श्रद्धा
Shraddha
śraddhā
In simple words
Shraddha is often translated as faith, but it is closer to trust: a confident openness that lets you commit to something before you fully understand it. The Gita says a person is shaped by their faith.
What is it?
Shraddha is the trust that makes learning and practice possible. In Vedanta it is one of the qualifications of a seeker: trust in scripture and the teacher's words until understanding matures. The Gita classes faith by the three gunas and says one's faith reflects one's nature. Buddhist texts treat faith (saddha) as a starting faculty, to be confirmed by experience. Faith here is usually distinguished from blind belief.
Scholar’s note
Gita 17.2–3 analyses threefold faith; 4.39–40 contrasts the person of faith with the doubter. Tattva Bodha lists shraddha among the six virtues (shat-sampatti). Buddhist lists of five faculties begin with faith (saddha) and include wisdom, which balances it. The Nyaya tradition's inclusion of verbal testimony (shabda) as a pramana gives an epistemic frame to trust in reliable speakers.How its meaning differs
Trust in scripture and teacher is a qualification for inquiry; it is provisional confidence that ripens into direct knowledge.
Faith is the root of devotion: confidence in God's reality and care, which grows into love.
Faith is the first of the five faculties, to be balanced by wisdom and verified in practice.
Testimony of a reliable person is a valid means of knowledge, which gives a reasoned basis for trust.
In the Bhagavad Gita — as Sadhak Sanjivani explains it
Summary based on Sadhak Sanjivaniसाधक-संजीवनीपर आधारित सारSwamiji defines shraddha as reverent belief in God, the great souls, dharma and the scriptures, as firm as direct perception (4.39). Because a person may think his faith is greater than it is, Krishna gives its signs: control of the senses and wholehearted devotion to practice (4.39). One with faith gains knowledge and at once attains supreme peace (4.39). Everyone's natural faith is of three kinds — sattvic, rajasic and tamasic (17.2) — and it follows the nature of one's inner being; a person is made of faith, and as one's faith is, so one is (17.3). Faith is a bhava: the one leading towards God is a good bhava, the one leading towards the world is not (17.3). God is not an object of argument but of faith and trust (15.17).
स्वामीजी बताते हैं कि परमात्मा, महापुरुषों, धर्म और शास्त्रोंमें प्रत्यक्षकी तरह आदरपूर्वक विश्वास होना श्रद्धा है (४।३९)। मनुष्य भूलसे अपनेको अधिक श्रद्धावान् मान सकता है, इसलिये भगवान् उसकी पहचान बताते हैं — संयतेन्द्रिय और तत्पर होना (४।३९)। श्रद्धावान् ज्ञानको पाकर तत्काल परम शान्तिको प्राप्त होता है (४।३९)। मनुष्योंकी स्वभावजा श्रद्धा सात्त्विकी, राजसी और तामसी — तीन तरहकी होती है (१७।२), और अन्त:करणके अनुरूप होती है; मनुष्य श्रद्धामय है, जैसी जिसकी श्रद्धा, वैसा उसका स्वरूप (१७।३)। श्रद्धा भाव है — जो परमात्माकी ओर ले जाय वह सद्भाव, जो संसारकी ओर ले जाय वह असद्भाव (१७।३)। परमात्मा विचारके नहीं, श्रद्धा-विश्वासके विषय हैं (१५।१७)।
परमात्मामें, महापुरुषोंमें, धर्ममें और शास्त्रोंमें प्रत्यक्षकी तरह आदरपूर्वक विश्वास होना ‘श्रद्धा’ कहलाती है।Where it appears in the Gita
श्रद्धावाँल्लभते ज्ञानं तत्पर: संयतेन्द्रिय:।
(जो) जितेन्द्रिय (तथा) साधन-परायण है, (ऐसा) श्रद्धावान् मनुष्य ज्ञानको प्राप्त होता है (और) ज्ञानको प्राप्त होकर (वह) तत्काल परम शान्तिको प्राप्त हो जाता है।
4.40अज्ञश्चाश्रद्दधानश्च संशयात्मा विनश्यति।
विवेकहीन और श्रद्धारहित संशयात्मा मनुष्यका पतन हो जाता है। (ऐसे) संशयात्मा मनुष्यके लिये न तो यह लोक (हितकारक) है न परलोक (हितकारक) है और न सुख (ही) है।
15.17उत्तम:
उत्तम पुरुष तो अन्य (विलक्षण) ही है, जो ‘परमात्मा’— इस नामसे कहा गया है। (वही) अविनाशी ईश्वर तीनों लोकोंमें प्रविष्ट होकर(सबका) भरण-पोषण करता है।
17.2त्रिविधा भवति श्रद्धा देहिनां सा स्वभावजा।
मनुष्योंकी वह स्वभावसे उत्पन्न हुई श्रद्धा सात्त्विकी तथा राजसी और तामसी —ऐसे तीन तरहकी ही होती है, उसको (तुम मुझसे) सुनो।
17.3A person is made of faith: as the faith, so the person
जो जैसी श्रद्धावाला, वही उसका स्वरूप
सत्त्वानुरूपा सर्वस्य श्रद्धा भवति भारत।
Everyone’s faith matches their inner nature; a person is made of faith, and whatever one’s faith is, that is what one is.
सबकी श्रद्धा अन्त:करणके अनुरूप होती है; मनुष्य श्रद्धामय है—जो जैसी श्रद्धावाला है, वही उसका स्वरूप है।
Where else it appears
Follow this idea
Trace the idea from one source to the next.
- 1Gita verseBhagavad Gita 4.39The one with faith gains knowledge and peace.
- 2Gita verseBhagavad Gita 4.40The fate of the doubter.
- 3Gita verseBhagavad Gita 17.3A person is made of their faith.
- 4Textतत्त्वबोधTattva BodhaFaith among the six virtues of a seeker.
- 5Conceptप्रमाणPramana — means of valid knowledgeCompare: testimony as a means of knowledge.
Explore related concepts
Continue exploring
Related concepts
Related texts
Different perspectives