Freedom From Fear is The Key to Progress

FOR ONLY TO SELFISH COMES THE FEAR

ITS THE MOTHER OF ALL MISERY

Indian folklore tells of a pious king who worshipped, for many days, among other gods, eight goddesses (Lakshmis), each a repository of a particular virtue and blessing, necessary for human progress.

When the time came for them to leave, the eight Lakshmis (Ashtalakshmi) met him and on noting his devotion and fervour, offered that any one, of his choice, would stay back with him.

Without any hesitation, the king chose Dhairya Lakshmi (the goddess of courage) explaining that when this Lakshmi was still left behind with a person, all other Lakshmis and thus all other virtues and blessings would visit him continually.

Courage indeed is the prerequisite for accomplishment in any field of human endeavour. Perhaps recognising this, the immortal poem of Tagore, which sums up all the vital human virtues, begins with the lines, “Where the mind is without fear.......” The great book, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, observes on emergence into freedom and excellence, “

Jonathan Seagull discovered that boredom and fear and anger are the reasons that a gull’s life is so short and with these gone from his thought, he lived a long, fine life indeed.”

This common term fear, used in the two works, as above, also finds place in two stanzas of Bhagawad Gita. While the first (II, 56) states that the person with constant wisdom is one who is free of attachment, fear and anger, the second (V, 28) declares that one who casts away desire, fear and anger is the one who is actually liberated.

This aspect in human nature - fear - which figures in all the above references, is indeed the main hindrance to all progress. But, what is the way out? While most of us are troubled by lack of courage or confidence, in varying degrees, progress can always be made by recognising the nature of fear within, as and when this manifests through feelings of insecurity, anxiety, self-centeredness, self-obsession, loneliness and lack of self-esteem.

This awareness and identification through selfhonesty and an abiding desire to emerge into freedom could prove to be the beginning of the solution and self-purification.

The guideline can be found in the wise words of Franklin Roosevelt in his inaugural address of 1933, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”