If we look around our own lives with honesty and try to list out the various emotions that we experience, we know that fear is one emotion that probably tops the list of our emotions. Only we should be honest enough to acknowledge the same. Fear is defined as "an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat."
What are the common fears most of us experience? Please stop here for a moment and list out your own fears and then come back to see the list below:
Let us try to tackle the cause of some of these fears and see why it is that for a spiritually evolved person, there is no fear at all. Let us take the common fear at our stage in life, that related to job. Every day we are afraid whether our boss/clients will like the job we are doing or not, whether we will get a bonus or a promotion at the end of the year or not? All of us need to have an objective when we work. There is absolutely nothing wrong in working towards a goal. The difference between us and a spiritually evolved person is in the way we do our work. A spiritually evolved person does every job with an attitude that it ought to be done without getting bound by the fruits of that work. He will not constantly be plagued by thoughts whether a particular task he is doing will please the boss or not. He will just focus on doing the right thing because it ought to be done. It is like someone wanting to drive from New York to Boston. Once the goal is set, the driver should focus on the road and the driving rather than think of the pleasure of meeting his beloved in Boston! If the focus is on the fruit after reaching Boston, he may miss a road bump or an oncoming intersection and meet with an accident. In exactly the same way, a spiritual person by exclusive focus on doing the task right will do a better job of getting his fruits rather than most of us who are afraid whether we will get the fruit or not and in many cases do not even begin to act. The other issue with the way we do a task is out attitude of selfishness. Given a task, most of us question what will we get out of it. However a spiritual person looks at the overall good of a task whether he is benefited or not. Due to his ability to do a task which benefits all, he is more likely to succeed in a corporate environment than most of us who work selfishly for ourselves. It is this attitude of doing a job because it ought to be done unselfishly without expectation of fruits that allows a spiritual person to do anything fearlessly and not worry about any job situation. This is the principle of Karma Yoga or the act of doing a task as an offering to the Supreme.
Next, let us consider the fear of death. Let us take a situation. Assume a busy marketplace and people going about their daily activities. Suddenly, an out of control bus comes and rams into people crushing them. Fear is palpable on their faces as they watch the bus come towards them. I am sure thinking of the situation, most of us will be terrified. Now, what if I say it was a dream. most of us will heave a sigh of relief. But the fear in those characters in the dream was real. How will they get out of fear in that situation? Only when they know it is a dream and they are all imaginary characters in my dream and I am happily sleeping in my bed. For anyone in the dream with this awareness there is no fear of death because they know the whole world in which they are is not real. In exactly, the same way, a spiritually evolved person knows that the only reality is the Supreme or Brahman or God(equivalent to the dreamer) and this entire world is nothing but an illusion(similar to the dream). just as the dream character who knew it was all a dream had no fear of death, the spiritually evolved person has absolutely no fear of death because he knows this is all an illusion. This principle through which a spiritually evolved person knows that the only reality is the Supreme and anything else is just an illusion evolves from the principle of Jnana Yoga or the knowledge of the Supreme.
One common fear for most of us is the fear of losing what we have. This goes back to the root and that is that we had a deep desire to own something and once we got it, we are afraid of losing it or damaging it. I had a deep desire to buy a BMW and finally I achieved it. Now my fear is how do I protect it from being stolen or damaged? If there is a scratch on the BMW, it is as though there is a scar on my heart. What if the BMW was not mine and I had rented it? Would I have the same fear of it being damaged? So, once I do not identify with an object of desire, there is no fear of it being lost or damaged. A spiritually evolved person takes everything in life just like an actor in a movie. Just because an actor in a movie has the lovely Miss Universe as his wife, it does not mean that in real life, she is his. Though he may be acting as though afraid of losing her in the movie, in real life he would not care. In exactly the same way, an evolved person sees every situation in life as a role he has to play. This ability to divorce himself from the objects of everyday life prevents any fear of losing the objects he desires. Again where is the source of this strength? The same as above with a slight addition. He is aware that this world is an illusion and every situation he is facing has been caused by a seed he has sown in his past births. This awareness of the universal principle of Supreme as also the knowledge of the Doctrine of Karma enables him to be absolutely free of any fear of any situation including fear of losing a loved possession.
Let us imagine an ocean. Waves of every size are crashing on to the shore. There are large waves and small waves. Imagine how foolish it is if a small wave is afraid that it will be clobbered by a large wave? It will have that fear as long as it thinks of itself as a wave. But the instant it realizes it is the ocean itself, then there is no fear. An ocean cannot be afraid of itself. In exactly the same way, an enlightened person knows he is Supreme or Truth and there is no second entity. When there is no other entity but myself as the Supreme, where is the source of fear? Absolutely none !!
As readers may be aware, 3 of my books on spirituality are available on Amazon.com.
I invite readers of my blog to try any of the books and give me feedback so that I can make changes in the next edition.
1. My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality
My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality
2. Attain Infinite Bliss
Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide
3. The Spirit Of Spirituality
The Spirit Of Spirituality
What are the common fears most of us experience? Please stop here for a moment and list out your own fears and then come back to see the list below:
- Fear of safety
- Fear of death
- Fear related to job
- Fear related to loss of valuables
- Fear of failing in an exam
- Fear of being alone
- Fear of the unknown
Let us try to tackle the cause of some of these fears and see why it is that for a spiritually evolved person, there is no fear at all. Let us take the common fear at our stage in life, that related to job. Every day we are afraid whether our boss/clients will like the job we are doing or not, whether we will get a bonus or a promotion at the end of the year or not? All of us need to have an objective when we work. There is absolutely nothing wrong in working towards a goal. The difference between us and a spiritually evolved person is in the way we do our work. A spiritually evolved person does every job with an attitude that it ought to be done without getting bound by the fruits of that work. He will not constantly be plagued by thoughts whether a particular task he is doing will please the boss or not. He will just focus on doing the right thing because it ought to be done. It is like someone wanting to drive from New York to Boston. Once the goal is set, the driver should focus on the road and the driving rather than think of the pleasure of meeting his beloved in Boston! If the focus is on the fruit after reaching Boston, he may miss a road bump or an oncoming intersection and meet with an accident. In exactly the same way, a spiritual person by exclusive focus on doing the task right will do a better job of getting his fruits rather than most of us who are afraid whether we will get the fruit or not and in many cases do not even begin to act. The other issue with the way we do a task is out attitude of selfishness. Given a task, most of us question what will we get out of it. However a spiritual person looks at the overall good of a task whether he is benefited or not. Due to his ability to do a task which benefits all, he is more likely to succeed in a corporate environment than most of us who work selfishly for ourselves. It is this attitude of doing a job because it ought to be done unselfishly without expectation of fruits that allows a spiritual person to do anything fearlessly and not worry about any job situation. This is the principle of Karma Yoga or the act of doing a task as an offering to the Supreme.
Next, let us consider the fear of death. Let us take a situation. Assume a busy marketplace and people going about their daily activities. Suddenly, an out of control bus comes and rams into people crushing them. Fear is palpable on their faces as they watch the bus come towards them. I am sure thinking of the situation, most of us will be terrified. Now, what if I say it was a dream. most of us will heave a sigh of relief. But the fear in those characters in the dream was real. How will they get out of fear in that situation? Only when they know it is a dream and they are all imaginary characters in my dream and I am happily sleeping in my bed. For anyone in the dream with this awareness there is no fear of death because they know the whole world in which they are is not real. In exactly, the same way, a spiritually evolved person knows that the only reality is the Supreme or Brahman or God(equivalent to the dreamer) and this entire world is nothing but an illusion(similar to the dream). just as the dream character who knew it was all a dream had no fear of death, the spiritually evolved person has absolutely no fear of death because he knows this is all an illusion. This principle through which a spiritually evolved person knows that the only reality is the Supreme and anything else is just an illusion evolves from the principle of Jnana Yoga or the knowledge of the Supreme.
One common fear for most of us is the fear of losing what we have. This goes back to the root and that is that we had a deep desire to own something and once we got it, we are afraid of losing it or damaging it. I had a deep desire to buy a BMW and finally I achieved it. Now my fear is how do I protect it from being stolen or damaged? If there is a scratch on the BMW, it is as though there is a scar on my heart. What if the BMW was not mine and I had rented it? Would I have the same fear of it being damaged? So, once I do not identify with an object of desire, there is no fear of it being lost or damaged. A spiritually evolved person takes everything in life just like an actor in a movie. Just because an actor in a movie has the lovely Miss Universe as his wife, it does not mean that in real life, she is his. Though he may be acting as though afraid of losing her in the movie, in real life he would not care. In exactly the same way, an evolved person sees every situation in life as a role he has to play. This ability to divorce himself from the objects of everyday life prevents any fear of losing the objects he desires. Again where is the source of this strength? The same as above with a slight addition. He is aware that this world is an illusion and every situation he is facing has been caused by a seed he has sown in his past births. This awareness of the universal principle of Supreme as also the knowledge of the Doctrine of Karma enables him to be absolutely free of any fear of any situation including fear of losing a loved possession.
Let us imagine an ocean. Waves of every size are crashing on to the shore. There are large waves and small waves. Imagine how foolish it is if a small wave is afraid that it will be clobbered by a large wave? It will have that fear as long as it thinks of itself as a wave. But the instant it realizes it is the ocean itself, then there is no fear. An ocean cannot be afraid of itself. In exactly the same way, an enlightened person knows he is Supreme or Truth and there is no second entity. When there is no other entity but myself as the Supreme, where is the source of fear? Absolutely none !!
As readers may be aware, 3 of my books on spirituality are available on Amazon.com.
I invite readers of my blog to try any of the books and give me feedback so that I can make changes in the next edition.
1. My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality
My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality
2. Attain Infinite Bliss
Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide
3. The Spirit Of Spirituality
The Spirit Of Spirituality
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