June 28, 2026
aśraddadhānāḥ puruṣā dharmasyā ’sya paraṁtapa
aprāpya māṁ nivartante mṛtyusaṁsāravartmani (IX-3)
IX/3. Those who have no faith in this dharma (knowledge
of the self), O Arjuna, return to the path of this world of
death without attaining me.
Swamiji's Commentary
The word ‘śraddhā’ cannot be easily translated. Merely translating it into ‘faith’ does not make it clear. However, the rest of the verse gives an indication of its meaning. If that something called ‘śraddhā’ is not there, you do not reach the truth or self-realization. If you do not reach self-realization, you experience birth and death again and again. You are trapped in this world in which you constantly experience happiness and unhappiness, success and failure, pleasure and pain. When this ‘śraddhā’ arises, then the constant succession of changes – beginnings and endings – is like water on a duck’s back and the ultimate truth becomes ‘realizable by direct intuitional knowledge’.
‘Śraddhā’ – we shall call it faith – is important. If a man has no faith in a teaching he fails to adopt it in his life. Hence, though this dharma (knowledge of the self) is a kingly science and though God and all saints are ever ready, willing and eager to bring more and more souls on to this path, the path becomes a ‘kingly secret’.
Lack of faith makes us doubt the value of practice, so we wallow in delusion! If we have the necessary faith, however, we take up the practice and realize that self-knowledge which is superior to all else.