Sraddha is faith. The purest of faith is the child's faith in the mother. The child is innocent. Its psychic being is on the surface. In our minds, many temperaments and opinions find play. They warp our faith. We can never have a child's simple faith unless the psychic emerges in the mind. In the third standard there was a chess tournament. There was a boy who was a wizard. He was considered the best player in the school. This year a girl was playing against him in the finals. Her father had taught her chess and she used some CD for practicing the game. She learned a lot. But the boy was so good that no one was a match for him. At the tournament, the girl hesitated a while, was lost in thought and then started to play. She won the tournament!
When she reached home, she told her father about winning the match. He asked her to explain how she had done it. He was happy that her practice on the computer had born fruit. He was all admiration for the chess CD. He never expected the child to win. She also said she never expected to win. He asked her what she had actually done to win the game. She had no specific answer. "Have you used the knowledge from the CD?" he asked. She said she had not. "Have you used what I taught you?" he asked. She again said no. "In fact, what did you do?" he asked. "I prayed to Mother" was her answer. In any situation, Mother gives us the required skill or capacity against any expert. We do not believe in the Mother in that sense.
When faith fails, we are dejected. If it continues to fail, sometimes our faith cracks. When faith fails to produce results, those who have faith in the faith know "It is not the end. There is no result I look for because another greater result awaits." The faith that Faith can never fail is kalyana sraddha, a working faith. Faith is no faculty of a part whose efficiency varies. It is the faculty of the SOUL which is a whole. The question of the soul failing does not arise. If results do not come, it means they could not arise out of the method we have employed. Great results do not arise through known methods. As a rule, striking results elude the methods we employ. Such results often avoid any method.