There is a story of a priest who was travelling through certain remote islands on a ship. As they disembarked to explore the islands they found savages dwelling there. But surprisingly, they were saying the prayers of the Lord, “Our Father who art in heaven, Thy kingdom come . . .” However, they were saying it wrong, the sentences were all topsy-turvy.
The priest asked the savages, “Who has taught you these prayers? They are all wrong.” The savages replied, “About ten years ago, another priest like you had come to our island and taught us this prayer. Then he left. Of course we are illiterate people, we may have forgotten the right words and sentences, but we pray whatever we remember.” This priest told them, “Don’t worry, I will teach you the correct method.” Painstakingly, word by word, he taught them the prayer of the Lord. When the savages had learned it and were able to repeat the whole prayer correctly, the priest thought his work was done, so he got on his ship and left.
When the ship was out on the ocean, about four to five hours away from the island, somebody called out from the crow’s-nest, “Unknown objects approaching the ship.” Everybody came out to the decks to look at the objects. When they came nearer the ship, they were recognized as the savages from the island. They were running on water. Everybody was utterly surprised. How could the savages have the power which only Jesus had – to walk on water? When the savages reached the ship, they said to the priest, “Please Father, help us again. After you left, we forgot the right method of saying the prayer. So we have come to request you to teach it to us again.” The father looked at them and said, “Whatever you are doing is right. The right method which I taught you did not work, but whatever you are doing is the right method because it has given you innocence of the heart and connected you with the Lord.” That is shraddha, faith.
Faith is generally translated as having belief in something, having a certain conviction which may not seem logical. It is believing that things can happen, things can change and things can be attained. It is this subtle, internal, unmanifest feeling that becomes the basis for spiritual growth, because when faith becomes logical and known, then the concept of miracles is separated from it. A miracle means something that is a natural manifestation of Prakriti and Purusha. For people who have never seen TV, it is miraculous.
Faith is a feeling of deep inner security and satisfaction which is necessary in order to boldly take another step. Faith becomes the motivating force which keeps the energy and spirits high. In times of difficulty and need, it is only faith that brings one out of that circumstantial condition; the certainty that something will happen to make things all right. When things do become all right for a person who is emotional and devotional by nature, it may appear as an act of God or one’s ishta devata. For an intellectual it may seem as if a miracle has happened. It can take on different meanings for different people. Yoga considers faith to be the motivating force which propels one to the realization of one’s true nature. Faith in Sanskrit is shraddha, and one of its meanings is to be in the vicinity of truth. From this angle, faith becomes the motivating factor for and the basis of evolution and growth – mentally, externally, internally and in every sense.