A True Measure of Faith

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When an individual takes up the
spiritual path, he normally

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starts by desiring peace,
knowledge, power or some kind of

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solace or comfort.
But what if he is actually faced

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with an unending series of
obstacles, challenges, threats

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and various forms of physical,
vital or mental suffering?

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In such a case, does he maintain
his complete faith in the divine

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or does he begin to doubt the
Divine, the truth, the path, the

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teaching or his own abilities to
follow it?

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Tibet's great Yogi Milarepa
suffered from doubts as he was

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given hard back breaking work
that seemed meaningless, while

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his guru gave the teachings to a
number of others without that

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demand.
He reached a breaking point but

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persevered, maintained his faith
even if by a thread, and

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eventually obtained the
teachings and the realization

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that comes from practising them.
Complete faith implies complete

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acceptance.
If we demand peace or serenity

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or some other form of solace
from the Divine, we are

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bargaining, and our faith is
conditional, not absolute.

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If we are here not for personal
experiences of peace or bliss,

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but to participate in the great
transition to the next stage of

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conscious evolution, we have to
expect that the path is 1 of

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confronting the obstacles,
difficulties, nots, vital

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resistances, mental opposition,
and physical weaknesses along

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the way.
This is not then a path of

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retreat, but a path filled with
difficulties that must be faced

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and resolved for that next
evolutionary principle to

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manifest.
In such a case, the existence of

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these challenges is not only
part of the path, but

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essentially the path itself.
The faith lies then, in

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accepting that this is the way,
and that the Divine has given

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each individual who accepts this
program within himself the exact

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challenges and issues he is both
meant to confront and eventually

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to resolve and overcome for the
general development of

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consciousness.
A disciple asks, Can't trust be

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total and entire?
The Mother responds quote.

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Not necessarily.
Well, there is a shade of

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difference, however, I don't
know.

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It is not the same thing.
One has given oneself totally to

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the divine work.
One has faith in it, not only in

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its possibility, but faith that
it is the thing which is true

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and which must be.
And one gives oneself entirely

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to it without asking what will
happen.

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And so therein or thereon may be
grafted a certitude, a

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confidence that one is capable
of accomplishing it, that is, of

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participating in it and doing it
because one has given oneself to

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it.
A confidence that what 1 is

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going to do, what one wants to
do, one will be able to do.

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That this realization one wants
to attain, one will attain.

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The first does not put any
questions, does not think of the

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results.
It gives itself entirely.

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It gives itself and then that's
all it is, something that

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absorbs 1 completely.
The other may be grafted upon

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it.
Confidence says yes, I shall

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participate, realize what I want
to realize.

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I shall surely take part in this
work for the other.

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One has faith in the Divine,
that it is the Divine who is all

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and can do all and does all, and
who is the only real existence.

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And one gives oneself entirely
to this faith, to the Divine.

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That's all.
One has faith in the existence

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of the Divine and gives oneself.
And there can also be grafted

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upon this a trust that this
relation one has with the

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Divine.
This faith one has in the Divine

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will work in such a way that all
that happens to him, whatever it

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may be, all that happens to him,
will not only be an expression

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of the divine will that of
course is understood, but also

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the best that could happen, that
nothing better could have

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happened to him, since it is the
Divine who is doing it for him.

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This attitude is not necessarily
a part of faith, for faith does

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not question anything.
It does not ask what the

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consequence of itself giving
will be.

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It gives itself, and that's all.
While confidence can come and

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say that's what the result will
be.

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And this is an absolute fact,
That is, the moment one gives

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oneself entirely to the divine
without calculating, in a total

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faith, without bargaining of any
kind, one gives oneself, and

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then come what may, that does
not concern me.

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I just give myself
automatically.

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It will always be for you in all
circumstances, at every moment,

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the best that will happen.
Not the way you conceive of it

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naturally.
Thought knows nothing.

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But in reality, well, there's a
part of the being which can

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become aware of this and have
this confidence.

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This is something added on to
faith which gives it more

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strength.
A strength.

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How shall I put it of total
acceptance and the best

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utilization of what happens.
End Quote reference.

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Shrioro Bindu and the mother
looking from within.

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Chapter 5.
Attitudes on the Path, pages 134

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to 135.