1 Gita Sloka Every Day - Chapter 17 - Shraddhatraya Vibhaga Yoga - Sloka 3

The entire content of this mail is from Shri V N Gopala Desikan's  Srimad Bhagavad Gita, published by Vishishtadvaita Research Centre, Chennai and The Bhagavad Gita by Swami Chidbhavananda published by Ramakrishna Mission

Confidence Graded  1-7

1 Gita Sloka  Every Day - Chapter 17 - Shraddhatraya Vibhaga Yoga - Sloka 3

Sattva anurupa shraddha bhavati bharata I

Shraddha mayah ayam purushah yah yad shraddhah sah eva sah II sloka 3

सत्त्व अनुरूप श्रद्धा भवति भारत I 

श्रद्धा मयः अयं पुरुषः यः यद् श्रद्दः सः एव सः ईई श्लोक 3

The shraddha of every man, O Bharata is in accordance with his natural disposition. Man is of the nature of his shraddha; what his shraddha is, that he verily is.

Free will comes increasingly into play as beings evolve in existence. The higher the being, the more its free will is in evidence. At the human level it comes into bold relief. The destiny of man is shaped by theuse to which this faculty is put. We call it shraddha when the free will is all directed to self emulation. This endeavour in particular is the prerogative of man. The attitude assumed by the mind characterises its shraddha. It is awake to the reality of things and alert to play its part efficiently. In the discharge of duty, it is given to zeal and not sloth and ease. The man of shraddha has confidence in himself, faith in the ideal he has chosen and reverence for the person who guides him. The means that he adopts is always pure and praiseworthy. He is ever calm and composed while translating his ideal into practise.

The youth Nachiketasof the Kathopanishad fame is a model for shraddha. The visvajit yagna performed by his father Gautama was found by him to be defective and devoid of the required earnestness. The faithful son therefore offered himself to be given away as a giftto somebody, hoping that this act would be atleast a partial atonement for the parsimonious way of the father. But the unwilling father became annoyed and blurted out that he would hand the lad over to Yama, the God of death. The dutiful son wedded to truth felt that no word of his father should ever pass off as empty utterance devoid of intent. He not only made the parent's pronouncement meaningful but also gained in karma and jnana by his duty bound departure to the domains of Yama. The all inclusive of his shraddha is evniced by his choice of the three boons bestowed on him by the lord of death. For the first boon, he sought the pacification of his father, as a lovign and dutiful son. For the 2nd boon, he sought the ways and means  of earning all earthly prosperity and enjoyment. As the third boon he obtained supreme knowledge from Yama. The selection of boons indicates the lad's exemplary character and awareness to the ideals in life.

A stone soars up in the sky to the extent momentum is imparted to it. A tree grows up in tune with its inherent vitality. A lotus shoots up along with the rise in level of the water in the pond. Similarly man rises in his worth and attainments corresponding to the shraddha with which he is endowed. He is nothing more and nothing less than what his shraddha is. 

The shraddha in a man manifests itself in various channels. One among them is in the adoration of the almighty. Its worth is as follows in the next sloka.