Narayanasramam

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Shraddha by Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha

 

Attention (Shraddha) is the sole quality and virtue in spiritual seeking. It is

sheerly due to lack of sufficient attention that the seeker fails to get at the

Self present in the body, animating and

activating the mind, intelligence and ego. The same attention you employ in any

field of knowledge has to be focused in the spiritual search also to reveal the

presence and glory of the Self. Seekers cannot afford to be inattentive or

careless in anything that they do. Unkempt hair, unclean dress or unhygienic

ways of living and the like do not the least become harmonious with spiritual

wisdom or grace. Earlier this truth is understood, the better.

 

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Shraddha Krishna says, is something inseparable from one's nature or inner

constitution. In fact, every one is what his attention will be. It is in and

through attention and application that an individual grows,

expresses himself and brings about any and all outcomes in his life. Whatever

level and degree of attention one has, that indeed will be his actual worth,

skill and ability, and consequently the quality of effort and resultant

attainment.

 

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Spiritual seekers and Knowers will generally be dispassionate and indifferent to

the world and worldly life. It is an inevitable part of their inspiration and

evaluation. But can these qualities in any way imply or advocate inattention on

the seeker's part towards anything whatever?

 

Shraddha is the first and last word in any field of knowledge, both in gaining

and expressing it. It should be even more so in the context of spiritual wisdom.

If attentiveness is there, it will express itself in all the fields of one's

life.