Shraddha - Faith Pending One's Own Investigation
- Daniel McKenzie
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
The Sanskrit word śraddhā is often translated as “faith,” but in Vedānta it carries a more precise meaning. Derived from śrat (truth, heart) and dhā (to place, to hold), śraddhā literally means “to place the heart upon.” It is the trusting confidence that the śāstra and the teacher are valid means of knowledge for revealing the Self.
Unlike blind belief, śraddhā 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 śāstra (scripture) and guru the benefit of the doubt until knowledge becomes clear.
Shankara emphasizes that without śraddhā, Self-knowledge does not take root. The mind that refuses trust constantly second-guesses or reinterprets the teaching, and thus the pramāṇa (means of knowledge) cannot function. With śraddhā, the mirror of śāstra, unfolded by the guru, can reveal what is already true: “I am fullness itself.”
Śraddhā is also one of the sixfold disciplines (ṣaṭka-sampatti) within the fourfold qualifications (sādhana-catuṣṭaya). Together with śama, dama, uparati, titikṣā, and samādhāna, it refines the mind and makes it a fit instrument for Self-knowledge.
Thus, śraddhā 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 Gītā (4.39): “The one endowed with śraddhā attains knowledge.”
Bhagavad Gītā (17.3): “A person is made of śraddhā; whatever his śraddhā, that he is.”
Tattva Bodha: defines śraddhā as trust in the words of the guru and śāstra.
Traditional View
Śraddhā is a prerequisite for liberation.
It is the openness that allows the śāstra to work as a pramāṇa.
Not blind belief, but intelligent trust until the truth is validated by one’s own understanding.
Vedantic Analysis
Śraddhā suspends habitual doubt (saṃśaya), allowing the teaching to be assimilated.
It does not cancel inquiry but enables it to function.
Once knowledge is clear, śraddhā has served its purpose; it resolves into direct vision of truth.
Common Misunderstandings
That śraddhā is blind faith: In Vedanta it is intelligent trust, not credulity.
That śraddhā means suppressing doubt: It means holding doubt in suspension until clarified.
That śraddhā is optional: Without it, śāstra cannot operate as a pramāṇa.
That one can interpret śāstra without śraddhā in guru and teaching: The tradition insists śraddhā includes trust in the teacher’s unfolding, not self-interpretation alone.
Vedantic Resolution
Śraddhā is provisional faith, “pending one’s own investigation.” It is the openness that allows the śāstra to reveal the Self. By placing the heart in the teaching until it proves itself, the seeker ripens into knowledge and freedom.
