The Difference Between Belief and Faith - Satsang by Gautum Baiji

Gautum Baiji shared a story of Hanumanji and his great faith and devotion to Rama (God).

When Hanumanji was given a gift of a beautiful pearl necklace, he started breaking it apart. When someone asked why he was doing that to the precious necklace, he said he was trying to find Rama in the pieces. If Rama wasn’t there, why did he need the necklace?

People laughed at him and told him because he lived in the jungle, he didn’t know the value of the necklace.

Hanumanji was trying to show them that actually, Rama is everywhere; he is omnipresent. Rama is in my heart, in your heart, everywhere. At this point in the story, Hanuman opens his chest and shows that Rama is indeed inside his heart.

How can we get that kind of strength to have that kind of faith? That kind of bhakti and devotion? Hanumanji had no ego – how do you get that?

We all believe in God. But believing and faith are different. We believe there is oil underground, but is that enough to run our cars? No – we have to dig, look for it, pull it out, and then we can drive our cars.

So believing and faith are different. With Believing, we are not sure. With Faith, we are sure, 100%. We know. Hanumanji had that kind of faith.

To get that faith, that fruit from the tree (the kind you cannot buy in any stores), you have to put a seed in the ground. You nurture it by watering it, feeding it, cultivating it. This is the first thing to know.*

The second thing: If a stranger comes to your home, do you ever say, “Oh please stay at my house for free, we have so many rooms for you." We don’t do this because we don’t know anything about them. How can we have faith that they will be okay to stay in our home? You get to know them, you talk with them, you become friends, and then you have the faith to say, “You can stay in my home.” 

We would never invite a thief into our house, right? “I have so much gold jewelry, a diamond necklace – what time do you want to come, Thief?”

Yet why do we let negative thoughts come into our minds, to stay there and live? Why are we giving these negative thoughts a chance to steal our happiness? Steal our joy, our bliss? When we do this, we get depressed, tense, and worse.

What we want to bring into our life is up to us.

That’s why satsang is very necessary because it's a positive force for us. Listen to it as much as you can.

Rama asked one of the Rishi: show me the place where I can live so people will have joy and not have problems.

Rishi answered: Rama, you are everywhere. But still, if you are asking me, just live in those hearts of people whose ears are like oceans. Live in the hearts of those who love satsang, who listens to your glory. We can get all our questions answered only by satsang.