech/Slovak
Length: 0h 02m

Sradha

Śraddhā is the foundational quality for spiritual practice, encompassing respect, devotion, confidence, love, belief, expectation, and hope. It is traditionally directed toward parents, a master, or God. Patañjali advises the practitioner to direct this Śraddhā toward their own practice itself. One must have confidence in the practice as the sole vehicle for achievement, just as one must trust a functional car to drive it. This instruction serves even those who do not hold conventional objects of faith.

"Śraddhā means you must have confidence in your practice. That practice alone is your instrument, your vehicle, the very medium of your achievement."

Filming location: Strilky, Czech Republic

Patañjali speaks of Śraddhā, Vīrya, Smṛti, and Samādhi. These are the qualities a sādhaka must master or purify. First, he discusses Śraddhā. Śraddhā means respect. Śraddhā means devotion. Śraddhā means confidence. Śraddhā means love. Śraddhā means belief and expectation. Śraddhā means hope. Thus, a single word holds many, many meanings. What, then, does Patañjali intend to convey here? A child possesses confidence, love, and attachment toward parents. A devotee has love, attachment, confidence, and expectation toward the Master. A bhakta has this confidence, devotion, belief, and so on, directed toward God. However, there are some people who do not believe in these conventional objects of faith, yet still wish to attain realization. Therefore, Patañjali is suggesting, or perhaps warning and advising, the sādhaka. He instructs them to have Śraddhā toward their own sādhanā, their practice. You know your car is in good order, so you will take it, drive onto the highway, and proceed. But if you do not trust your car—if you suspect something is wrong—you will not take it. Similarly, here, Śraddhā means you must have confidence in your practice. That practice alone is your instrument, your vehicle, the very medium of your achievement.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

Yoga in Daily Life - The System
Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda. Ibera Verlag, Vienna, 2000. ISBN 978-3-85052-000-3
The Hidden Power in Humans - Chakras and Kundalini
Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda. Ibera Verlag, Vienna, 2004. ISBN 978-3-85052-197-0
Lila Amrit - The Divine Life of Sri Mahaprabhuji
Paramhans Swami Madhavananda. Int. Sri Deep Madhavananda Ashram Fellowship, Vienna, 1998. ISBN 3-85052-104-4

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