how to restore faith???

[Kaur Ji]

SSA everyone,

I have recently gone through a long and rough period through my life for reasons I do not wish to share. All I know is that I have lost faith in Waheguru and would like to restore it. I have never been very religious, I just do my Japji and Rehraas paaht everyday, or try to. I've been through so much that I'm not what to do except for this. I know Waheguru Ji will protect me through all these terrible times but I have lost touch with that hopeful side of me. Please any suggestions as to how to help me restore what I once had would be great.

~Kaur Ji

P.S. its deep i know and a bit personal to help out with, but it would be great if any of you could relate through being like this at one point.

P.S.S. I apologize for not knowing where to put this post...sorry

[Guest]

SSA everyone,

I have recently gone through a long and rough period through my life for reasons I do not wish to share. All I know is that I have lost faith in Waheguru and would like to restore it. I have never been very religious, I just do my Japji and Rehraas paaht everyday, or try to. I've been through so much that I'm not what to do except for this. I know Waheguru Ji will protect me through all these terrible times but I have lost touch with that hopeful side of me. Please any suggestions as to how to help me restore what I once had would be great.

~Kaur Ji

P.S. its deep i know and a bit personal to help out with, but it would be great if any of you could relate through being like this at one point.

P.S.S. I apologize for not knowing where to put this post...sorry

First of all Kaur Ji,

I am sorry to hear that you have lost faith in Vahiguroo. Faith itself is one of the crucial pillar in route towards Vahiguroo.

Speaking of faith, I would like to say faith in Vahiguroo should be like in our childhood phase where each one of us had a such strong faith towards our parents because back in that phase- we had innocence, our mind was clean from shadows of doubts and anxiety.

Faith wouldnt be faith if faith is not 100 percent. What should be done to bring that faith elevate fully?

We as humans can only do ardas for his grace and for his faith. Even having faith or being interested in spirituality is not in one of our hands. He himself bring someone closer and he himself make the route to spirituality distant.

After ardas- try to spend your time with holy people who love spending time talking about God (his creation, his will, his play) and spent time with people who is willing to share their expereinces and other holy people expereinces to be one with God. Because having expereince (good or bad) decides how much faith you have in him.

-Try to do naam simran as much people. Think yourself not separated from him ultimately. But think of yourself as desparate drop of water who has aim to merge back with it's source (ocean- Vahiguroo Anand Da Sagar) to be always happy.

Last but not least..always remember this saying:

~ Deh Nahi Tu (You are not body), Tu Sat Hai (you are the supreme truth), Tu Chit Hai ( you are the super consciousness), Tu Anand Saroop Hai (you are the supreme bliss manifestation of Vahiguroo/God) ~...

Soul consist of - supreme truth, supreme consciousness and supreme bliss..!

[DSM]

Hope this helps you , ( I read your thread and was very sadened to hear you have been through such unhappiness , I don't classify my self knowing everything about sikhism ( more the opposite ) or even put myself in your shoes , I just thought I share the little knowledge which may or may not insert Wahegurus Faith backi in you)

you can try :-

1.listening to Kirtan alot

2. Go to gurudwara everyday , or more often , and when there share your feelings with Waheguru

3. listening to katha , and understanding it ( I found Bhai Ranjeet Singh Dhadrian wale katha , very effictive) its simple to understand

4. Reading sikh scriptures inspirational sakis , the history of the gurus etc.

5. listen to Radio if your in the UK evry vaskahi and on siri guru nanak dev jis birthday , council of sikh gurudwaras open a radio station for 1 month ( 24x7 ) constantly about sikhism ( Some discussion topics they have are very inspirational and educating ) OR even on SKY 880 , 926, 900 channels

5. When you have low self esteem or not , when you are walking/ sitting , recite waheguru in your mind .

[khalsa_singh]

Dear Kaur ji,

Sorry to hear what you are going through but I hope you will hang in there. I once found myself in a situation somewhat similar to yours and out of frustration sort of reacted in the way you are now i.e. losing faith.

Though being a kesa dhari sikh, praying daily and trying to live my life as a good person, I was not versed deeply in sikhi as you mention yourself (this is what I believe has led to your unfortunate loss of faith). So when I hit rough patch in my life, i just could not understand it. Why me? What had I done wrong to deserve this? I just could not get it. I was angry. And I had lost faith for I while.....

But in hindsight, what I was more than anything was confused. I was very fortunate to have the right people around me to help me get through this period but most of all I had the kirpa of my guru to shine light on my ignorance. If not for guru's kirpa, who knows where I would be today.

What I realized was that we as sikhs, as taught from the time of Guru Nanak ji, must accept the will of god unquestioned. For there is happiness in the acceptance of His Will. You mentioned that you do Japji, then you must know that Guru Nanak ji said therein repeatedly,

jo tudh bhaavai saa-ee bhalee kaar.

Whatever pleases You is the only good done,

too sadaa salaamat nirankaar.

You, Eternal and Formless One! ||16||

Just remember what Guru Arjan Dev ji went through when the Mughals were persecuting him. Imagine the life the guru ji lived; worshipping god, teaching others the path to god, doing seva and simran, and there is just no end to the list. Then there comes this unthinkable period in his life. If the guru had been like some us (read me) he could have started blaming god or doubting god and even embracing Isam. He could have gotten of the hook easily and not just that but have gotten untold wealth and property as well. While the Mughals were pleading their case, god certainly didn't present himself before Guru Arjan and put forth his case. But Guru Arjan had bounties of something else.... that something was faith. Everbody is familiar with what toture Guru Arjan Dev ji had to bear. But the guru had only one thing to say:

thaeraa keeaa meethaa laagai ||

Your actions seem so sweet to me.

har naam padhaarathh naanak maangai ll

Nanak begs for the treasure of the Naam, the Name of the Lord.

Have faith in the will of Waheguru

[Jungee]

Phat Akali tu Bas Kaar...go eat ur Prontha...

kaur listen...from what i can see u aint lost faith...if ur willing to seek help to the questions u have.. that in it self is faith.

dont be looking out for answers....look within urself.... have faith in urself. listen....

dont wanna sound like a self help guru..I'v been where u have...probably will be there again in the future.... life is like a sine wave...we all have our ups and down.....

U just got to find something that will uplift u.... be it raag, be it chocalate, or even playstation..what ever puts a smile on ur face and makes u feel boosted to be who u are..is cool.

I personally find bhangra, women, cartoons, and sangat which excepts me for me...uplifting...

ok...I'll leave it there, the religious crew can take it from here.......just chill and let the world be ur oyster...... watch a def jam comedy stand up or somethin...or listen to some Nihang Jaikare to reallly boost u...u'll be gaurenteed to have darshan of guru ji then.

p.s

phat akali..ur actually refering to the theory of religion and the developement of society there and not faith when u made the above comments....if we didnt have faith in anything...u wouldnt have that cooker to cook the paronta, the electricity/gas to heat it, and the equipment to produce the flour.....and so on and so on..pass ur A levels go to uni...and then We'll see how ur faith shoots up in regards to ur mum cooking, guruji, and freedom :twisted:

[artistformalyknownasodhi]

I would like to apologise for my last post i was angry about some thing which i should be taking out on a intelegent discussion, forgive me.

[Pheena]

" HE AND ONLY HE IS THE TRUE LORD. HE IS TRUTH -- SATNAM.

HE IS AND ALWAYS WILL BE. THOUGH ALL VANISH HIS REALITY WILL NEVER LEAVE.

HE CREATED MAYA -- THINGS OF VARIOUS COLORS AND EMOTIONS AND DISPOSITIONS.

HE CREATES ALL THINGS AND WATCHING OVER THEM, HE ALSO GIVES THEM GREATNESS.

What a wonderful thing Nanak has said. He says God makes the creation, and having made it, He looks at it, just as a painter paints a picture, then steps back a little to view his work. He observes it closely, he steps to the right and looks, steps to the left and looks again. Then he views it from a distance, then he takes it up to the window to scrutinize it in the light and in shadow. He examines it in a thousand ways, as does a sculptor.

HE CREATES ALL THINGS AND WATCHING OVER THEM, HE ALSO GIVES THEM GREATNESS.

Thus He gives prominence and importance to His creation. So God is not against samsara or else why should He create it?

Nor is he maya's enemy, or why should He bother with it? So the difficulty encountered by logic had no ground with the devotee. Nanak says not only does He create but He admires His creation and looks at it exultantly, thus giving it honor and importance. Remember, God has created you and having created you he has examined you from all sides, and He is still looking at you constantly as a part of His own handiwork, giving you dignity and importance; and on its own all sin will fade away from your life. If you remember this you will move about as a creation of His. You will speak and hear, fully conscious of the fact that you are His creation. In all your dealings you will be conscious of the fact that you are His and He is looking after you all the time. He watches over you constantly. He provides you with comfort and care. He looks at you lovingly, again and again. He never tires of looking at you. He is pleased with you for it is He who has made you. He is neither disappointed nor disheartened by your ways or else He could destroy you so easily. No matter how bad and sinful you become, His flame of hope for you never burns out. No matter how far you wander away from Him, no matter how completely you forget Him and turn your back on Him, His loving gaze is still fixed on you. For He knows that if not today, tomorrow you are sure to return. Sooner or later the prodigal must return, his coming back is certain, for the further you go away from Him the more unhappy you will become, like a little child who has run away from home.

A little child, barely four years old, ran away from home. He took a small bundle of clothes and set out. A policeman found him going back and forth along the side of the road a number of times. He approached him, thinking he needed help, and asked, "Where do you want to go? Where have you come from?"

The child said, "I have run away from home but Mother always said not to cross the road, but to stay on this side.

Now I don't know what to do, since I can't cross over."

How far can a small child stray? Even if he does, Mommy has always set a limit and how can he disobey her?

How far will you wander from God? Even if you are angry with Him for some reason, you will keep shuttling between home and the road crossing. How far can you go and where will you go? Wherever you roam it is within His boundaries. Wherever you are will be within Him. Your anger is the anger of a little child; it is nothing but a part of love. He is never displeased by your displeasure.

Nanak says: He gives you importance and glorified you. What He has created He surveys, and He likes what He surveys. "

[sexy_singh]

im in the same boat actually.. and to be honest, no amount of quoting "he watches over you" will help one bit! thats not gonna do it ppl. use your heads, come up with something original, rise to the occasion. are you men of god so much devoid of creativity? does not your great faith in the supreme creator inspire you above the ordinary?

anyway, kaur ji, while the last thing i wanna do is dwell on 'faith problems', if you need to talk, feel free to drop me a message.

[Pheena]

im in the same boat actually.. and to be honest, no amount of quoting "he watches over you" will help one bit! thats not gonna do it ppl. use your heads, come up with something original, rise to the occasion. are you men of god so much devoid of creativity? does not your great faith in the supreme creator inspire you above the ordinary?

Why not? If it won't help you then get off of your lazy ass and do something about your insecurity, your lack of trust and faith instead of sulking in the state. Then do not eeking the solution in words, seek it in experience. If you so lack faith then seek the one who has found him, spend some energy in seeking, spend some energy in praying in TOTALITY with 100% surrender, don't hold back. If it hurts you so much that you have lost something, then SEEK IT. If you have become insensative to such inspiration of words, then you need someone to whip you out of your slumber. This whipping must be sparked by YOU and your THRIST to seek what you have lost. Do not depend on other to bring you out of this slumber, instead it is we, it is you who must dig yourself out. :evil:

hows that? :twisted:

[sexy_singh]

sorry, that didnt work either..

it sounds like trying to convince a teenager that santa clause exists because he 'watches over you' etc etc

[Pheena]

sorry, that didnt work either..

it sounds like trying to convince a teenager that santa clause exists because he 'watches over you' etc etc

it sounds like santa exists only if you get presents and If you don't get what you desire he doesn't exist.

[Guest]

it sounds like santa exists only if you get presents and If you don't get what you desire he doesn't exist.

good post pheena

[sexy_singh]

the answer is simple and remarkable - seek out the company of believers in a social setting (eg a football club, gurdwara, church or other - deleting the others as desired), do as they do and make an effort to interact fully in their customs, observing their rituals and establishing a social bond with the community. By now you are half way there - the next part is more difficult and in some ways easier.

Actively seek out things that delight you - for example you might discover the writings of a great author, or the music of a superb artist, it can be anything really. Now all of this is good fun, but you really need to address any outstanding problems that stand in your way. Think carefully and widely about it, then with courage, push yourself to follow through in your resolution. If you are a sikh, then this will solve your problem about faith because if you believe sikh teachings - then all that happiness is due to the Creator - and so you should have faith because he has made you happy - rewarded you for your faith and so on.

It will also demonstrate that faith is found and sometimes lost, too easily, and regardless of what people might say, it isnt something mysterious or shall we say, spiritual - instead it is directly related to our immediate experiences, and its explanation or lack of, lies within our social interactions. The sikh gurus knew this fact fully well, and it is for that reason that they stressed the importance of social involvement.

neo, pheena if your arguments cannot even convince a child than santa clause exists - then what good will it do to explain to a thinking adult that an invisible being is watching her, and so she should have faith that he does - isnt this very circular anyway. I suspect there is nothing in sikh scriptures that can convince a skeptical person about god. Which is pretty amusing to me, because if you cant even do that - then what value can you ascribe to religious faith, which is just blind faith. Its strange that the sikh gurus placed so much emphasis on God - when it seems quite clear to me that theirs was a philosophy of extremely practical interest. For example by stressing the benefits of an egalitarian society they gave us a refreshing social model to follow. Perhaps they adopted the idea of god only to put all good and decent men of whatever background on the same level by postulating that theirs was a common god. Or maybe they genuinely believed in god - but they do not stop to explain this to their sikhs, it is automatically taken for granted that by deciding to be a sikh you believe - which is reasonable from their perspective of making a religon, but for someone neutral, it doesnt stand to reason.

[Pheena]

now that is an impressive argument, i'll have to come back to it as im quite busy with work and i'll be out this weekend. We will continue this discussion next week.

but i'll just add few things. You open the Guru Granth Sahib and you begin to read, WHY? Curiosity? Interest? Questions? The first words declare his Existance and it is enough for those who only needed a Spark to ignite the Flame. For those who did not even see the spark will read further and the sparks will continue to build. Personal opinion, i don't think you are asked to belive in God, rather you are asked to seek him. Questions are asked, fingers are pointed at our desires, our attachments, our False egos and if even then you do not question your existance then what more can words do for you. Your sincerity in Seeking goes much further than one may wish to consider. It is your Sincerity alone that will open you to the direct experiences of his existance. Seek with Sincerity and you are bound to find him. Buddha spent 6 years in search for the source. 6 hard, long years. Every Saint was once a common man trapped in ego, attachments. His journey alone is a sign that he is attainable, only if we are Sincere and Truthful in our search.

Experiences as you put it are directly related to believing or not believing in God. If you so want to know God, then SEEK him thru the infinite means he can be found. Words cannot give you experiences. Hence the Guru says to seek the one who has found him, seek the one who is lit, and from him/her you are bound to get that light seek the True Congression. Where one drop cannot make his way to the ocean but if that one drop joins with a thousand other drops and make river they are bound to find the ocean. Hence the importance and the necessity of a Guru, a Master, a Saint, an Enlightened being, Sangat. The one who has found him Seek that ONE. What you are asking is that you want me to use Words to tell you he exits. I will tell you right now that that is impossible. He cannot be proven by words, only by direct experiences. Thru words we can have forknowledge of his existance, but even then a skeptic will always be a skeptic. Until he/she has a direct experience of God. Now how does one attain this expeirence, some may experience this thru Nature, or thru a Guru. I repeat again Words cannot give you a direct experience that will prove to you that there is someone, something out there that never dies, never ending omnipresent divinity. They can point you in the direction of how to experience, but they themselves are not the experience. The majority of the seeker are pacing in this gap, They read about God and they think they have found him. Hardly , reading about Paris does not mean you have gone to paris. You have attain the knowledge of paris, its weather, its cultures, its origin, its history, geogprahy, but without being there you have no idea what paris is like. HE IS BEYOND Words and Thoughts. The Guru Granth Sahib is compiled in Words, in languages trying again and again to capture the divinity in it. If you read thru the japji sahib Guru Nanak himself said he is beyond words. Guru Nanak dev ji even said the Vedas have tried and failed to capture him. But a path is paved for you if you so choose to walk it.

We see other having Trust and Surrender in God, but we cannot conclude or assume that their faith is Blind Faith. This is a Journey we have been traveling for birth to birth gathering experiences, knowledge. A child not even 10 yet, goes to the Gurudwara wants to read the Guru Granth Sahib, pays full attention to the Shabads hearing them enjoying them. Is that blind faith or is it so that he past experiences have led him to this point to continue his journey from the point he left it in his past birth? We do not know what experiences he has had in his past.

Faith comes and goes as you said, but TRUST is the product of faith. Faith must be transformed into Trust. Trust is far more secure and stable than Faith, even tho both run parallel and even become synanamous to each other, Faith can only be secured with 100% Trust and Surrender. But to someone who is in doubt that this Santa Clause exists faith is hard to come by, to the one who lacks this Trust instead places his or her faith into direct experiences as you put it will lose his faith or gain it. Because one day he will get what he wants or desired from Santa then another day he will not. So when his desires are not met he looses faith because you begin to demand something from the creator and when he did not provide you with what you desired, this faith that you had is lost again. So you had no Trust in his doing that perhaps it is good for me that i did not get it. Perhaps he knows best. Your Trust only lasted until you got what you wanted. First error is made here. To Desire something and place all of your faith on the line.

Now the question is how can i Trust or Surrender to Something/Someone who i have not yet seen or met. Now that is a question worth asking.

Perhaps this quote will better suite your needs, :

Ramana Maharshi, one of the greatest saints and sages of modern India, master teacher of self-inquiry, once said:

"No one doubts that he exists, though he may doubt the existence of God. If you find out the truth about yourself and discover your own source, that is all that is required."

Know Thyself! Bulliah Key jana Mai Kohun.........

[harsharan000]

On 9/2/2005 at 4:56 AM, Kaur Ji said:

SSA everyone,

I have recently gone through a long and rough period through my life for reasons I do not wish to share. All I know is that I have lost faith in Waheguru and would like to restore it. I have never been very religious, I just do my Japji and Rehraas paaht everyday, or try to. I've been through so much that I'm not what to do except for this. I know Waheguru Ji will protect me through all these terrible times but I have lost touch with that hopeful side of me. Please any suggestions as to how to help me restore what I once had would be great.

~Kaur Ji

P.S. its deep i know and a bit personal to help out with, but it would be great if any of you could relate through being like this at one point.

P.S.S. I apologize for not knowing where to put this post...sorry

Though the topic of this thread is posted quite some years back, nevertheless I find it interesting, for it can happen to anybody and anytime.

Just my 2 cents.

Usually this faithless state takes place, when things do not happen according to our thinking or wishes, so it deeply goes inside and attacks the person, and when one becomes fully aware of it, it is a bit late.

To reverse this state of being faithless, it will take quite a bit of time.

It is not as easy as switiching on or off the lights.

So it is better to go slowly, than to slip down before even standing up again.

First of all join  sadh-sangat, go to Gurdwaras, do sewa, listen His mahima in kathas-kirtan, have an attitude of a beggar at His door in order to be graced with faith again, do any type of sewa at Gurdwaras, lastly do Waheguru´s chintan/simran of His Naam, this is the base of getting restored our faith and have deep faith at His Lotus feet. 

Then, do not have expectations, let things flow as they ought to happen.  For getting disheartened, is the worst enemy of faith.

Though however difficult it maybe, we should always have  a shukraana  attitude for Him, and try to mentalize ourselves and say : Tera bhaana meethaa laagay.

Stay blessed.

SSA.

 

[Soulfinder]

@harsharan000 veer ji you are 100% correct. It can happen anytime and to anyone.

 

Although some may agree some may not the best thing to do is to make a list of all the mahapurshs sant katha audios that are online especially Sants from Rara Sahib,Nanaksar, Rampurkhera, Harkowale, Damdami Taksali Bhindrawale etc.

 

The more you listen to these tracks the more it will help as i suffer migraine headaces so i usually try to listen the mentioned mahapurshs to feel uplifted especially when i have a low mood due to health problems etc.

[Soulfinder]