I think that faith is something I'm striving towards cultivating, as any inner practice cultivating faith is also a journey. As I progress on this path I realize that faith and fear can not coexist. As I learn to work through my fears and I feel that the faith strengthens. During our last trip to India, my girls noticed that there were a lot of temples and asked my why? I didn't have an answer right away but as I started to shift my focus to see what role faith played in people's lives, I saw that behind the apparent chaos almost everyone's life had a clock like order. Everyone from the maid of the house to the lady of the house had some kind of ritual of worship. During one of our road trips from Ahmedabad to Baroda, the girls decided to count how many temples we would see on the way. And we ended up counting around 235. Most of the drive was on a highway, so there would be a lot unpopulated areas(unlikely for India). Even then anytime there were a few huts or small homes there would be at least one or two temples around. So wondered, did the people go to the temple to express their gratitude for what they were given?or did they ask for all their troubles to be taken away? And I realized that it didn't matter because what mattered was that they BELIEVED that there was something bigger than themselves. Maybe it is the Faith that sustains India in spite of all the corruption, chaos, population and pollution.
As for my own practice I realize that cultivating faith is like waking up to a bright sunny day, everyday. My Aastha (faith) and Anjali (offering to the Devine), are my constant reminders of how I should live my life.
Good one
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