| Managing Fear |
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| Thursday, 25 June 2009 22:10 | |||
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Video-satsang: Sunday 10 May 2009. Topic: Managing Fear
Segaran: Pranaams Swamiji. Pranaams also to Maa and Naya Swamiji. I am Segaran. There are 35 of us assembled here today.
Poojya Swamiji: Okay. Asirvaad to everyone of you there and all.
Segaran: The first question: Bravery is an act inspite of fear, e.g. soldier performing his duties without fear. Fearless is to be without fear, e.g. a man without attachment and hence has no fear of loss. Can this be difference between bravery and fearlessness?
Poojya Swamiji: The question is not very well phrased. Nevertheless, to some extent it is giving us some idea about what you have in mind. So I shall speak generally on fear and also fearlessness. Is it okay? See whenever you try to speak about fear, let us try to understand that fear is an emotional offshoot of the mind. Our mind generally produces three different forces. What are they? One is love or desire. The second is dislike, resentment and enmity. The first is one of fondness. The second is one of hate, different degrees of this. The third is fear. I generally say, mind is a rope; it is made out of three strands. And the strands are love, hatred and fear. As long as there is a mind all the three will be there.
Now what you have to do is – understand the three very well and try to sublimate them. Instead of making them a hindrance to your activity, you must be able to make them an inspiration or a compulsion or a persuasion to your activity. This can be done. But first of all understand very clearly that love, hate and fear are three ingredients of the mind and there will be no time when the mind will be free of them. But there can be a time when neither love, nor hatred nor fear will be a hindrance to you. It is like the drowning power of water. You cannot think of water without drowning power at all. At the same time it is this drowning power that gives us the caution and also the opportunity to learn swimming. After swimming, when you are able to move and float in water, you have not subdued or eliminated the power of drowning from water. But you are not affected by it. You carry on. By waving your hands, by holding your neck erect , moving your legs also, you are able to move as well as float in water, without the drowning power affecting you. In the same manner, the love, hate and fear, which are generally are the constituents you can say of the mind, will not be hindering you. On the other hand, you will be able to float over them. This is absolutely possible.
You are bringing the concept of bravery here. Bravery is that act where, in spite of the so called fear, you go ahead with what you propose to do. For example, a soldier is on the battle front. There are people on the opposite camp to battle against them. Both of them have assembled there either to kill the enemy or to be killed by the enemy. I think we should understand. We go to the battlefront to fight. And in the process either we will kill the enemy which is our primary ambition so to say or we get killed. Knowing that very well, why have you gone there? To kill the enemy. So give him the equal freedom to kill you also. Who will die and who will kill, only the actual situation and scene will determine. So with this clarity which comes from the intelligence, and intelligence is the only tool which has influence over the mind.
See your mind cannot be influenced by any factor other than intelligence. And intelligence thrives and pursues knowledge. If you are a soldier and you go to the battlefield and you run away seeing your enemy, will you be happy or will you be ashamed. Tell me will you be happy or will you be ashamed. (Audience reply “Ashamed”). So with this knowledge you go and try to kill your enemy. In the process if he kills you, well and good. If you are able to kill him well and good. See that knowledge must be able to act upon the mind and keep away your fear. There is no motion without friction. It is friction that facilitates and enables the movement or motion. In the same manner, the so called fearful elephant called the mind will be the actual inspiration and instigation to go with bravery. Bravery has no place if the minds of all people were not fearful at all. What is then bravery? So bravery is a possibility afforded by the mind and primarily because the mind is generally fearful. This is what I have to say.
A man without attachment and hence has no fear of loss; can this be the difference between bravery and fearlessness? I cannot exactly say that it is so, but this attachment to your own body, to the world at large, and to everything belonging to the body, relationship, property etc, this attachment will give you a lot a lot of courage, stability and poise. And it will be functional in all walks of life. So this attachment is a quality or virtue which will make a man very determined or resolved. And courage is one of the benefits that comes from this attachment. There are so many other things, courage is only one of them. Have I answered your question?
Segaran: Yes Swamiji. We are very clear about it. The second question: As we move towards spirituality we have the fear that we are neglecting our duties towards our families and other obligations. How do we overcome this fear?
Poojya Swamiji: First of all, (Swamiji reads out the second question) I am simply amazed that such a doubt or a question arises in your mind! Spirituality…it makes your efficiency every time on the ascendance. Spirituality is not considered to be a factor which is guilty of causing any kind of neglect. Spirituality means fervour. Say take for example Arjuna in the battlefront. By imparting spirituality to Arjuna, what did he do? First he wanted to run away from the battlefield and wanted to become a sanyaasin. Krishna said “No, you have to remain here. The problems raised by your mind will have to be resolved right here. And then fight, fight and fight”. He fought. If this is true of Arjuna in the battlefield, the same should be true of everyone anywhere in this world, in any walk of life. So spirituality, if you understand it properly, it will take away neglect and negligence from your mind. It will take away neglect and negligence from your mind (Swamiji repeats). It will safeguard against negligence, inattention and neglect. Whatever duties you are now neglecting, spirituality says should not, should not, should not.
So where is the question of neglecting duties because of spirituality? It gives you more courage, more resolve, more preparedness, it broadens your mind. Suppose you look after two children, if spirituality graces you, you will be able to look after twenty children. Don’t apply the same thing to your wife and husband. (Laughter from audience). You understand. Don’t say in place of one wife, I will be able to look after a dozen. Don’t say that. So instead of two children, you will be prepared to adopt one or two. Please don’t go on adopting. You can adopt one or more children and still you will be able to look after them. Instead of thinking about your own children, the spiritual mind and heart will start thinking about so many others’ children. That is how we are sitting here and we are thinking about you Malaysians there. And people from Malaysia have come here. Our ashram is hosting all sections of people from different parts of the world, different parts of the country. Do you think your house you will be opening to the others like this?
So does spirituality neglect duties or does spirituality enable the better conduct of duties, all duties. So this question is absolutely from confusion. Neglecting our duties towards our families and other obligations…..No! Please understand it this way. You are family people and as such you are only conscious of the family responsibility, family members, their welfare. If you are spiritual, your family responsibility and family welfare will no doubt be there. But that itself will make you concerned about so many other families and their welfare. So it is an addition, growth. Where is the reduction or deduction? Is it clear?
Segaran: Yes it is clear, Swamiji.
Poojya Swamiji: Very clear? I will speak again if you are not clear. Please discuss it between yourselves. Spirituality never makes you negligent. If you are a husband, you must be looking after your wife. Previously you might have had differences, sometimes you might have been showing a wry face. That wry face will totally disappear if you are a spiritual man. If one or two children are there, you will never have a sense of partiality. One may be intelligent, the other may not be. You will be able to look at both and give them equal treatment. Help the intelligent boy to grow in his own manner. And the other child to grow in its own manner. You will not have any disappointment. On the other hand you will take both like the two hands of your body, and bring them up with equal care and attention. Similarly you will also take interest in perhaps your brother’s children, neighbours’ children and so many others if they want. So spirituality knows only growth, greater and greater incorporation of duties in your mind. Am I clear?
Segaran: Yes, Swamiji, very clear.
Poojya Swamiji: Okay. “So how do we overcome this fear?” It is not a fear. It is “How do we overcome this delusion?”. How do we overcome this ignorance, this misunderstanding; that should be the word. Okay?
Segaran: Okay Swamiji. The third question: What is the root cause of fear? Do women face fear differently than men?
Poojya Swamiji: The root cause of fear I have already told you. Fear is not something bad. It is extremely necessary, especially in the humankind. If the people are not fearful, they will do anything, anytime. They will become absolutely uncontrolled. So we have a fear of law. Sometimes people have a fear of god. We have a fear of our ruler. We have fear of the police. Just imagine. You are driving in a car which many of you do or most of you all do in Malaysia. When you are riding on the road, are you not conscious of the fact that so many other vehicles are coming opposite in front and some are overtaking you. Should you not make a provision for these vehicles and keep yourself a little free…or you will say “What is the harm if I hit?” Do you go on hitting it? It is only because of the fear that you give way to the other vehicle. See, so many licences are given. Every driver is afraid of his life; he is afraid of getting hit and hitting. That is why he conforms to the law and discipline.
So fear is a very desirable and necessary ingredient. The only trouble will be, you must be conscious of the actual fear and you must be able to safeguard against the imaginary fear. So the imaginary fear alone is to be dispensed with. But the actual fear will have to be taken into account, every time. I think every time you have to do it. It is a very helpful caution in conducting out activity and taking our life forward. See, in one sense, human psychology is the same. Mind is the same. But a set of minds are associated with feminine bodies. Another set of minds are associated with male bodies. In the present situation, I think it is a man dominant society everywhere. We generally hear a woman has been raped by men. I don’t know whether there will be time when men are being raped by women. But it can also be. Suppose the number of women are more and the number of women becomes less, I think women will start raping men also. They will start marrying the same man; three or four together will start marrying the same man.
So at present that psychology associated with a female body is there. You know a female body alone can fully impregnate a woman. Such a possibility is not there in a male body. That makes us free. See I have been a sanyaasin for a great length of time. It is a very delicate subject. So when you see me privately I shall explain to you. So call for an explanation. So if I had a female body , I don’t think I would have been so confident and courageous to move about in this world. But because I had a male body, I was always free and I never thought a woman will assault me, sexually or otherwise. But if I were a woman, perhaps I would have had to think, a man would assault me.
So this kind of a fear is there. And generally, the female mind is equally possessive about the husband and the children. In the Mahabaratha war, you know, there are very good scholars who evaluate the Mahabaratha war, Vedavyasa’s creation. It is the best epic written in the whole world. There they say, the whole Mahabaratha war would not have taken place if Draupadi was not disrespected by Dhusasana, by pulling her dress. You know that one incident, estranged and irritated the mind of Draupadi to such an extent that she was never allowing any kind of a compromise or relenting on the part of Yudhisthira and the others. So whenever they had or Yudhisthira had thoughts ‘that after all they are our brothers, we don’t want to fight with them’ , Draupadi used to say ‘If you are not prepared to fight, I will ask my old father to come and fight’.
So that feeling which Draupadi had, so as a writer they say Vedavyasa had done the best by introducing the element of mauling Draupadi by Dhusasana. So the female minds are possessive and they are to some extent fearful also. That fearfulness is a very strong element in their psychology. At the same time we can find women who are embodiments of courage also. But such instances are rare. By and large they are subjected to greater fear especially because of their female nature. This much I can say. Other things are minor details, we can discuss in patience, not in a conference like this. Is this point answered for you?
Segaran: Yes, it is very clear Swamiji. The fourth question: Swamiji, how do we practise vairaagya in a practical manner?
Poojya Swamiji: (Swamiji laughs). My dear boy, everything is a practical manner. Eating is practical. Sleeping is practical. Reading is practical. Teleconference is practical. What is there not practical in this world. Our very birth, existence, are practical. So why are you using the word practical? So are you thinking of practicing it imaginarily, in a dream? So everything is practical.
So first of all you please understand the meaning of the word vairaagya. There are two positions in the mind. One is desire-fullness. The other is desire-freeness. You can choose to be desire-full or desire-free. Whether you are desire-full or desire-free, I think all your activities and achievements can be had. And history has proven that a desire-free mind is capable of achieving things far greater than a desire-full mind. It is up to you to decide whether you are going to be desire-full or desire-free. If you ask me, if you ask me (Swamiji repeats) I will say to live and move without desire is the greatest safeguard. It strengthens the mind. It deepens the mind. It makes the mind more resolute, more viable. A desire-free mind can take up anything and everything in this world.
The great Kanumaharshi looked after Shakuntala. Shakuntala was born, not from a proper wedlock. He took pity on the child and looked after her much better than a father would his daughter. And when the time came for her to be sent to Dhushinta, the contact with Dhushinta took place without the knowledge of the maharshi. Having come to know, he sends her in all formality, saying that, “My dear Dhushinta, you are a king but I am a ascetic. So you cannot expect too much of reward and luxuries as a part of my sending this daughter. So I send you…”. After sending her, he has never bothered or worried about it. This is the effect of dispassion. In looking after Shakuntala, he was no less than a loving and concernful father. In sending her away and not worrying about it also, he was a great person.
So what is dispassion? Dispassion is actually the greatest strength of the human mind. It is the greatest virtue of the human mind. And when I say virtue, like gold and gold ornament, it is always an ornament. So this virtue, everyone will like, and everyone must have. How to practice dispassion, if you ask me…Yes, it is to enrich the mind with the truths and benefits of dispassion. How will it come? When you start dwelling upon the facts and truths of life. Your body is born. It grows up to the age of 21. From then on it starts declining. So all of you are having a body which is aging and aging and aging. But do you know you observe your birthday every year? But I ask you, is it a birthday? Or a birth distancing day?
Segaran: Birth distancing day.
Poojya Swamiji: Then why are you calling it a birthday? It is a sheer lie. And it shows your idiocy. Foolishness. It is not the birthday at all. One more year you are away from your birthday. Next year you are two more years. Sixtieth year you are celebrating sixtieth birthday. Sixty years I have come away from birth. And not only that, you have gone nearer death. So it is a death approaching day. Why do you call it a birthday at all? This is the trouble with passionate people. So you evaluate your body. We are living in a body which is constantly dying. Yesterday’s body is no more there because today. And tomorrow’s body will tomorrow not be there with us. Every time cells are getting broken. They are supplying energy to your body. And in order to give energy, cells in millions and trillions are dying, and dying and dying and dying. So do you have a dying body or a getting born body? You think about it very well.
Then what about the things of the world? All of them are equally transitory. When you understand the transitoriness of your body, its relations in the form of family and family members and the residence like earth and all the things in this world, automatically will you develop passion or dispassion? So dispassion grows when you are able to rationally in terms of knowledge, evaluate the plight and fate of things in the world. I think it comes from vicara, introspection and reflection.
You know when you have vairaagya, you have the best of relationship with the people. In vairaagya or dispassion, you have the best relationship with the people. (Swamiji repeats this sentence). I can narrate you a story. I don’t know whether you will appreciate the story. There was a poet by the name Bhoja. He was a king. He sat on the throne. And he has written classic Sanskrit compositions. His father died when he was very young. So his father’s younger brother, called Muncha by name, sat on the throne. He found that Bhoja was an intelligent boy. When he grows up, it will be a threat to his uncle. So the uncle called the army personnel and asked them “take him to the forest, cut his neck and show me his blood”. So the army personnel took the boy to the forest and after going there they said “We are very sorry, you are a young child, but our king has asked us to behead you. So we are going to cut your neck”.
I don’t know what you will do when such a situation faces you. This boy said ” Okay, very good. You are army people and you should obey your king. I am very happy about it. But give me a few moments, I have a message to be given to my uncle. Please deliver it.” So he plucked a strong leave from a tree and wrote a message. “You deliver this message to my uncle. Now you can cut my head”. All of them knew well that it was in Sanskrit, that was the language like English for all of us now. So they read the message and they found… this is such a wonderful boy. He should not be killed. So they killed an animal, took the blood and went to the king, showed the blood and also the message the boy had given. The uncle read the message. After reading the message, he put his hand over the head and said “Have you killed this boy?”. They said “No, we have not killed. We have only killed an animal”. “I am very, very sorry! Please bring him immediately.”
You know the message read in this manner; what did he say: “Mantatha….” (Swamiji quotes in Sanskrit). It is a very famous poem in India. And I also feel that it will be equally famous in Malaysia through your SIRD and all of you seated there. You should go and tell everybody this message. What is that? The boy is writing a message. He says “There was a great ruler, Manthatha by name, in Kritha yuga. And he was a very, very famous man. And that man has died, he has gone away. And Sri Ramachandra, the great and powerful person who made a pathway in the sea from India to Lanka, that person, also has gone. Anye ….Swamiji recites in Sanskrit). Yudhistira and others in the Dwapara yuga. In Kritha yuga, Manthatha the famous king. In Tritha yuga, Sri Ramachaandra. And coming to Dwapara yuga, Yudishira, the Pandavas and the others. They also have gone. Now listen to what I say now. He concludes….Naiva …(Sanskrit verses…). The earth they ruled, actually the king is considered to be the husband, the lord of the earth. So the earth did not go along with any one of them. But I am sure, the earth, she will accompany you when you die. Have you listened to me? I don’t think you have listened. See, the earth they ruled…see you want to rule the earth and you consider me a disturbance, that is why you wanted to kill me. Understand very clearly, all this famous people who ruled in Kritha yuga, Tritha yuga and Dwapara yuga; when they died, earth did not accompany….. the kingdom did not accompany them. But in your case, satirically he is mentioning, they will surely accompany you.
Now, what is the lesson that I find in this. The boy had so much of dispassion that he could write out a message unmoved by….what are we people are about to do. And he sent a beautiful message. And this message on reading it melted the mind and set right the thinking of his uncle and the uncle brought him back. That is how he gradually became the king. Don’t you find, both in the listener, as well as in writer, it is the strong lesson and of message of dispassion that is radiating in this sloka, in this verse?. (Audience reply “Yes”.) This is how dispassion has to be practiced. Whenever your mind is enriched by dispassion, it will become more poised, more courageous. It will see thinks very clearly. Now all of you parents are so deluded and attached to your children that you will not be able to do what is good for the child.
The other day from Bombay, a mother was crying on the telephone: “People say that I have spoiled my son”. Yes, you have spoiled I said, because you are not doing what your son wants. What is good for the son, you are not able to speak out, and you are not able to put forward. Suppose you have dispassion, I think the mother will be able to behave better. The husband and wife will be able to…the friends will be able to…everyone you know. So dispassion comes by right understanding and evaluation of everything. The entire world, including you own body, your own mind, everything is transitory. This knowledge of transitoriness is what instills dispassion in your mind. Am I clear, is it okay?
Segaran: Yes, Swamiji. The fifth question: Swamiji says, that there are different types of fears. What are the other solutions, besides worship and vairaagya, for overcoming all types of fears?
Poojya Swamiji: Imaginary fears are to be clearly distinguished and avoided. Suppose you have one or two children at home, you have sent them to the school. If they are delayed by half an hour, invariably the parents start fretting and fuming. And they say “What accident has come to them?”. So I always say, don’t cause imaginary fears. By fearing in this manner, you are causing accident to your children. “Accident has come to them! Accident has come to them!” Hare, accident will come to them only once in a while, and you will be let known about it. Before anybody lets you know that accident has come, you as a wonderful beloved mother, you are saying: ”My son! Accident! Accident! Accident”. You are causing accident everytime you say so. When you chant the name of god with your mouth or with your mind, this will be effective. When you chant “Accident! Accident! Accident!”, this will also be effective. So you are causing accident to your children by imaginary fear like this. Cast it aside. So this comes from discrimination. Whether by worship fear will go, I don’t know. If you do worship saying that “I should not have any fear, I should not have any fear, I should not have any fear, relieve me from any fear, relieve me from any fear ”; if you worship in this manner, perhaps it will be effective. But the right way to avoid fear and be very poised is to reflect upon the fear ingredient itself. By introspection, by making the intelligence act upon the mind, that is the only way to overcome it. Ultimately by chanting some mantra, it will be very helpful. For example, if you are fearful, by admitting that you are fearful…by admitting that you are fearful, you are strengthening your fearfulness. Everytime you see somebody you say “I am a fearful person, I am a fearful person, I am a fearful person”. That means you are confirming your fearfulness. What you should do is say “I am fearless, I am fearless, fearless, fearless, fearless, fearless, fearless, courageous, courageous, courageous”. If you go on chanting it at least one million times, I think the fear will vanish completely. Because it is the law of the mind that takes over. Whatever you think with the mind, that the mind becomes. As you think, so you become. If you think fearfully, automatically you will become fearful. If you think fearlessly, automatically you become fearless. This is the ultimate mental law. Is it okay?
Segaran: Yes, Swamiji.
Poojya Swamiji: Good.
Segaran: Could you say a few additional words in this satsang today?
Poojya Swamiji: I am very happy that as many as 35 or more people are there together. There was a message which people asked me for the newsletter that has been circulated, perhaps one or two (weeks), now. For the first newsletter, a message was sought, and I had given; I feel that all of you must have read it. The message I have sent, refers to the power, that power of collective thinking, collective thinking (Swamiji repeats). In the human society, the world, the world, an individual alone cannot do anything. But a few individuals together, they can do everything. Our SIRD is supposed to collect, encourage people to come together, and exchange your thoughts, share your thoughts. Not only that , a community of outlook, a community off objective, a community of inspiration. If you understand what I say, you will never be stopping to come to the SIRD. It is such a great occasion, a great platform. Not only really a platform, a great abode where like-minded people can come, exchange their ideas, and try to evolve something beneficial to the whole society. If you live in a home, maximum you will only think of your family members. “How do I get my daughter get married to the best of boys? How to get my son employed in the best corporation?” This is only thought that you have. But you do not recognize the fact that every member of your family is a member of the society at large. Individuals constitute the family, an individual is a member of the family. Like that, family is a member of the society. And the society are/is inhabitants of the earth. And the earth is only one of the planets in the space. So if you feel for your family the whole family should feel for the society. That greater you are missing by only living within the four walls of your house. Please come out of the family residence. Come to the SIRD or a similar place and you start thinking and deliberating about what the society needs and what you can do for it. It is incorporating a societal widespread dimension in your mind. And you know, the resultant expanse your mind will have, it is so unimaginable, so great. I would like all of you to come away from your family and sit in SIRD or under the sky in an open space. Go and sit under the open skies and think about the world and the society. What for? Only to have expansion to your mind. Now you have mustard minds. I want your mind to be oceanal, spatial, mountainous minds. You are eating well; I think most of you are over-nourished, over-weight. You are so far nourishing the body but you don’t nourish the mind. Why don’t you come to SIRD, read good things, speak good things, share good thoughts and develop a community of outlook. At present all of you are given the task of organizing the second Hindu Spiritual Meet. It is something very important. SIRD representatives are supposed to go to all the states in Malaysia. How many states are there? (Segaran answers thirteen states). You are supposed to go to every one of them. And by the power of your mind, the power of your feeling, the power of your feeling and inspiration for the community; when you start speaking, even dead bodies will rise up and hear you; provided you have an inspiration, a love for them. Don’t become just a family person. I am a person belonging to my society; I would like to do something good. You know the whole society, the super majority of the society are sleeping minds. They are never think; maximum they are interested in eating, dressing, sleeping and mating; that is all. This is all for the body, what is for the mind and heart? So they never think of the society. Very few people will think. If all you 35 or 50 people begin to think for the Malaysian society for the time being, you know a tremendous outcome will come.
So my message for you will be: You should assemble very regularly. Consider it to be an austerity, a pilgrimage. Come and spend your time there. Do whatever you like; I don’t ask what you do. But think for the society and develop a plan and a scheme. When five or more people assemble, automatically a good thought process will evolve and great things can be done from there. So this is what I want you to do. And the benefits to you will be as an individual, you will be a much better and more a shining individual. Your mind will expand and your intelligence will become clear. The thought of the society, when you start, will start ringing and dancing in you. You will find you are a totally different person. Let me ask you one question. Is it better to work with a mustard mind or is it better to work with an oceanal mind? (Audience answer “Oceanal mind). Your mind will become oceanal if not spatial; this is what is going to happen. Only this one expanse of your inner personality I insist upon; the rest of it you yourself can think and do. You know this is a very direct and practical process. You should become restless if you don’t come to SIRD. You should become restless. You must start missing it. “I have not gone there, I have not gone there. I have not gone there”. (Swamiji repeats). And the atmosphere in SIRD also should be like this. Every one of you should be welcoming the others, welcoming the others I have not gone there, I have not gone there Whenever somebody comes, smile at that person, tell him “Please come”. Don’t sit indifferently. You may have many causes and complaints, that is different. When a guest comes or a member comes, “He is just like me, I am also like him; why should I greet him?”. This attitude should not be there in you. You should always greet him or her and welcome? And in the matter of taking food also, there are types of people. I went to a house. They had cut one banana into five pieces; obviously the five pieces were not equal sized; one will be bigger, one will be biggest; etc. So all the five different pieces and we were five people. When it was given to me I said, “Let the others take”. I wanted to ask you, when it is extended before you, what will you do? Can you give me an answer? (Segaran replies, “Take the smaller one”.) Acha!. Very good! That is what you should do. I said, “Let the others take”. There was an elderly sanyaasin along with me. I am sorry to say and discredit sanyaasins. He said, “Let me take the biggest piece” and he took it. This is how individual minds react.
See you must always have a concern for the others. In SIRD, the concern for others is what counts. In your family you do whatever you like. But when you come to SIRD you must always be a man for the others, a person for the others, not for you. This you keep in mind always. So the welcoming attitude should be there and always think of others, their welfare, etc. Be tolerant, assimilate whatever takes place. “He told me! Therefore I will tell him! (Swamiji speaks in a gruff voice). Not that way. “He told me this….”, therefore you should bear it. Certain example by patience, by tolerance, by assimilation, etc. if you persist in it, you will find in the course of about three or four months, people will discover your inner personality and they will be very enamoured of it. But don’t do it for being enamoured of by others. Okay, this is my message.
Segaran: Thanks Swamiji. Your message is humbling and very revealing. We shall strive every moment to live by your guidance. We appreciate the advice and teachings that you have given to us.
Poojya Swamiji: I would like your hearts and minds to cherish them, not merely appreciate. Cherish them and be nourished by them.
I would like to hear something. I would like to know…, maybe a few weeks back , Jeyabalasingam spoke to me about activity and steps that were taken regarding the Hindu Spiritual Meet II. What further steps have been taken in organizing the Spiritual Meet? This is already the month of May, hardly four months are there. I would to know what special steps are taken in making the Hindu Spiritual Meet II effective.
Jeyabalasingam: Pranaams Swamiji.
Poojya Swamiji: Asirvaad, asirvaad. Jeyabalasingam: I am talking on behalf of Unni who heads the Hindu Spiritual Meet II. Since then, we have already now held meetings and have come up with a draft on how we are going to run the Hindu Spiritual meet II. Just a couple of days ago, we presented this to the President of the movement, Mr. Param. He also added something to what Unni and I came up with. So we already have a draft, a clear direction of how the Hindu Spiritual Meet II will go. Some of the basic things that need to be done right now has already been addressed, Swamiji. Like booking a whole hotel, we already have completed that. We are in touch with them to see to our needs there, for example, Param suggested that ….... We actually wanted to end it on the second day after lunch. But Param said why not we hold on the Conference Room in case people want to have a session with Swamiji there because the Centre may not be big enough to accommodate the whole crowd that comes there. So we are now negotiating that with them.
Poojya Swamiji: You say instead of winding up soon after lunch, you are thinking of extending it some more time, is it?
Jeyabalasingam: No Swamiji. Just the Conference Room we want to hold it back from after lunch until maybe for another hour or so, in case Swamiji wants to spend some time with them. This is an optional thing.
Poojya Swamiji: Only the Conference Room.
Jeyabalasingam: Only the Conference Room, the rest we will check out. We now also have something that has been approved by the President. So we are ready to forward that to you in a day or two. Within this week that will be forwarded to you. The modules have also been finalized by the main committee and a few other volunteers who have stayed back and spent hours with us. This will be forwarded to Swamiji for clearance as far as the modules are concerned. We shall be waiting for your response after we forward this to you, by Skype videoconferencing, Swamiji can tell us now whether you accept that in total or you have some suggestion or alterations. Or you may want to change the whole thing, that is perfectly well with us.
Poojya Swamiji: See, within three months, that is virtually within two months and maximum one more week to complete the contact trips to the different states, contacting a few people, etc; even now if the basic papers and decisions are not ready will it not be too late?
Jeyabalasingam: We are going to Penang at the end of this month. We have already got arrangement to meet up with people in Penang, Kedah. Also people from Perlis will come. Three states will be covered within this month. Then the rest we are moving in June. We already have a target date as to when we will finish. We only need to get 150 people. Out of this 150 people, probably about 50 to 60 people will be from our own area, Swamiji. In the other states, especially the smaller states, we don’t have that many people who qualify within the ambit of the type of people who we want. We still finding ways to get the best. We can get an average of about 10 people from each of these states; the rest will be from our own area, Swamiji.
Poojya Swamiji: See, your Penang visit is scheduled for the end of the month, and you will be covering only 3 states. What is your schedule for the rest of the 10? Have you finalized, then let me know?
Jeyabalasingam: Yes Swamiji, in terms of dateline, we have decided that by end of June we will have covered all the states. That is the priority for May – June. So July will be only to tie up loose ends with regards to the practical arrangements of the programme.
(Audio recording ends abruptly at 58 minutes of recording) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Audiofile on satsang, 10th May, 2009. Duration 58 minutes. Skype set-up and recording by Rames and Rema. Satsang coordination by Jeyabalasingam and Unnikrishnan. Bhojan Annakshetra team supervised by Shanti, Sotheeswari, Rathi, Uncle Ramaswamy. Hand-out sheet prepared by Management Committee, Society for Inner Resources Development Malaysia. Transcription of audiofile by Swaminathan (21st May, 2009). Transcript emailed to Ashram 21st May 2009.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Handout sheet given to participants for discussion before videosatsang with Poojya Swamiji:
SIRD Malaysia Video-satsang: Sunday 10 May 2009. Topic: Managing Fear
In Vicharasetu of October 1999, Swamiji writes:
What are the purposes of worship? These can be at three levels. The mind’s purposes, the intelligence’s purposes, and the heart’s purposes. What else can there be? The mind wants to overcome fear; it wants to become fearless. Is it not a purpose of the mind which all of you wish to have fulfilled? You will surely agree with me! Is there anyone in this assembly who is absolutely free of fear? We have a sloka citing that everything in this world generates fear:
In enjoyment, there is the fear of disease; in family prestige, the fear of downfall; in wealth, the fear of king; in honour, the fear of foe; in spiritual erudition, the fear of opponents; in virtue, the fear of vilifiers; and in body, the fear of death. For human beings, everything in this world is associated with fear. Vairagya – dispassion, based on wisdom – towards all worldly possessions alone is the source of fearlessness.
We want to keep these fears under check, under sublimation. Let there be a degree of fear, so far as it is creative and useful for my function. I don’t injure myself with a burn because of fear of fire. I don’t walk on the razor’s edge because of fear of being cut. I don’t dash into other vehicles when I drive – that is also understandable. However, with regard to other factors, such as apprehensions, misapprehensions, miscalculations, inhibitions, and the like, I think we should be able to keep the fear under check. And the worship should help us to do that.
By ‘worshipping’ what do I mean? I develop an attitude of sublimity and fondness for God. And what is this God? We would like to describe God as the very source of creation and the very source of preservation. It includes all and everything. It is all comprehensive – something that is associated with all kinds of powers, possibilities and potentials. When I rely upon such a God, the reliance is entirely. I must be able to understand this reliance, deepen it, or touch it up, in such a manner that for every form of fear, known or unknown, God comes to my mind and I immediately get protection from that fear.
The Sreemad Bhaagavata is an authoritative scripture on devotion. It is the last of the series of scriptural compositions of India. The Bhaagavata says clearly, “Manye akrtascit bhayam achytasya padambujopasanam” – the worship of the lotus feet of the Lord Achyuta conduces fearlessness.
You all have your personal life ahead of you. Some of you are married; some of you are going to marry; some are undergoing courses of further study, occupy different positions in professional life. All are aiming at earning enough of security. Yet I don’t think you are completely insulated from fear. For loss of life we have life-insurance. But do we have anything called fear-insurance? Can anything insulate us from, insure us against fear? Devotion and worship can!
Provided you understand devotion, provided you pursue it in its full measure, devotion can become your insurance. The worship of God should always be associated with this immediate need of the mind – that of eliminating fear. Mind has three basic notes – desire, hatred and fear. It is the managing of this basic note, namely fear that we are dwelling upon.
“Worshipper – Not the worshipped”. Vicharasetu, October 1999, pages 4-6. ………………………………………………………………………………………….
Men get into advaitic seeking and aspiration only by the blessing of God. And the sole object of this aspiration is to redeem them from the great fear of worldly life. (Avadhuta Gita 1.1) Prabhata-rasmih 10: Meditation – its Purpose and Limitation. p43.
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Questions for the GROUP MEMBERS participating in the discussion.
AFTER the discussion, list one or two questions your group wishes to put forward to Poojya Swamiji.
1.
2.
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