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What we experience penetrates deeply into our subconscious. Unfortunately, positive experiences do not remain with us for very long, while negative ones can disturb us for a lifetime. There are many kinds of negative happenings in life. They create fear, and this fear sits very deep within us. We do not know in which part of the body it resides—in the brain, the heart, the manipūra, or different parts. Perhaps it is spread throughout the whole body. On the other hand, it is said that fear is a protection for life. That is why God gave us fear as well. There are some people, or children born, who have no fear at all, not even of jumping from heights. Such children must be educated to feel fear. So, fear is somehow a protection for our life. As humans, we understand various life situations. There is a fear of existence, fear of family life or of having no family, fear of getting a job, or of passing examinations. There is also the fear we feel upon seeing a person who looks very strange; it is frightening because we perceive their anger. If someone is angry, that anger awakens fear within you. Sometimes little children do not know what anger is, but they see something and suddenly begin to cry. They are scared by it. So fear is given to us at birth, like intellect, love, emotion, happiness, the feeling of pleasure, understanding, contentment, attachment, as well as fear. In this modern time, there are so many television programs with films full of fighting, weapons, and killings. Unfortunately, they are now making children's films with such things as well. Education is very important; it is the final judgment for the child. When they grow up with toy weapons, then watch weapons on television, and see people killing each other and fighting, they receive no other education. It means they do not know there is something different. They learn that you must have a weapon, you should kill, you should fight. This becomes the aim of life. They are not taught to be kind, to be gentle, to not hurt someone, to not take weapons in hand, to love your neighbor, to love God. This education is lost now. Sometimes parents would like to educate their children, but in the videos, on television, in the news—everywhere there is fighting. This also implants fear very deep within us. Sometimes accidents happen. There are many kinds: if someone attacks you in a forest or on the street, in dark alleys, or if a dog attacks you, or a car accident, a fire, an electrical accident, or drowning because you cannot swim. Accidents come suddenly, accidentally. An accident never warns us that it is coming; we only know when it happens. An accident means danger to our life, and it reminds us that we love our life. We do not want to die. That accident happened, and it is finished, but the trauma, as you call it, remains in you. When certain circumstances recur, then you are afraid. Also, such accidents, or certain accidents, awaken us inwardly. They give value to life, showing that life is very important and you do not want to die. It gives you a motivation to achieve something in life, because what you did till now may not have been the mission of human life. Many people, after an accident, begin to pray, begin to meditate, begin to think over the importance of human life and other life. So we pray, "God protect us from any kinds of accidents." But if it has already happened, then the fear sits very deep. How to get rid of it? It is not an easy job. Normally you understand you are sitting comfortably, you have a comfortable walk, a happy family situation, good colleagues, but if suddenly something happens, that fear comes out again. May one brick from the roof fall down—that scares you. There is a therapy according to yoga that can be useful. One should think about the past, the present, and the future. To understand the past, present, and future means to be aware and know this, and to call to mind the place, the situation of the place, and the time. Let's say you were diving and suddenly your oxygen tank was empty. It was very hard for you to come up again to the surface of the water. But thanks to God, you managed and came out. You were swimming. Now you have a fear from this all the time. You can only tell yourself now: "It was, and it was my mistake that I didn’t check if there was enough oxygen in the tank. Where I am now, there is no water. I don’t need this tank, and I need not be afraid. I have solid ground under my feet. Then why should I disturb or torture myself psychologically by remembering the situation when I was diving? Why should I torture myself now?" Similarly, you had a car accident, unfortunately. Many times it happens that you are sitting at home and you are scared. You see a car passing in the street quickly, and you are scared by this. Think: "I am not sitting in the car. I am in my room comfortably, and it cannot happen accidentally constantly. It was, but it will not be." So the past is past. There was some karma which was exhausted. You need not be scared now. Or you were a small child and someone attacked you, but you are still afraid. You should think: "I am not a small child anymore, and that situation is not here anymore. So why am I afraid of this?" Like this, only you can help yourself: to analyze that it was a past situation; it is not the present situation. But the past situation gave me a good lesson: I should be careful in the present so that my future will also be good. Therefore, Mahāprabhujī said in his golden preaching: "The past is gone, the present is here, the future is not here. Your future will be like your presence." It means what you do now in this present time, like that will be your future life. We do try to take care; we don’t want any accident or anything to happen. But sometimes it happens. So to overcome certain fears, very good are yoga mudrā, śaśāṅkāsana, ujjāyī prāṇāyāma, deep breathing, relaxations, and analyzing the surrounding situations. There are some people still very afraid from the First World War and Second World War. The people who experienced those wars are very scared of hunger. They collect, every day and every month, some rice and some kind of corn in the basement. They found two tons of rice in a basement because these old couples were very afraid they would have nothing to eat. So they had sugar, rice, wheat, corn, coffee, tea, even honey stored nicely, and kinds of chocolates, because they are afraid still. They experienced it. Now, for those who experienced civil war—let’s say from the former Yugoslavia—for us it is easy to say, "Forget it and forgive." But those family members were killed in front of their eyes. And this is not only now; these are the last two centuries. But it was always so, since this creation began. Since humans have existed, there have been many cruel wars for kingdoms, very cruel wars for religions. We all know this very well. Therefore, finally, the great saints or wise ones said: "Ahiṃsā paramo dharma." Non-violence is the highest principle. And violence is not only towards humans, but also towards animals. If you treat your house animal cruelly, they will be fearful all the time, and they may also try to take revenge. Animals will never forget. It doesn’t matter which animal. Some animals we don’t understand; we can’t speak their language. Some don’t want to be obedient to you; some are stronger than you. So we should know how to interact. So it is said: "Ahiṃsā paramo dharma"—non-violence—and more to touch the human psychic. They made many prayers and mantras: "Sarve bhavantu sukhinaḥ"—may all be happy. Now, how do you imagine that all should be happy if you run here and there with weapons, killing, fighting, war, exploding bombs? You think that everyone should be happy. It cannot be. But the great person said if a human heart realizes that everyone would like to be happy, therefore we wish everyone happiness: "Sarve bhavantu sukhinaḥ." Also, it is said: "Asato mā sad gamaya"—lead us all from unreality to reality. The reality is love. The reality is truth. The reality is understanding. The reality is happiness. And unreality is quarreling, fighting, killing. So all holy books that were written had been thinking very deeply about what we should put in the human brain. So "Sarve bhavantu sukhinaḥ" is not only a mantra for you to think about; it is your life mission to work for it, that all are happy. No one should be unhappy because of your cruelty, your ego, your selfishness, your jealousy, your disappointment, your fear. No one should be hurt through these feelings. With this, I think of what they gave in the testament: that when someone hits your left cheek, offer the right cheek. It doesn’t matter who wrote it, whether God said it or Jesus said it, or someone who wrote this book. They were definitely thinking: "Don’t react aggressively." It is said if someone throws a brick at you, you answer with a stone. That should not be. If someone throws a brick at you, you should throw flowers. Are you capable of doing this? No, because we did not develop these feelings. "Asato mā sad gamaya, tamaso mā jyotir gamaya." Lead all from ignorance to the light of knowledge. If this happens, nowhere in the world will it be necessary to create war and fight. Nowhere will you need to produce weapons. But many don’t think like this. We say in India: They tell the thief, "Now you can enter the house," and then they tell the dog, "Now bark." So you send the thief in, and then you let the dog free. So the poor thief will be caught. On one side, they make the weapons and supply the weapons, and in another way, they say, "Don’t fight," and that we should create peace. So, how to clean up your inner self of fear? Practice your mantra. Prayers, and try to be good to yourself and to others. "Lord, whatever happens is my mistake, and forgive me." That will make you humble, and you will feel in the lap of God, like a child feels secure in the lap of a mother. So, these life circumstances you can only overcome through your buddhi and viveka, and lead life consciously. Avoid the circumstances. It is not necessary that at two o’clock in the night you walk through some dark streets. Two o’clock in the night is made for sleeping, not for walking. And so you can avoid the situation. You are not forced to go to nightclubs. You are not forced to go late to restaurants. You are not forced to go walking alone at night, so you can avoid it. You are not forced to drink alcohol and drive a car. It is written on the road: "Don’t drink and drive." Drink and drive means you drive into death. So many situations we can save ourselves from with our life.