Shraddha - Faith Pending One's Own Investigation
- Daniel McKenzie
- Sep 12
- 2 min read
Updated: Sep 25
The Sanskrit word shraddha (śraddhā) is often translated as “faith,” but in Vedanta it carries a more precise meaning. Derived from śrat (truth, heart) and dhā (to place, to hold), shraddha literally means “to place the heart upon.” It is the trusting confidence that the shastra (scripture) and the teacher are valid means of knowledge for revealing the Self.
Unlike blind belief, shraddha is faith pending one’s own investigation. It does not mean suppressing doubt or abandoning reason, but holding trust provisionally until the teaching is examined and validated. Just as one follows a doctor’s prescription before the cure is confirmed, the student of Vedanta gives shastra and guru the benefit of the doubt until knowledge becomes clear.
Shankara emphasizes that without shraddha, Self-knowledge does not take root. The mind that refuses trust constantly second-guesses or reinterprets the teaching, and thus the pramana (means of knowledge) cannot function. With shraddha, the mirror of shastra, unfolded by the guru, can reveal what is already true: “I am fullness itself.”
Shraddha is also one of the sixfold disciplines (shatka-sampatti) within the fourfold qualifications (sadhana-chatushtaya). Together with shama, dama, uparati, titiksha, and samadhana, it refines the mind and makes it a fit instrument for Self-knowledge.
Thus, shraddha is not the end of inquiry but its foundation. It begins as provisional faith and culminates in certainty, dissolving into direct knowledge when the Self is recognized.
Root & Meaning
Śrat = truth, heart
Dhā = to place, to hold
Śraddhā = to place the heart upon; intelligent trust, faith pending one’s own investigation.
Scriptural References
Bhagavad Gita (4.39): “The one endowed with shraddha attains knowledge.”
Bhagavad Gita (17.3): “A person is made of shraddha; whatever his shraddha, that he is.”
Tattva Bodha: defines shraddha as trust in the words of the guru and shastra.
Traditional View
Shraddha is a prerequisite for liberation.
It is the openness that allows the shastra to work as a pramana.
Not blind belief, but intelligent trust until the truth is validated by one’s own understanding.
Vedantic Analysis
Shraddha suspends habitual doubt (samshaya), allowing the teaching to be assimilated.
It does not cancel inquiry but enables it to function.
Once knowledge is clear, shraddha has served its purpose; it resolves into direct vision of truth.
Common Misunderstandings
That shraddha is blind faith: In Vedanta it is intelligent trust, not credulity.
That shraddha means suppressing doubt: It means holding doubt in suspension until clarified.
That shraddha is optional: Without it, śāstra cannot operate as a pramāṇa.
That one can interpret shastra without shraddha in guru and teaching: The tradition insists shraddha includes trust in the teacher’s unfolding, not self-interpretation alone.
Vedantic Resolution
Shraddha is provisional faith, “pending one’s own investigation.” It is the openness that allows the shastra to reveal the Self. By placing the heart in the teaching until it proves itself, the seeker ripens into knowledge and freedom.
