Bhagavad Gita 4.40

ajñaś cāśraddadhānaś ca

saṁśayātmā vinaśyati

nāyaṁ loko ’sti na paro

na sukhaṁ saṁśayātmanaḥ

 

“The ignorant and those who doubt,

Are lost within, consumed without.

Neither this world nor the next they gain,

For a doubting soul finds only pain.”

 

My dear Lord, doubt is natural in life because so often I just can’t make sense of why things are going wrong. Nonetheless, help me, O Lord, to ensure that my intelligence functions bi-directionally—not just in seeing the rationale for doubting but also in seeing the rationale for persisting in spite of doubt. 

If doubt is like the brakes in my car of life, then faith is like the accelerator.  The materialistic culture around me naturally strengthens the brakes of doubt. Help me, my Lord, to strengthen the accelerator of faith through knowledge, reflection and association

Help me, my Lord, gain the knowledge to see how your benevolence is sustaining my existence at every moment through the provision of heat, light, air, water and food. Let that knowledge be the basis of my enlightened faith. 

Help me develop the reflectiveness to recognize your invisible hand, which has guided me through many difficulties in the past. Let this realization empower me to choose faith instead of faithlessness amid difficulties.

Help me, my Lord, to stay in the association of those who have strong faith in you. So that they can protect me whenever doubts start haunting me during my life’s journey—even after I have chosen to act with faith.

When I thus choose faith, I know that you, my Lord, will soon light into my life, even if the present seems terrifyingly dark.

***

04.40 But ignorant and faithless persons who doubt the revealed scriptures do not attain God consciousness; they fall down. For the doubting soul there is happiness neither in this world nor in the next.