Confidence

First of all, we have to have confidence in ourselves and then in God. If you say, "I do not have confidence in myself; I have confidence only in God," this is an indirect way of placing your responsibility at the feet of God. Then if you say, "I have confidence in myself but not in God", that kind of confidence is an erroneous conception of your own very limited capacity. In the spiritual life, when you say that you have confidence in yourself, it means that you are really and truly the channel of God. This is the confidence that is required, that you feel that God exists and that you are His child, His chosen child. Unless I have the confidence that I am God’s child, I will never make an attempt to bring to the fore my inner divine qualities. So when I make myself feel that I am God’s child and when that confidence looms large in me, only then is it possible to go one step forward. My self-confidence is absolutely necessary, but it does not give me the fullest realisation of Truth. But I know that with my own confidence, one day I will be able to achieve the highest, the deepest. From whom? From God. And here I must have confidence in God, not only that He has the highest and deepest Truth, but that He will give it to me. That much confidence I must have in Him: first, confidence in my knowledge that I am God’s child and that I have the power to aspire; second, confidence in God, that not only has He the Highest that I am aspiring for, but that He will give me what I need. So when I become the possessor of both these confidences, aspiration and God’s Realisation go together. Confidence is absolutely necessary in the inner life. In the ordinary human life, if one lacks confidence, someone else can help him, but in the spiritual life, if one does not have confidence, no matter how great his spiritual master may be, the disciple cannot go far. So confidence is of paramount importance in the disciple’s life.