Thoughts regarding faith……

When we raise our unmixed faith to the lotus feet of Krsna, everything is revealed. Krsna also says in Bhagavad-gitä (7.1):

mayy äsakta-manäh pärtha
yogam yunjan mad-äsrayah
asamsayam samagram mam

yathä jnäsyasi tac chrnu

“Now hear, O son of Prthä [Arjuna], how by practicing yoga in full consciousness of Me, with mind attached to Me, you can know Me in full, free from doubt.” Simply by raising one’s staunch faith in Krsna and His instructions, one can understand reality without a doubt (asamsayam samagram mäm). One can understand how Krsna’s material and spiritual energies are working and how He is present everywhere although everything is not Him.

However, our situation is something like this...
.....Unfortunately, however, people sometimes do not have staunch faith in the words of the spiritual master who comes by the disciplic succession, and therefore they are unable to understand transcendental knowledge. (SB 7.7.17 purport)

yasya deve parä bhaktir yathä deve tathä gurau
tasyaite kathitä hy arthäh prakäsante mahätmanah

“To one who has staunch faith in the words of the spiritual master and the words of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the secret of success in Vedic knowledge is revealed.” [SU 6.23]

This verse is quoted by Srila Prabhupada in so many places. We can find this verse scattered throughout the purports of Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. It just goes to show how weighty this sloka is. Srila Prabhupada will not repeat a sloka so frequently unless its very important.

By various practices, one may come to the point of controlling the senses, but simply controlling the senses does not bring one to a substantial conclusion. However, by staunch faith in the spiritual master and the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one not only controls the senses but also realizes the Supreme Lord.…(SB 7.15.28 purport)

The result of implicit faith….
Such a pure devotee, who has implicit faith in the lotus feet of the Lord, can create sacred places in any part of the world where he decides to remain. Tirthi-kurvanti tirthäni (SB 1.13.10).

This is confirmed in the Upanisads: the import of Vedic instruction is revealed automatically only to one who has implicit faith in the Supreme Personality of Godhead and in his spiritual master. One may be materially considered an illiterate man, but if he has faith in the spiritual master as well as in the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then the meaning of scriptural revelation is immediately manifested before him.

I think its good for aspiring devotees to do a reality check about one's own faith levels. It helps.......