Fear

Why are you afraid of someone? Because you feel that that person is different from yourself. You do not claim him as your very own and he does not claim you. He is not yours and you are not his. But fear is not the right reaction. Through your inner light, through your prayer, through your meditation, you have to try to grow love and oneness inside you. Again, that does not mean that you will go and embrace all and sundry on the street. It does not mean that you have to go and mix with the whole world. Not at all. If you don’t like a person or a thing, just offer your goodwill from a distance. You do not have to like everyone and everything. But you will have nothing to say against them and you will not hate them. You will offer your goodwill, but you will not try to become intimate with those persons or things.

Right now you are afraid of a snake. But if you can conquer your fear, still you will keep your distance. If you go and stand in front of a snake, the snake will play its role and bite you. You may say, “Inside the snake there is God,” but inside you there should be some wisdom. God in the form of a snake is not to be approached. When there is a tiger in front of you, you are afraid that the tiger will devour you. In the inner world you should try to conquer your fear. But, at the same time, if you act like a fool and say, “God is everywhere, so let me go and embrace the tiger!” then you will be devoured. Some human beings also have a very ferocious consciousness. When you think of those human beings, you don’t have to have fear; but at the same time you are under no obligation to embrace them.

There are many, many people on earth. They may be your friends, they may be your neighbours, they may be your relatives or your associates. Many times they may throw their personal grievances on you, or you may feel that you are under obligation to please them. There are a million reasons why you may feel an obligation to them. If you don’t fulfil this obligation, you feel that they will be displeased with you; therefore, you are afraid of them. But if you are a spiritual person, you will realise that the only one you have to please is God. If you can please God inside yourself, inside your friends and neighbours, then how can you have any fear?

There is no limit to our fear. From any place it can enter into our existence. The important thing is to conquer the inner fear. Inner fear is fear of the vast, fear of the unknown. In the spiritual life we want God, but as soon as we see a little of His infinite Light, we are scared to death. We feel that all our imperfections will be exposed. Instead, always we have to feel that God’s Light is there only to illumine us. There is no limit to our achievement, no limit to our realisation, no limit to our God-manifestation, because the Light within us will constantly be guiding us. So we do not have to be afraid of anything. A child is not afraid of anything when his mother or father is holding him. He moves around and knows that if anything happens, his mother will protect him, his father will take care of him. In the spiritual life also, we must feel that we are all children and that God is there to look after us. But if we don’t claim the Supreme as our Father, Mother and eternal Beloved, then we are helpless. As the child claims his mother or his father, we also have to claim Light, infinite Light, as our mother and father. Then there cannot be any fear. Only if we don’t claim the right thing as our very own will we always have fear.