Leaving in Constant Fear

Fear remains deeply entrenched within us; it is one of the most primitive of emotions that ensures self-preservation. This emotion is mediated by the limbic system, which is phylogenetically the oldest of the nervous systems. It is an integral third of the 'fight, fright and flight' response. Fear as a physiological reaction has a definite evolutionary role, but when it outgrows this primal scope and becomes pathological, it can wreak havoc. Fear plays an integral role in determining the happiness quotient of life.

The index of equanimity is guided by the fear degree of the fear of the unknown. It can drive a person to paranoia if he is a control freak or redeem him totally if he surrenders to the unknown. Fear is in the future, never in the present. Eventually, today becomes the tomorrow that we feared yesterday.

There is a primordial form of fear that keeps one always on the edge. It is 'existential angst'. It is characterized by a sense of constant persecution, a fear of a grand conspiracy and a sense of impending doom. This psychological anxiety, sooner than later, manifests itself as a plethora of somatic ailments.

The following story is illustrative: There was once a little mouse that lived in constant fear of the cat. The anxiety of running into the cat made it live a life of misery. God, overcome with sympathy decided to truth the mouse into a cat so as to allay its fears. No sooner did this happen than the cat began to get nightmares about the dog.

Wanting to appease the tortured soul, God turned the cat into a dog. However, the newly-created dog now began to get fearful thoughts about being b y the tiger. The omniscient One understands even without words and soon enough, the dog was converted into a tiger.

Becoming a tiger should have been the end of all his woes, but no, this 'tiger' felt the creeps at the thought of an armed hunter, who might spot him and then...... At this point, God turned the tiger back into a mouse.

He said to the mouse, "No physical form will ever rid you of your fear, because the fear is not of your form. It is in your imagination, and that unfortunately is not in my control."

On closer examination it is evident that fear stems from resentment and anxiety about imminent unpleasant events..... Despite the knowledge of one's helplessness in shaping the turn of future events, fear stems from the imaginary ''What if?" It is common knowledge that anxiety about an unpleasant event is worse than actually dealing with the event itself. This is because the imagination conjures all sorts of potential 'worse than' scenarios. The actual event very often passes off as an anti-climax. Thus fear tends to magnify only the negative outcomes. A positive attitude in such situations learns more on 'better than' scenarios. Both schools of thought don't change reality. They only modulate the mindset by making it either bearable or unbearable.

If fear were to be viewed merely as a biological construct, just an instinct for survival, then the tiny mouse would be as fearless as the hunter without physically having to transform into one.

Intellect and Intelligence

we spend a lot of time acquiring intelligence at the expense of developing intellect.

Intelligence is built by gaining information, knowledge from external agencies, from schools and universities, teachers and textbooks. The intellect is developed through your individual effort by exercising the faculty of questioning, thinking and reasoning. Not accepting anything that does not admit logic or reason. Know the difference between the two. And that any amount of intelligence gained cannot per se build your intellect.

The intelligence acquired from external agencies is much like data fed into a computer Consider, a computer charged with a complete knowledge of fire extinguishers, firefighting and fire escapes. All the knowledge stored in its memory cannot help the computer act on its own. If the room catches fire, it will go up in flames. The knowledge you acquire is of no use to you without an intellect.

You need a powerful intellect to put the knowledge, intelligence gained, to practical use in life. That explains why among millions of doctors graduating from medical schools only a few have discovered life-saving procedures, cures and remedies. So too, among millions of engineers only few design something unusual like the Panama Canal or Eurotunnel. It is their intellect that renders their performance outstanding. Besides hindering success and progress, intelligence without intellect could destroy peace and happiness in the world.

No realizing the importance of the intellect in life, people make no attempt to develop their own. Instead, they merely indulge in acquiring intelligence through surface reading of others’ periodicals and publications. Few go into the depth of any literature. Education has lost its meaning and purpose. For generation human beings have turned into intelligent robots and are traversing through life without awareness, much less enquiring into the meaning and purpose of life. Herbert Spencer, a profound thinker and writer, was a rare luminary. Someone asked him if he was a voracious reader. He said: “No sir, if I were as big a reader as others, I would have been as big an ignoramus as they.”

The World today is in a state of chaos due to the perversion in human development – all intelligence and no intellect. That explains why even highly educated business persons, professionals, and scholars become alcoholic, are short-tempered and succumb to worry and anxiety. It is the mind that craves alcohol. It is the mind that loses its temper. Again, it is the mind that constantly harbors worry of the past and anxiety for the future. When the intellect remains undeveloped and weak, it is unable to control the vagaries of the mind. Those having developed a powerful intellect, with or without academic distinction, can hold the mind under perfect control and direct action to spell success and peace in life.

The educational systems the world over must be held responsible for the debacle of the intellect. It is their primary responsibility to strike an equable balance between acquiring intelligence and developing the intellect. Only by maintaining this essential equation can governments be run, business conducted, professions practiced and families live in peace and prosperity.

Human Body is the Home of the Soul

Meaning: According to the line of Yajurved 29/49 - just as man builds a home for himself on this earth and lives in it, similarly the human body is the home of the soul. Therefore it should be kept healthy and free from disease through celibacy, simple food and discipline.

Message: The importance of the human body is because of the fact that for the salvation of the world, God also has to come into the world in human form only. As such also, among the entire creation ranging from insects and birds to man, only man's body is the most excellent in every way. God has created man as his assistant and companion for peace, good organization, prosperity, beauty and progress of the world. He has put all his powers and specialties in him so that he can be fully capable in fulfilling these pious goals. Not only that, but also God himself resides within every human being's soul and keeps guiding him. Even then man hits his own feet with an axe by ignoring, disregarding and disobeying the voice of his soul through his own foolishness.

It is man's responsibility to keep his body or the home of the soul clean, pure and healthy. With that he also benefits and easily gets God's grace. Health is an invaluable wealth. With it there is rosy luster on the forehead, brightness on the face, shine in the eyes and other organs and the mind and the soul remain cheerful. What is the use of wealth, grains, supremacy, learning and intelligence without a healthy body? Without health man's life becomes burdensome even though he is replete with wealth, very learned and his name and fame spread everywhere. Not only is good health required for material progress, but it is no less important for spiritual uplift. A man suffering from disease is not even able to think of God. Thus, this life and life after death, both are spoiled without good health. Not only the life her is ruined but because of the inability to do good deeds, the next birth also is spoiled, and hence man is neither happy here nor there. Let man progress a lot; earn plenty of money, collect various means of comfort and other things, but it is necessary for him not to lose health. What is the use of the money which gives indigestion? If we want to live, let us live in good health, otherwise there is no benefit in living.

For remaining healthy celibacy must be observed and simple food should be taken. Eggs, meat, fish, cigarette, bidi, liquor and similar intoxicating things should never be consumed. Man becomes uncouth and discourteous by consuming them. Physical exercise must be made a part of the daily routine. The mind and the thinking should also always be kept clean and pure and good moral conduct must be very firmly put into practice. A healthy and well-built man becomes the centre of attraction. The light of his soul spreads everywhere and enhances his name and fame.

Human Body is the Best Body than the Other Bodies

Meaning: According to the line of Athervaved 5/30/17 - The human body is more important than the bodies of other animals. All the powers and means of spiritual salvation are present within it. Therefore man's diet, routine, thinking and conduct should be such that he can live the full life-spam.

Message: After having wandered through 84,00,000 species of life, the soul finally attains the human body, and all the paths for his progress automatically open up. Then it does not take long for salvation, i.e. for achieving liberation from the imprisonment and bondage of life. But only by observing celibacy does the man achieve the capability for completing the tasks for people's welfare while utilizing the 100 years life spam given to him by God.

The word 'Brahmacharya', means celibacy, is very much misunderstood and very narrowly interpreted as protection of semen and control over sexual desire. This is only a part-interpretation. The correct meaning of the word 'Brahmacharya' is meditating upon or thinking of God study of the Vedas (or religious scriptures), acquiring knowledge, and protection of semen or sperm. "Brahma" refers to the Creator and to greatness and "Charya" means to move. Thus to move with greatness, to become great and to conduct ourselves befitting greatness is the all encompassing meaning.

Therefore it is necessary that we think of the divine qualities of God for achieving greatness and try to put them into practical conduct. It is also necessary that we study the Vedas and other scriptures and acquire true knowledge, and thereby develop our intelligence to arouse the power of discretion to distinguish between proper and improper, moral and immoral. But this becomes possible only when good health is established by protecting the semen. One who observes celibacy in the real sense explained above, is full of divine brightens, his eyes have a piercing shine, cheeks are rosy and the face shines with luster. The body becomes well-built with "Brahmacharya" and qualities like cheerfulness, firmness, daring and patience develop. In addition, by observing "Brahmacharya" the depletion of our powers is prevented and we are able to utilize them for moving forward on the path of greatness.

For his own progress, man must observe "Brahmacharya". Seen in a wider perspective the society too needs 'Brahmacharya'. Today the entire society is becoming weak, dispersed and narrow minded. Everywhere the signs of selfishness, incapability, obscenity, restlessness, fear and ruin only are seen. The reason for this is that the "Brahmacharya' of the society too has become depleted and therefore its powers have becomes scattered. in the 'devasur sangram', teh fight between the deities and the demons, when the deities were being defeated, God collected all their scattered powers and by combining them produced a single, tremendous power in the form of teh female deity called Durga. Today not only the man has to organize and concentrate his scattered powers, but the society too by observing "Brahmacharya" has to gather together the powers of unity, cooperation, goodwill and good moral virtues. The body, the mind, the soul, the society and the nation, all should observe "Brahmacharya".

God’s Grace is Bestowedept happy by God.

Meaning: The line of Rigved 1/113/11 states that – God makes those men intelligent and religious, who, upon getting up at dawn meditate upon Him. Those men and women maintain harmonious with God as witness are always

Message: Among all the natural elements, air is subtler than earth, water and fire. Because of that, its qualities and influence are also more. Man can live for some time with food and water, but cannot remain alive for even a moment without air. The pollution of other elements is not as harmful as the pollution of air. It becomes difficult to breathe in dirty, unclean, rotten, stinking air and one feels suffocated. During day-time we have to go to various places for our work and can hardly get pure air to breathe. In such a situation, it is foolishness of the first order to ignore the easily available life-giving air of the dawn.

After the ablutions after getting up in the dawn, along with breathing the fresh air, exercise and thinking about God must be carried out. This wonderful nature, fruits, flowers, grains and water, all this has been produced by our Supreme Father for our use. By meditating upon that God, we must express our thanks to Him. To resolve to observe his commands is in itself thanking or meditating upon God. It is not necessary to go to a temple, offer flowers, fruits, water and milk, to light a lamp and incense, to ring the bell, and to bow down and prostrate in reverence. The good use of life is in obeying God’s advice or orders. We must be alert to see that demoniac tendencies do not enter our daily activities, and that our individual, familial and societal activities be inspired with divine qualities and that the demons of selfishness, attachment, greed and anger do not harass us. This is realistic thinking about God.

Our most important problems is how to put our life to good use and farsightedness lies in solving it. For this the best period is the dawn. By meditating for some time, we are able to obtain the divine message regarding the objective of life. Whatever wickedness and faults we have will disappear, good qualities will increase. Wicked thoughts and sinful sentiments will disappear from our mind. A direct connection is established with the omnipresent authority of God by contact with nature in the dawn and the mind vibrates with waves of pleasant, pure and beautiful thoughts.

God’s grace is bestowed on this type of conduct of man, who obtains happiness, peace, name and fame by doing his deeds throughout the day with energy and enthusiasm.