Chaitanya Charan:<\/p>\n
Is doubt a question, or is it the way to an answer?
\nOr is it a dead end, along which one shouldn’t venture?
\nIs doubt the sign of a weakening faith?
\nOr is it a higher understanding’s opening gate?
\nTo slay doubt with knowledge’s sword, I resolve,
\nFor study of scripture will all doubts dissolve.
\nBut alas! Study brings more questions than answers.
\nFearing my doubts may be true, my heart shudders.
\n“In what you call infallible, so much is obviously wrong,”
\nDeclare scholars with degrees, many and long.
\nSeeing their intellectual prowess, I cannot but wonder,
\n“How can they err in what they so rigorously ponder?”
\nI despair, I falter, I contemplate, I pray,
\n“Show me, show me, O Lord, show me the way.”
\nIn inspiration’s flash, You reveal the missing link:
\n“By study alone, in the heart, scripture doesn’t sink.”
\nFor the word of scripture is a call to action;
\nA call to service, to prayer, to meditation.<\/p>\n
The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
\nThe proof of scripture comes by meditating.
\nAs I meditate and utter fervently Your holy name,
\nMy doubts, their disguises exposed, flee in shame.
\nWhenever my belief, I doubt,
\nAm I not believing my doubt?
\nIs this not illusion’s sinister game
\nTo make my desire for You lame?
\nThere is no getting away from belief.
\nIn right belief, not doubt, lies true relief.<\/p>\n
As I pray before You with folded palms,
\nBegging for unerring belief as my only alms,
\nYour loving presence warms my heart with grace.
\nOf the dense fog of doubt, there remains barely a trace.
\nThrilled, I realize: Devotion is the science that gives experience.
\nWithout awakening devotion, one can find no evidence.
\nFor “objectivity,” scholars keep bhakti afar and deem it their
\nqualification.
\nThey end up with loaded heads, empty hearts; that’s their
\ndisqualification.
\nAs I seek devotion by serving devotees with humility,
\nThe answer comes, disarming my doubts with its simplicity.
\nFigures and numbers are not scripture’s ultimate gift.
\nOur lonely heavy hearts, they alone cannot lift.
\nAs the ages change, so do our world and our perception.
\nWhat was obvious then may not be so now to our vision.
\nNeither are scriptures wrong, nor are scholars right.
\nBlind to scripture’s purpose, they argue and fight.<\/p>\n
tarko apratishtha srutayo vibhinna
\nnasav rsir yasya matam na bhinnam
\ndharmasya tattvam nihitam guhayam
\nmahajano yena gatah sa panthah<\/p>\n
Debate and argument, even if based on scripture, has no end
\nFurnishing quotes, every scholar does his own opinion defend.
\nThe truths of scripture are hidden in devoted hearts
\nAnd can be fathomed only by following their paths<\/p>\n
But beyond all doubt and change is one enduring truth.
\nGod loves you and me; this insight is scripture’s ever-ripe fruit.
\nThrough scripture comes Thy impassioned love-call.
\nIllumined by its clarity, I see all my ambiguity fall:
\n“Come, come, My child, to My abode, free from anxiety
\nWhy do you languish in this world of misery?”
\nSeeing the mundane scholars bungle and wrangle,
\nI pray Your love-call pierce their doubts’ tangle.
\nI smile gratefully, seeing my doubt’s destruction
\nAnd resume my march to You with resolute conviction. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chaitanya Charan: Is doubt a question, or is it the way to an answer? Or is it a dead end, along which one shouldn’t venture? Is doubt the sign of a weakening faith? Or is it a higher understanding’s opening gate? To slay doubt with knowledge’s sword, I resolve, For study of scripture will all doubts dissolve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7254\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}