Fear not...

In Sankaracharya’s Vivekachudamani we can see how a disciple after doing everything and by burning in the fire of this world comes to a master with folded hands and says “Oh master, I have been bewildered by this realms of the world. Please take me to that peaceful state, to that calm state. I want to rest in peace. I want to liberate from this burnings. I want to liberate from the fire of this world.” The first thing that the master tells is “Don’t worry. Fear not”. The first word of the Vedas, Upanishads, of the scriptures is this “Fear not”. Whatever happens to us we should know ‘fear not, fear not whatever happens, just hold it till you realize the self confirmly”. Upnaishads means the knowledge by which we always stay near the self with full confirmation. When a person realizes the self with this confirmation he knows that this is the place where the self, the oneness, unity, bliss, joy, happiness of freedom, of knowledge, of truth, of infinity, of divinity, of eternity, this is the place. We are all moving towards that state. But the negative thoughts are coming and distracting us. So we have to know why these thoughts are coming and from where they are coming. When we know that where do we stand then only we see that from tomorrow, today, this moment itself it will not come. It comes because of our weakness. This comes because we are always used to think in this way. We have been told that we cannot do anything. Nothing will happen with us. Study, get a job, marry, have two or three kids, that’s it. You cannot do anything more. This is the common dialogue everybody of us has heard. And by hearing this dialogue we grew up. People like Swami Vivekananda, Shankaracharya, all the great people said “no. You have infinite capability within you. You have infinite strength within you. Believe in this. You are the sun of the bliss, you are the sun of the immortal. You don’t have any death. Fear not. Go beyond death”. Only by knowing that person, which person? In the Vedas it has been said that person, that man, that existence who is bright like the sun thousand suns. You know this. I have known that Purusha. I have known that person who is referred in the Vedas as a person who is brighter than thousand suns. By knowing this man itself I can go beyond the truth. While knowing self there are many things which will come on our way and we have to go beyond that. Just by surpassing it we will see that we go to that place. Swami Vivekananada in one of his poems called the ‘song of monks’ in every stanza he put one word ‘leave the rope which is binding you towards the world’. There is an undefined attachment with this world. We feel that if we leave this what will happen to me. No, nothing will happen. When these ropes of thoughts try to take you with them to some unseen dark forest tell them just leave those ropes and say leave it and say ‘Hari Om Tat Sat’, ‘You are truth’. These thoughts have no power. They gain power because you are attaching with them. There is a famous story of a saint and mouse. A mouse used to live in the ashram of a saint. The saint used to love it very much. One day the saint saw that the mouse is very frightened and moving here and there and the saint asked “what happened” . Mouse said “there is a cat came to eat me”. The saint by his power turned the mouse into bigger cat and that cat which came to eat it got frightened and ran away. Now this bigger cat is very happy as it’s no more a mouse it’s a cat and nobody will come to it and eat. After some days the saint saw that this cat is again frightened. He saw that there was a big dog standing on the door steps. Then the saint transformed the cat into a bigger dog. The dog which was standing ran away. One day this saint saw that this dog is again frightened. The saint saw that at the door step there is a lion standing. Then the saint turned that dog into bigger lion and the lion which came ran away. Now this bigger lion became the king of that forest. One day that lion was sitting near the saint and the saint told the lion to do something. Because now it’s a lion the king of the forest, it has ego and its ego got hurt and it came to eat the saint. When it came to eat the saint, the saint said “become mouse again”. This is how we treat our thoughts. From mouse we take them up to lion. It’s a very small thought which comes but we feed them and we grow them until it becomes lion. We can’t make again into a mouse and that is why this lion comes and eats us. Why does it come to eat us? Because we don’t know that we are the saint. We have given this power to this thought to become like this to think that it’s greater than me. The thought when it comes, it comes in a very subtle way and we feed it and make it stronger and stronger and at one time it becomes so strong we get covered by its weight and we tend to die. In India we say “Chintha chita samaan hai”. ‘Chintha’ means thought. ‘Chita’ means the oven where the dead bodies are burnt. These thoughts are like that oven which burns us. The thought always burns. What to do? Know that you are the saint. Only by knowing this then only you can make that into action. You can transform that lion into mouse. We have to know that we are that Brahman, we are not thoughts, we are not mind, we are not the ego, we are not the body, we are not this world. There is nobody in this world who can disturb me. Nobody can kill me because I am one without second. Even the body dies but the Atman cannot be killed. This birth and death is only but imagination. The self or the soul is birthless and deathless. Only the body takes birth and dies. Death is only a fear. The first thing that a master or Guru or the scriptures says is “Fear not”. In Gita Krishna explains the twenty four divine qualities of man. The first word is ‘Abhi, fear not’. So if you want to become divine you have to be always very fearless. Every time you have to face. One day Swami Vivekananda went to Vrindavan. There was one sacred lake and he took bath there. When he was bathing some monkeys has taken his clothes. After coming back out of the lake he asked monkeys to give his clothes and the monkeys become very furious. They attacked Swamiji. Swamiji when he saw that the monkeys were attacking him, he started running. When he started running the monkeys were also behind him. Suddenly he heard a voice “Don’t run. Face it”. He immediately stopped and turned around. When he turned around the monkeys got frightened. They left his clothes and ran away. This is the science by which we have to lead our life. Don’t run away, stop and face it. See what is this. You will see there is nothing. It is only you that is standing. There is nothing that can ever scare you, harm you. Only one that harms you is you, yourself. We see ghosts, evil spirits. If you are always Brahman, how can a evil spirit catch you? If you are always divine can catch you? It catches you if you are weak. Now everywhere there are germs of many, many diseases. Why are we not getting all those diseases? Because, our body has all that power to resist all those diseases. The moment this body looses that power to resist at that moment all kind of disease will catch us. The problem is not because the disease has caught you. It’s because you have become weak. You have given a chance to them to act. Don’t give chance. Always be like a warrior and fight. Swami Vivekananda said always keep the sword of discrimination with your pillow when you sleep, not only throughout your day. Even in the sleeping state no fear should come to you. You have to cut the roots of fear, illusions, all weaknesses. Always keep the discrimination with you that “I am that Brahman”. The scriptures which are eternal tell me this. The scriptures are also divine because they talk about that divinity. The scriptures are nothing but the practical words of the enlightened soul. I should not have fear of anything because I am the son of the immortal. The son of a lion doesn’t fear, it knows that it is a lion but the son of a deer will fear. It is trained to be fearful from the child hood. The first thing that his mother teaches is to how to run. The mother of a lion will teach how to hunt. Learn this how to make people run. Stand still in your place. Don’t run away my dear. Whatever thoughts come to you are thoughts of ignorance, these are not yours. This is Maya. You have to know that this is also within the system.