Why Fear?
Whenever we approach Bhagavan Baba with some anxiety or fear, doubt or worry, He assures us “Why fear when I am here?” This affirmation of His help and guidance, available for us when we rely on Him, reminds us of what He told Arjuna in the Gita, “Maa sucha” “Do not grieve.” It is appropriate that in His present incarnation, He tells us, “Maa Bheeh”, “Do not fear.”
The world today is quaking in the gloom of fear. In earlier ages, man was afraid of his immediate neighbors, but today, the world has become one intimate neighborhood and when hate manifests itself anywhere, it can soon unleash war which may envelop vast areas of the world and may even wipe humanity off the face of the earth.
The dictionary defines fear as a painful emotion aroused by a sense of impending danger, alarm, dread, or anxiety; reverence toward God; to regard with dread or apprehension, to anticipate (eg. a disaster), to hold in awe, to be afraid, or to be anxious.
We experience fear in every moment of our lives: the morning newspaper tells us of strikes, riots, floods, droughts, political and economic crises, hijackings, murders, diseases and disasters. Invisible sources of fear lurk at every corner of our lives; the family, the community, and all nations are beset by some fear or another. Young men are afraid of elders, and elders are afraid of youth and its vagaries.
Conscience has made cowards of us all for everyone is compromising the dictates of the inner voice. They slide down a slippery path stating to themselves, “This is not a world for good people; only bad people thrive here.” “You can’t afford to be good, if you wish to survive.” “We must live and then only can we think of living a good life” etc. But, the conscience that has been insulted and bypassed starts hurting us and reminding us of the inevitable punishment. This leads to fear. Hundreds of daily slips leave unhealed scars on our conscience. President Nixon had no sleep because of the Watergate secrets that he kept within himself.
To such a world, Bhagavan declares, “Why fear when I am here?” He gives us a sense of security and proves His words by concrete manifestations of His timely counsel and intervention. He is with us all the time, as guide and guardian, provided we accept Him and install Him as such. He knows our innermost thoughts and He responds as soon as we cleanse ourselves of our ego.
An ex‑judge told me that when he went to Whitefield, he felt that Baba ignored him and showered blessings on people on either side of him. He felt this was an insult, because he was proud of his status as a judge of the high court. But, he soon told himself. “How can you expect God to come to you, if you have such egoistic feelings?” The moment he chided himself thus, Baba turned around and walked toward him with a smile. Baba says, “It is you who come near or go far away from Me.”
Once the faith that Baba is with us starts growing, we become certain that He is watching our thoughts, words, and deeds. As a result, we fear His admonitions. We give up doing things that we might have indulged in otherwise. Thus the dictionary also defines fear as `reverence toward God.’
In the daily duel between ourselves and the inner voice—that is God or Baba or our conscience—the voice now has a better chance to win. We listen to His words; they ring in our ears. When we read His discourses, they make a better impression on our minds. Gradually we start taking stock of ourselves and realize that the only permanent cure for our problems is to cultivate detachment from both good fortune and bad. We discover that joy is just the interval between grief and grief.
“Why fear when I am here?” says Baba. Does He mean Prasanthi Nilayam [abode of peace, Swami’s ashram] when He says `here’? Yes and no. He helps us whether He is in Prasanthi Nilayam, or when we make our hearts a Prasanthi Nilayam. His telephone has its receiver all over the world. That telephone brought me a truck from nowhere when I was in dire distress in the interior of a thick jungle in Madhya Pradesh and helped me to reach a doctor in time to relieve my illness. There are thousands of such instances that make us believe that He is ready to save us and give us succor when we call on Him. Baba says, “My Prasanthi Nilayam is your heart.” When Prasanthi is established in the heart, His voice can be clearly heard in the silence and the calm.
It is said, “Cowards die many times before their death.” This is the repeated death of which the sages warned us; liberation or release from this chain of death and birth is abhaya, fearlessness. Once we decide to accept and welcome both good and bad as signs of grace—and Baba gives us the courage so to do—then we can secure abhaya, or liberation. The bhavasagara [ocean of illusion] is really the ocean of fear. As such, Baba has raised His clarion call: “Manasa bhajare gurucharanam, dustara bhava sagara taranam” [worship the lotus feet of the Lord who takes us across the ocean of life and death.]
Let us start tuning our lives to His message, His lotus feet, and the gurucharanam will lead us to fearlessness, abhayam.
~M. V. N. Murty
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, Jan 1977
