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Thread: Fear

  1. #1
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    Fear

    Namaste members,

    We spend quite a great deal of our lives in fear..right from the day we are conceived till we die.

    Even religion to a great extent subsists on the fear of the masses.

    From the moment a child is conceived fear starts.

    Parents start fearing its well being and do all sorts of pre delivery rituals for a safe delivery.

    Then after the birth of the child..the fear of the horoscope of the child creeps in.

    Fear again makes the parents run to an astrologer for a befitting name of the child which would be favorable with time and date of birth.

    We start life with fearing the planets..fearing time..fearing anything and everything.

    Then comes childhood where some parents instill fear in children to make them behave.

    Some parents tell their kids "If you lie God will pierce your eyes"!

    Then the fear of God starts.

    Even prayer starts in fear..ends in fear!

    Yes it ends in fear because some worry if they had pleased God enough to gain entry into higher lokas.

    They start to worry.."how do I please God?"

    So there you go again..its fear and fear over again.

    We even fear the earth..that's why everyone wants heaven.

    We fear the Devil that's why we seek God.

    We fear hell tha'ts why everyone wants to please God.

    A dying person fears if his sons will do the needed oblations to bail him out of hell...many die in fear.

    Even laws of the world to great extent is followed because of fear.

    People fear the police hence they dont break traffic rules.

    No one is actually themselves..its all a facade.

    Fear seems to rule the world right from day one of our existence.

    Parents pass on their fears to children in the form of tradition and culture.

    Remove fear and everything comes crumbling down because without fear one has to learn to stand on his own.

    Not many want to face being in that situation.

    We have become so addicted to fear that becomes a Stockholm's Syndrome.

    We start to identify with fear..we start to sympathize with fear..we cant survive without fear.

    To great extent I feel Fear is the actual religion of mankind.

    An Atheist can live without God but he wont be able to live without fear.

    True freedom is the day we humans learn to walk away from fear.Till then we are still lost no matter how much we pray.

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    Re: Fear

    Quote Originally Posted by renuka View Post
    True freedom is the day we humans learn to walk away from fear.Till then we are still lost no matter how much we pray.
    Namaste Renuka ji,

    I agree fear is the most important factor that drives and controls human behavior to a great extent.

    But, constant remembrance of god's name and form will render courage, even to someone afflicted with fear.

    There have been many great Acharyas and fearless soldiers and kings from the past (of Sanathana Dharma) who have been great devotees too.

    Courage, like 'love for all', 'humility', 'chastity', is a virtue that can be acquired.

    On courage itself it is said, once Shivaji Maharaj's country was stricken in drought and was relocating his capital. When it was time to change his location, he chose to take just 'Dhairya Lakshmi' (goddess Lakshmi of courage, one of the 8 different forms of Sri Lakshmi) with him. I believe this is an idol. Upon this, all other Lakshmi's chose to follow him because it is courage that is followed by all other virtues.

    We fear the Devil that's why we seek God.
    In my understanding, all our acharyas sought god because of 'love for him (her)'.

    Regards,

    Viraja
    jai hanuman gyan gun sagar jai kapis tihu lok ujagar

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    Re: Fear

    Namaste,
    Interesting post. Fear in some shape or form is definitely a part of everyone's life and some of what you posted is correct. Addressing some generalizations you have made...

    Quote Originally Posted by renuka View Post
    Namaste members,

    Even religion to a great extent subsists on the fear of the masses.
    This is not true for 'every' religion. For instance, in Hinduism, Krishna tells Arjuna to 'fear not' and 'now that I have told you this secret knowledge, the decision to act is yours' (paraphrasing). There is no such thing as God vs Devil mumbo jumbo in Hinduism.

    From the moment a child is conceived fear starts.
    Rightfully so. The child is 'helpless' and it is parents responsibility to provide for him. Definitely a natural thing for parents to feel especially if it is their first child.

    Parents start fearing its well being and do all sorts of pre delivery rituals for a safe delivery.
    Not sure what you mean 'rituals'. We attended parenting classes which is a normal thing for people to do so that we can educate ourselves on how to take care of the little one.

    Then after the birth of the child..the fear of the horoscope of the child creeps in.
    Is it really 'fear' or for the 'well being' of the child? Parents especially Indian parents are always worried about the well being of their children even when the children are well into adulthood. Maybe western 'horoscope' is a mumbo jumbo thing but 'Jyotisha' is a real science (ask Yajvan or visit the Jyotish section for more info).

    Fear again makes the parents run to an astrologer for a befitting name of the child which would be favorable with time and date of birth.
    It's not fear. It's tradition and a blessing to have a 'namakaran' ceremony for your child.

    We start life with fearing the planets..fearing time..fearing anything and everything.
    Really fearing anything and everything? Really?

    Then comes childhood where some parents instill fear in children to make them behave.
    These parents desperately needs to have an elder in their home or take parenting classes.

    Some parents tell their kids "If you lie God will pierce your eyes"!
    Shame on such parents.

    Then the fear of God starts.
    Fear of God? What 'God' are you talking about? Some old man sitting in the sky claiming that we will burn in hell if we don't listen to him?

    Even prayer starts in fear..ends in fear!
    Nonsense!

    Yes it ends in fear because some worry if they had pleased God enough to gain entry into higher lokas.
    Not sure if I understood that correctly.

    They start to worry.."how do I please God?"
    Read the Gita, offer him fruits, flowers...the simple things.


    So there you go again..its fear and fear over again.

    We even fear the earth..that's why everyone wants heaven.
    'We' don't want heaven. We want liberation.

    We fear the Devil that's why we seek God.
    Ahem. Wrong forum. There is no 'devil' in Hinduism.

    We fear hell tha'ts why everyone wants to please God.
    Now sure who is 'we'.

    A dying person fears if his sons will do the needed oblations to bail him out of hell...many die in fear.
    What's wrong with that? In western culture a lot of people die everyday with fear of loneliness and sadness as their families/sons had forsaken them and dumped them in old folks homes.

    Even laws of the world to great extent is followed because of fear.
    Sure.

    People fear the police hence they dont break traffic rules.
    There is no reason to fear the police if you understood their role in society. Their role is to make sure no one breaks the law and bring law breakers to the doorsteps of the court so appropriate action can be taken.

    'Don't do the crime if you fear the time.'

    No one is actually themselves..its all a facade.
    No one? Out of billions of people in the world not even one is actually themselves? I have met many many numuber of genuine people but no way to prove or disprove your claims.

    Fear seems to rule the world right from day one of our existence.
    Parents pass on their fears to children in the form of tradition and culture.
    Again is it really fear or parents are concerned about the well being of their child as they should be. Producing an offspring is no accomplishment, producing a human 'being', now that's something.


    True freedom is the day we humans learn to walk away from fear.Till then we are still lost no matter how much we pray.
    I am assuming you are speaking for yourself only.
    satay

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    Re: Fear

    hariḥ oṁ
    ~~~~~~
    namasté

    ... fear is the dress of ignorance.

    Any time there is a sense of 2, fear arises i.e. dvitiyad vai bhayam bhavati - fear is born of duality¹.

    iti śivaṁ

    1. bṛhadaraṇyaka upaniṣad - puruṣavidha-brāhmaṇa, 2nd śloka
    यतस्त्वं शिवसमोऽसि
    yatastvaṁ śivasamo'si
    because you are identical with śiva

    _

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    Re: Fear

    Namaste Renuka ji
    True freedom is the day we humans learn to walk away from fear.Till then we are still lost no matter how much we pray.
    Fear as I understand is a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined;

    If the threat is real then fear is an absolute necessity just like we need salt to stay healthy. Inadequate or excessive (salt) will spoil the food.

    But how do we distinguish between real and imagined threat? Where (and how) do we start? Think...
    Anirudh...

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    Re: Fear

    Any time there is a sense of 2, fear arises i.e. dvitiyad vai bhayam bhavati - fear is born of
    duality
    Namaste Yajvan ji

    If not all in most cases we have more than one option to chose.

    If the alarm rings one has two choices; either to get up and act or to stay idle and sleep.

    An extra 10 minutes sleep may not harm me always but the probability of impending danger can not be ruled out completely because the "elements" that could be influenced by the delay is unknown.
    Anirudh...

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    Re: Fear

    self deleted the post..i dont think it will do any good.

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    Re: Fear

    Quote Originally Posted by satay View Post

    I am assuming you are speaking for yourself only.

    Nope.

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    Re: Fear

    Hi

    I like what yajavan Ji said...fear is lack of knowledge and awareness. Fear is also due to ignorance of doership and ego self when things go against.

    But everything is not fear and satay, beautiful summation. A total pessimism see everything with negative eyes and even religions are built with negative foundations to achieve something positive. Idea of them are, know thy evil who cause fear and surrender to be saved.

    SD do have practices in this line as well especially tamasika worship and faith which advocate that to be good, the bad alone needs to be removed.

    Respect to the higher beings and obeying their ideals & path is positive aspect of organic wisdom. Such respect bounded actions when imbibed with love result in pure positive with no sort of worry for any outcome. (NisKamaKarma)

    We don't live in fear and fear of failure never brings any progress or success.

    Hare Krshna!

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    Re: Fear

    namaste,
    I think it also has something to do with maturity or ability to comprehend of the person who has the 'fear'.

    For example, I was literally so scared of my dad growing up that I would not look up in front of him and tremble at his site when I was little (below 10). He is a loving father yet his physical attributes, voice, facial expressions and mustache (sp?) scared the heck out of me and left me speechless. Until I reached late teens and became an adult and found that he is just another man. Knowledge, awareness and comprehension increased and so the fear went away. Yet I dare not raise my voice in front of him even today. That's more out of respect than fear. at least that's what I tell myself.
    satay

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