I have a Hindu friend who follows Gita – let’s call him Mridul. Even though I am a Sikh and follow Gurbani, our views on almost all aspects of spirituality are not only similar but same. We concur so much that at times, it feels as if one is speaking the other’s thoughts. For me, this level of consensus mean that if one gets it right, the message of all religions is the same. Unless, we both got it wrong the same way!
Recently, I was having a conversation with Mridul, when he told me that one of his cousins had approached him some time back. He was confused about which stream to choose for his engineering. He was really interested in Electronics, but given that most of the jobs are in IT companies, was also weighing Computer Science. He consulted Mridul on the issue. Mridul told me that he asked him to take up Computer Science.
I was surprised. Given that Mridul knew that his cousin was very interested in Electronics, why did he ask him to pursue Computer Science? I asked him.
“But all the jobs available after engineering are in the IT companies. So, if he does Computer Science engineering, he stands a better chance at getting a good job”, he replied quite frankly.
I was surprised though. “But Mridul, have we come in this world to do a good job? or follow our joy or passion? What are we doing in this life? What does Gita say about it?”.
He fell silent for some time, possibly realising his mistake.
I continued, “What is the difference between you and others, if you also think the way others think? If you believe in Gita, you should have given him an advice from the perspective of Gita.”
“You know what would happen if I ask him to choose Electronic Engineering. Whom would he blame if he doesn’t get a good job after engineering? Won’t he blame Gita then and turn even more antagonistic towards the religion?”
“So, Mridul, you are telling me that if he follows Gita, he would land up in a worse place in life. How can you be so sure that Gita is wrong and you or the society is correct? What kind of faith is it?”. There was some exasperation in my words, more so because I could relate to this thinking with the everyday behavior of all religious people, including me.
We are all embodiments of partial faith.
Even though we have a lot of knowledge about our religions, when it comes to putting that knowledge into practice, our faith wavers quite dearly. Our faith seems to be limited to listening to discourses, kirtan, and going to places of worship. The faith goes missing when it comes to application of the religious principles in the real life. Not only do we not follow those principles but we think that those principles just don’t work in our day to day lives.
By sharing this conversation, I do not mean that one should not at all look at the job opportunities of a stream. The job opportunities and the money aspect are also important in life, but at the same time, passion and joy are not any less important. My idea of sharing this specific conversation of me and my friend is that there is a great need for the religious people to reflect and see where we actually stand in our lives.
Gurbani says that God is the embodiment of all virtues including joy, peace, bliss, compassion, kindness, love. If we are walking on the path of Gurbani, we need to reflect if we are becoming more joyful, peaceful, compassionate, kind, and loving. If these virtues are not showing up in our lives, we can be assured that we are not walking the path of Gurbani; that our faith in Gurbani is flimsy and unable to withstand the challenges of real life; that we are embodiments of partial faith.
The idea is not to drop the faith or leave the path altogether, but to become what we say. The idea is to manifest the faith in our day to day lives.
But we constantly fear: what if our faith turns out to be incorrect? What if the path of Gurbani doesn’t work out for us?
My answer is that even if the faith turns out to be wrong, we would learn something. Why live the entire life without even testing the faith and in a state of perpetual doubt? Why not, at least, try to live what we know?
If our faith turns out to be true, won’t our life be beautiful, peaceful, and joyful beyond measure?
Then, why not try it for an year, for a few months, for a month at least?