44 - Conquering Doubt with Shraddha and Jnanam | Swami Tattwamayananda

-4th chapter: verses 40, 41, 42<br />-The lecture was given by Swami Tattwamayananda on July 3, 2020.<br />-Shraddha refers to a sense of sanctity and sacredness, sincerity, integrity and honesty. When all these attitudes are combined, it is referred to as shraddha (श्रद्धा).<br />-Patanjali refers to the following obstacles in the 30th verse of Yoga Sutras. Doubt is one of them. “Disease, mental laziness, doubt, lack of interest, sloth, clinging to sense pleasures, false perception, lack of concentration, and unsteadiness in concentration – these distractions are the obstacles to knowledge.”<br />-Doubt can be of two types. (1) Creative doubt, which is coupled with shraddha (श्रद्धा), and demonstrates a true thirst for knowledge. Buddha, Swami Vivekananda and Shankaracharya had creative doubts. (2) Negative doubt – seekers who ask questions without any shraddha (श्रद्धा). Their mind is closed, they don’t derive any benefits from answers to their questions, and they keep asking the same questions again and again.<br />-40th verse gives a stern warning referring to those who do not know how to practice constructive doubt: “An ignorant person, who has no shraddha(श्रद्धा), who is always doubtful and skeptical – he is spiritually doomed and headed towards his own destruction.” <br />-Negative doubts can be due to past samskaras. It can have the most crippling effect on one’s personality, as it causes one’s attention and energy to be dissipated.<br />-Doubts(संशय) are natural for a sincere spiritual seeker. Doubts and conflicts don’t exist for people in two categories: (1) Those who are absolutely foolish and live in enjoyment of their ignorance (2) Those who are highly evolved and live in an unshakeable state of inner bliss.<br />-After some spiritual practice, doubts arise for sincere spiritual seekers. Those who are struggling against the natural flow of the senses will feel these conflicts because they are going against the current. They should remind themselves of the risks of being doubtful and turn their mi