Fear and Faith

 

Fear and Faith

The concept of fear in reality is psychological and is nothing but a ‘thought’ which gets stuck in one’s psyche and then brings out all the fear symptoms once certain events occur. In Indian culture we are taught not to fear anything at all, in fact the only thing we should be fearing is the thought of fear itself. In our culture we are taught not to fear God but to get God on our side, make him a friend and a partner in all our ventures. Whereas in the West you are taught to fear God right since childhood, the concept of ‘sin’ is drilled into you and along with this the fear of punishment.

In Hinduism or in Sanatan Dharma we believe in the doctrine of samsara which is the continuous cycle of life, death, reincarnation and karma which is the universal law of cause and effect. One of the key thoughts of the Sanatan Dharma is the belief in Atma or Soul. This belief tells us that all living beings have a soul and they all are part of the Supreme Soul or Paramatma.

In modern times, the concept of Sanatan Dharma and Hinduism is not taught in schools any more and with the idea of modernism the current crop of parents who have been raised with both parents working, have no clue as to their culture and religion. I think my generation was the last generation in which the parents taught us something about our ancient culture, from my generation onwards with the advent of TV and today with a digital device giving 24x7 entertainment in our hands we have completely lost touch with our roots, tradition and culture. The point on giving this brief history is that today, it is fear which makes us turn to God rather than devotion or love. This is a fundamental difference which exists – once our prayers are answered we are back to our agnostic ways.

Spiritual leaders all over the world today are trying to lead the general public back towards a God they can believe in, that God is not someone or something to fear but to love. Love is a better emotion, a more positive one than fear. Along with love, faith acts like a balm to calm and quieten the mind.

Your fears are born out of your belief that you are separate from the Creator and the rest of the creation. It is a sign of lack of trust or faith in yourself and in God. You are afraid because you do not believe "sincerely" that God is with you or God is part of your life. You do not believe that you are part of a larger divine plan and that you are playing a role assigned by yourself. Fear is the price we pay for our egoism and lack of trust in God. We can burn our fears and anxieties in the altar of our devotion, by offering our lives and ourselves to God as a mark of surrender, accepting Him as the real doer and performing our actions with complete trust.