Why is it that some people who had a strong faith in God. Start to lose their faith and no matter how much they pray and meditate they in the end loses their faith. What is the reason for this?
—Feo, World
Dear Feo,
Thank you for asking this important question.
As long as we are in ego consciousness, we are subject to delusion (maya). Our goal is to rise above the duality of creation and perceive our unity with God. What opposes us is not only the cosmic delusion (maya), but our individual delusion, called Avidya (ignorance). We can dissolve it totally only through attaining oneness with God.
A person can pray and meditate, but their inner attitude while praying and meditating will determine whether they strengthen their connection and faith with God or not. If they are only praying and meditating with the intention that God will give them what they want, and fulfill their desires, then they don’t develop true connection with God, but become more self-centered and selfish.
Only by surrender and acceptance of God’s will for us, we can develop strong faith, trusting that God knows what is best for us. You can’t know the true reason of why people meditate. This is between the individual and God. What you can do is develop the right attitude yourself.
There are many different reasons why people lose faith in God.
For example:
When a loved one dies, it brings deep grief that can cause anger, and one has a hard time forgiving God for taking away the person one loved. Other reasons can be, loss of our material possessions, in which we sometimes try to find our security in this world. When our karma hits with great tests, when natural disasters occur (fire, floods, earthquakes), some people lose faith.
The most important preventive measure is to love God, practice daily meditation, with right attitudes of sincerity, humility, self-offering, and devotion. The daily practice of meditation will gradually dissolve the veils that separate us from God, until we attain final liberation.
Work on developing right attitudes to help you develop strong unshakable faith in God.
Here is an article by Paramhansa Yogananda that conveys the qualities that we can develop, to attain the final union with God: Godly Qualities: A Roadmap to Inner Freedom.
Blessings,
Nayaswami Diksha
