TV Channel

Fear is a mighty force within us. Fear is like a mighty elephant, and you are a small bird sitting on its back. As this small bird, how will you master and control the whole elephant? The point is fear itself. How many different qualities or kinds of fear do we have? Fear exists where there is ignorance. Fear exists where there is guilt. And the biggest fear is the fear of death. Many strong, good persons suddenly get a serious disease, and you can see their psychic condition: they have lost complete faith in God and in life, always seeing only death. You should see God. Where is your satchitānanda? The truth is: I am the eternal one. I am immortal; nothing can kill me. Ātmā is not born and will not die. Yet, this is only theory for us. We have not realized it in practicality. We are under the clouds. We are still not above the clouds. That is different. Above the clouds, the sky is ever clean, whether it is day or night. But below the clouds, the circumstances are different. So there are many, many kinds of fear: existence fear, existential fear, fear about friends. Begin to settle your life in a particular, systematic way. Take this one point—the fear—and, until the summer program, you shall get rid of it. It does not matter which kind of fear. Analyze that fear. Analyze your fear, regardless of what it is, and make it clear. If you can become free from fear, then many, many problems will automatically be solved. There is a healthy fear and an unhealthy fear. The healthy fear is to protect others and your life too. That is why we should not jump from the window. There, you should use your vivekā. So, overcome the fear. This is only one thing, only one point. Like this, we have many, many weak points which are pulling us here and there. The answer to all this is one: wisdom, knowledge. Knowledge is everlasting. Everything is full of knowledge, so gain the knowledge—knowledge of the śāstras, knowledge of the literatures, books—and follow that. Follow Guruvākya. Perform Guru Seva. Never let doubts come into your mind. There is one story: a master and disciple were walking, wandering from village to village, jungle to jungle. The master had one principle: where the sunset comes, immediately stop there, and we will not walk anymore overnight; spend the night there. Sometimes there were villages, sometimes the bank of a river, sometimes a beach, sometimes a forest. Once, it was a beautiful, nice, warm summer night, and they came to a nice forest. Evening came, so they sat there and said, "Tonight we will spend our night here." They always had some food and water. The master was giving satsaṅg. The disciple was listening, asking questions, and the master was answering. He was a happy disciple; he had a master for him always, so all the time he had consultations. They had a rule: in certain circumstances, one should not sleep at all; one should be awakened because of wild animals. The master said, "Today, I feel something is not in order here. So one of us should be awake." The disciple said, "Master, then please, you sleep. I will guard." The master said, "That’s not good. We do like 50-50: half the night I will sleep, and half the night you will sleep." The disciple said to the master, "You are the first one, go and sleep well." The master lay down and went off into Yoganidrā. Exactly at 1:30, the master got up and said, "Now you sleep." The disciple was so tired, so relaxed, and within 46 seconds he was snoring. Well, about 2:30 or 3 o’clock in the night, came a big snake, like a big cobra. The master said, "Stop. Who are you? Where are you going?" The cobra said to the master, "I want to go to drink the blood of your disciple." The master asked, "Why?" The cobra replied, "Because we have revenge over several lives. In the last life, he was a snake, and I was a man, a human, and he bit me, and I died. One life before, I was a snake, and he was a man, and I bit him, and he died. So, like this, there are several lives going on. So it is my turn now to drink his blood. No one can stop me, even God cannot. It is karma, karmic law, and God has to respect the karmic." The master said, "Wait a minute. I don’t know if God can stop or not, but I will change today. This will be the last remains. You want only his blood? That’s all it takes." The snake had no viveka. The master said, "Then stay where you are. You will get this much blood." The disciple was very tired and was in the Ānanda Loka. So the master sat on the disciple so that he would not move. He took a knife, and the disciple opened his eyes and saw the master sitting on his chest with a knife in his hand. What will you do? If Swamījī is sitting on you, Swamījī will be on the right side of the case. The next day, we both will be on the front page of the newspaper. Their guru. And what did the disciple do? He looked at the master and said, "Guru Deva Darśana Dhanoha. Guru Deva Darśana Dhanoha." And he closed his eyes and peacefully slept. The master took a little blood from his body into a cup. Then he again bent his veins and went to the snake and said, "Here is the blood." The snake drank the blood and changed his buddhi. He said, "Master, thank you. You freed both of us from this jealousy and revenge and anger. I was even ready to refuse Mokṣa liberation. Even if I have to go to hell, I will bite him. Even if I have to die, I will die to kill others." And what the terrorists are doing now—these are the revenge in the fire, in the fire of revenge. The blood is boiling, and people are fighting in this world. Therefore, we said, "Calm down, and see how much you are able to follow the Master." That is it. So ask yourself how much faith you have. Ask yourself, what can happen that could take your faith away? You have to become a disciple in order to become the master. You have to become first a daughter before becoming a mother. You have to become first the son before getting the father. To become the father, you first have to become the son, then you have to become the father. So learn to endure, become wise, and remove all negative qualities. Guru Seva, Guru Vakya, and then Guru Kripa—these three things are very important. Tomorrow we will continue.