How to conquer fear4

How to conquer fear. Our body is limited. That is why the body has fear. Our vital is unconscious. That is why the vital has fear. Our mind is obscure. That is why the mind has fear. Our heart is not aspiring, that is why the heart has fear.

To free our body from fear what we need is the glorious experience of our soul. To free our vital from fear, what we need is the dynamic and conscious expansion of our soul. To free our mind from fear, what we need is the transforming illumination of our soul. Finally, to free our heart from fear, what we need is the fulfilling perfection of our soul.

Man’s fear does not allow him to see the face of reality, the ultimate Reality. Man’s fear does not allow him to reach the golden shores of the Beyond. Man’s fear does not allow him to fulfil God for God’s sake. But God the Author of all good, has boundless Compassion, Concern and Love for mankind. God’s Compassion saves man. God’s Concern liberates man. God’s Love fulfils man.

When we unconsciously think of fear or cherish fear, Fear smilingly shakes hands with us. When we consciously think of fear or cherish fear, Fear triumphantly embraces us. And when we unconsciously think of our inner courage, Cod cries with His divine cry, for He feels here He has got a chosen instrument of His.

Now, earth is afraid of heaven’s transcendental Light. Heaven is afraid of earth’s abysmal ignorance. God says to earth, “My son, don’t act like a fool. Heaven’s transcendental Light is not going to blind you. Heaven’s Light is not going to expose you. On the contrary, heaven’s Light is going to illumine you. Heaven’s Light is going to transform you.” God says to heaven, “Don’t be a fool. Earth’s abysmal ignorance cannot bind you, cannot destroy you. On the contrary, earth’s ignorance will be offered to you. It is you who will transform the teeming ignorance of earth. It is you who will transform the face of earth.” God says: “I need both of you — heaven and earth. Heaven! The message of realisation you will have to give to earth. Earth! The message of manifestation, my divine manifestation, you will have to offer to heaven.”

Fear comes from our deep-rooted ignorance. We do not see the light with our inner vision. We see the light with our outer, human, limited, earthbound understanding.

Let me tell you a short story. An old man passing by, was walking along the street in the evening. There was no light. He came across a rope. He thought that this rope was nothing other than a snake. He was all fear. He cried out at the top of his voice and he ran as fast as he could and while running, he fell down and broke his leg. His friends nearby heard him shouting and screaming. So they came together with sticks. He was shouting all the time, thinking there was a snake. His friends came with sticks and they, too, thought that it was a snake. It was all dark. They started striking the rope and while striking, unfortunately, they hit one another.

Now, the shouting continued. Another band, another party came with light. They came with a torch and they discovered that it was just a piece of rope and not a snake. So when the light entered, they discovered that it was a rope and not a snake.

Similarly, in our human life, when light enters into our physical consciousness, all kinds of fear are bound to disappear. We are wanting in light. That is why fear at every moment consciously, deliberately looms large in our life of desire and in our life of aspiration. But if we are sincere enough to go deep within and feel that inner courage belongs to us, inner courage can at any moment dawn. It is more than willing to come to the fore. To bring this inner courage to the fore is the conscious awakening of our inner being. Everyone has this inner being. Unfortunately, very few of us want to feed this inner being. We feed our body in order to strengthen ourselves. We study books to feed our minds. We do many things to energise our outer being. But we do practically nothing to feed our inner being. It is in our inner existence that we can grow into an adamantine will and when we use our adamantine will, which we can easily have at our behest, we can conquer the very breath of fear. Here on earth our inner adamantine and indomitable will can and will reign supreme. Only one thing we need — our conscious awareness of the divine light which is ours and it is our birthright to realise and fulfil this inner light. There can be no fear, there can be no iota of fear when we live in the effulgence of our soul. And to live constantly in the divine effulgence of our soul only one thing we need and that is conscious inner cry. This inner cry is called aspiration, the mounting flame deep within us. When this flame rises up towards the highest, it illumines all around. Darkness is transformed into light, fear into strength, doubt into certainty, ignorance into wisdom and death into immortality.


AUM 690. This talk was given by Sri Chinmoy at The American College, Paris, 13 November 1970.