How can we free ourselves from fear?

Manidhara Das
02 May 2022

Fear is the effective tool of control for the demoniac ones.

Fear, generated from ignorance, is the dominating factor of this world.
General populace is afraid of:

To die
To grow old
To become sick
To become impoverished
To become humiliated
To become insignificant
To lose what we believe to posses...

Fear is generated from bodily consciousness as the body is constantly exposed to the miseries inflicted by other living entities, supernatural powers, and the body itself including the mind.

These „natural“ sources of fear in this world are unlimitedly multiplied by the demoniac class of men who know well that fearful people can be controlled and fearless people are (for them) dangerous. So they invent problems, often with disastrous results, only to be able to offer to the fearful ones their „help“, the ONLY help so they claim, of course for good money and the price of humiliating loyalty to their agenda.

EVERYBODY is afraid. Those who claim they are not are mistaken. Anybody bereft of Krsna Consciousness, the awareness that everything is under control of the Supreme who is the final proprietor, enjoyer and controller, must be, while living in sheer ignorance of these facts, afraid.

“To divide and rule over” is the demoniac policy and people in fear are easy to divide and easy to isolate. The latest version of invented disease causing us all to keep distance at least two meters having our mouth covered and not travel anywhere is only a primitive example how far the demoniac class can go to keep the general population under control. Most will follow these doctrines simply out of fear.
Fear to „stick out“ and „be different“, fear to be prosecuted for one´s individuality, is the fear controlling the general masses of men.
All dictatorship regimes speak the same language, even they may use more sophisticated means of high tech mainstream media like today.

When I was a small boy, I grew up in the midst of the Cold War in an atmosphere of fear that „soon the capitalistic imperialists will attack“. Then, of course, there was a fear of being accused to disagree with the established political agenda and be punished severely by the police.
I saw that friends of my father committed suicide simply out of fear.
Soon after my parents immigrated to the West and being only thirteen years old boy, here I got to hear that the Russians will soon invade Europe and the only help we can get is from our American friends who won the Second World War after all. (No, considering the human lives being sacrificed, the Russians did.*) Now the communists were soon to attack, and everybody in the West was afraid once again.

My grandmother was afraid with no reason that her family will starve or something horrible will happen. I still remember her whining voice. My mother was always afraid something will happen and there will be no money, even there was never a shortage of anything in our home. Life was simple but one could spare oneself the constant complains filled with fear.

Then eighties came and everybody was afraid of the upcoming atomic war. Sure, war can come, but the atomic war didn´t come until today. Only those who were afraid to die died anyway, often their lives being shortened by their constant fear.

Even not being able to express myself as I do today, thanks to my spiritual master A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami who gave words to my suspicion that fear in itself is worthless.
To be careful and not wreckless is necessary, but to be afraid of those events which we cannot control anyway is a waste of time. To listen to the demoniac propaganda creating fear is of no use either, rather it is infectious. Associating with a fearful person makes one likely to be influenced by fear as well as fear is infectious. Paranoia and hysteria are the ways to cause harm to oneself and others as well.

And so it was Srila Prabhupada from whom I first heard that advancement of consciousness, Krsna Consciousness, can be tested by the absence of fear. How relieving it was to hear these words! While preaching Krsna Consciousness, sometimes under difficult or even dangerous circumstances, I learned the luxury to be free of fear.
When the German police officer was holding a gun to my head, because he found me distributing Krsna conscious books on the street, was hissing in my ear „pig like you I would like to shoot“, I just remembered the Supreme Lord even more intensely, waiting for the clicking of the trigger of his gun. It never came and scenes of this sort being repeated stopped being of my concern.

What is the concern of a devotee? Never forget Krsna, the Supreme Controller.
What is causing fear and paranoia? To forget Krsna and remember only the instant source of a danger.
We expect the worst and hope for the best, was Srila Prabhupada´s survival policy. He managed His movement in most pragmatic ways, despite all the threats and all the danger created by its opponents.

When I joined His movement in 1972, I met the most blissful people on this planet, with their bliss being generated from the absolute absence of fear and absolute faith into the protection Krsna offers to those who surrender their lives unto Him.
I found this fact proven over and over again. I found myself provoking situations in despair often, bereft after the departure of Srila Prabhupada and His devoted followers, of the shelter of the very same movement I joined.
I am the living proof that Krsna never forgets even such insignificant devotee like myself. The Supreme Lord always concerned that I may not be victimized or diverted by those who came to understand that there are more important issues to address than the service to Him.

Surely, the opportunity to be overcome by the most powerful illusory energy of the Lord gives reason to be most cautious. But what could happen to somebody who is under Srila Prabhupada´s protection? As Srila Prabhupada writes one of His disciples: “You always write to me about your problems. But with a single kick of my left foot I can remove all your problems.“

God helps those who help themselves. So while following our duties we must try to stay protected under the guidance of Srila Prabhupada and His bonafide representative. But in all our endeavors we should avoid fear. It is paralyzing, it is creating chaos and confusion, and it is dangerous to ourselves and others.
And so devotees emerge out of the chaos surrounding them as being abhayam, truly fearless.