Fear

Whenever you will give a lot of importance to what others give you, you will be afraid, and then you will want to play safe. Make a list of all that others give you—company, attachment, reputation, and these are the things that are at the core of your fear.

Whenever…

You are so powerful actually that you are scared of yourself.

There are three ‘you’s in that statement. The first two refer to the small self or the ego. The third one refers to the best that you can be, the Great Self, the Truth—classically, the Ātman. And classically…

There was a Buddhist scholar Nagarjuna. He talked of a painter who fills his entire room with terrifying paintings painted by himself. So, on this wall he paints a demon, there he makes another horrible scene, something there, something there. And he is painting it himself, and then he becomes…

The movies tell us that unless there is a special person in your life, you are really missing out on something big, and then you are seized by FOMO. What is FOMO? Fear of missing out.

“Oh my God, everybody has that! I am the only one left behind! I…

Choose a person who will challenge you, not someone who will pamper you, console you, tell you, “You are beautiful as you are.” And in the very same way, choose work. Choose work that will really be difficult to handle. Because if it is difficult to handle, then maybe it…

Love knows on its own. Love needs no instructions. Hence, we are so afraid of it. We cannot control it. We do not know where it would go and what trouble it might lead us into. So, we say, keep your hands off this dangerous thing! Better be in formal…

Your fear is not that something bad will happen; you are afraid of the impact it will have upon you.

Is it the world that terrifies you, or is it your own vulnerability? If you know very well that, “Come what may! Let the world collapse, it will have no…

If you look at fear with fear, then you will never know fear. You will have to fearlessly penetrate fear.

So, when you say, for example, that you are afraid of something, you will have to ask, “What am I really afraid of?” Penetrate it.

Fear tells you, “Something wrong…

Those who are lazy lack not in energy but in understanding. You do not know that you need to work and that work will get you benefits, dividends, joys. Therefore, you are preferring inaction over action. Had you really known the sweetness, the ambrosia of right action, you would have…

As long as you keep giving importance to what you get from here and there, you will live in fear. And that is not necessary. Nobody wants to live in fear, right? Neither do you want to live in fear, nor do I want to live in fear. That is…

It is not anxiety that bothers you. It is your anxiety about anxiety. Just as we are afraid of so many things, we are also fearful of fear. “What if I become afraid?” Similarly, we are anxious about anxiety.

Now, is there anything here, right now, that makes you anxious?…

Were you born thinking of a job? Was that the first thing you said to the nurse? “How and where can I get a job, please?”

Nobody is ever born with fear. Fear has been given to us. Who implanted this fear in your mind? Society, and these movies, and…

You are actually so powerful that you are scared of yourself. The ego doesn’t want to give up. That’s what the scare is all about, because betterment of the ego is nothing but the reduction of the ego. Who wants to reduce?

We all want to accumulate. We all want…

When you are speaking to a friend, do you need confidence? You don’t need confidence in the everyday situations at your home or with your friends. But in the interview room everybody says, “I need confidence,” right?

When do you need confidence? When does the question of confidence arise? The…

I need not pick up work that is suited to my strengths. I must do that which I am really afraid of doing. That is the right definition of work.

Work is not something that you do in order to inflate yourself or to fatten your pockets. Work is something…

Why does society exist?

“Because man is a social animal.”

Who told you that?

Wherever you are, that is where the door will open for you. You need not go to any other place. If you are bored, then boredom is the door. If you are attached, then that attachment itself is the door. If you are angry and fearful, then the anger and…

Why do the regular events of life succeed in deceiving you? Because you are not available to them; because you are not looking at them as they are; because you are not listening to what they are really saying right now. Instead, you are carrying images and echos—images of scenes…

Your parents don’t want you to speak, your teachers don’t want you to speak, and religious preachers, obviously, they are very afraid if you speak up. So you don’t ask even the most basic, logical, sensible questions, and you keep accepting even the most amusing kind of trash as if…

You cannot keep measuring human wellness by human consumption anymore, not possible. You have to train yourself to think in different terms. Your internal model of human wellness has to be very different now; it has to be an internal model.

“Does the fellow have food to eat? Does the…

If in relating to the other you feel afraid, it is because the other has the capacity to hurt your interests, that’s all. Why are you so dependent? It might be that you are dependent just in a psychological way, or you might be dependent even in a financial way,…

Not to be born is a remedy from the perils of life, and more importantly, from the scare of death. Do not allow your mind to take very seriously all that which comes as a result of your physical appearance. What does your physical birth give you? It gives you…

The yakṣa (demon) asks, “What is the most surprising thing about life?”

Yudhishtira says, “The most surprising thing is that we all know that death is coming, and yet we pretend as if we are immortal.”

Let not death come as a surprise. Live in the remembrance of death every

Fear comes when they tell you that you must have a life insurance. Aren’t the commercials always telling you that? And so dumbly we continue to look at them.

Fear comes when you are told that you must have a life partner so that you have a nice old age.…

Do not just keep saying, “Oh! I get hurt. I need to be handled with kid gloves.” Have you seen those boxes? On top of them it is written, ‘Fragile. Handle with care’. Are you that box? Wear a T-shirt. On the front, it should read ‘fragile’; on the back,…

Fear is never reasonless, purposeless, or messageless. It tells you of your insecurities. It tells you of your vulnerabilities. It tells you where you are not real.

If you do not listen to fear, you will keep assuming that you are all solid and strong. It is only fear that…

If you have to catch a train or a flight, you very well do see that time is limited. When others are dying in front of you, you do see that time is limited. It is only yourself that you consider immortal. Everything else is perishable. “The train would leave,…

Ego is a pleasure seeker. The ego wants to talk of life and its celebrations and beauties and fragrances. The Aghori says, “The ego wants to forget death, and I keep reminding the ego of death.”

He reminds the ego of death in the most ruthless way possible. He would…

All your life your experiences have fooled you, right? When you looked at that woman, you experienced pure love; next year, you were filing for divorce. What happened to that experience?

Don’t you know how your experience fools you all the time? Don’t you see the most beautiful woman in…

Fearlessness helps. Confidence does not help. Confidence is like a pill that you are trying to take when you are already sick. Avoid sickness. The pill cannot be your food, the substance of your life.

I am giving you a mantra: Whenever you feel scared, trembling, or even hopeful in…

See how much of our energy rises from suspicion. See how uncertainty and doubt motivate us so much. See how people are rushing around in their cars, and the fuel is doubt.

Doubt kills. It will not let you sleep. You cannot relax in doubt.

Is there anything in your…

With every passing breath, with every passing day, with every passing year, you should be getting actually better and better. And by betterment I do not mean accumulation of wealth or knowledge or stuff; you should really be getting better as you advance in years. You should be getting better,…

Questioner (Q): I have been a part of college campuses for a long time, ten years in fact. For five years I was an undergraduate at IIT Bombay, and eventually I completed my Ph.D. at the University of California. One common theme that I have noticed among students in both…

Questioner (Q): Acharya Ji, pranam. Gail decided what he would like to do when he was just 16 and followed it throughout his life. I have always been risk-averse and I have followed a conventional career path.

I have planned to go for MBA next, though I decided this long…

Questioner: How will I dissolve?

Acharya Prashant: By watching the one who wants to dissolve. (Silence)

Who is the one who wants to dissolve? And why does he want to dissolve? And if he is really serious and honest why has he already not dissolved till now? Surely, there is…

Here is a quote from the essay “Listen, Little Man!” And it’s the great man or the big man talking to all the little men:

“I have known you, shared your experiences; I’ve known you in myself. As a physician, I’ve freed you from what is small in you; as…

Questioner: Acharya Ji, what is the difference between Loneliness and Aloneness?

Acharya Prashant: Simply put,

Loneliness is when you are not alright with yourself.

Question: Pranaam Acharya Ji. Why do I get nervous in situations where I have to express myself, or when I have to talk to people?

Acharya Prashant(AP): What do you talk to people about?

Questioner (Q): Acharya Ji, I have fear of my future, I don’t have a lot of money, not much material security. How to overcome this fear?

Acharya Prashant (AP): If you have none of these, then you do not have a future, what are you worried about? If you have…

Question: Acharya Ji, you have said in one of the Satsangs that one has to go to the deepest fear to find the key. I go to that deepest fear, visit there. How do I get the key? Do I get the key? Do I not get the key? I…

Question: We understood in our HIDP class that ‘fear’ is a ‘state of mind.’ But Acharya Ji, different kinds of fear generally arise in a human. It is natural to a human. For example, fear of getting low marks or fear of losing our near and dear ones. So Acharya…

Questioner: Is the goal to eliminate fear completely, or to be not affected by fear as one witnesses it within? I ask because as long as one has expectations from others, one needs to fulfill their desires, which can inhibit freedom and create fear.

Acharya Prashant: Fear is not an…

Listener: Why are we always scared? In a class if I’m sitting and I’ve to ask question to our teacher, then why do we always think that what people will think of us if I ask this question?

Acharya Prashant: What’s your name?

Acharya Prashant: The question is, “If I stay wild in the society, there would be repercussions; what to do?”

Who is thinking this? From where is this thought arising? Is this a thought coming from the unconditioned mind or is it the teaching of the society that is talking? You…

Questioner (Q): Whenever I want to do something new, I am always afraid that I might fail. So, I keep a backup plan for myself, that in case I fail, I will do this another thing. And I don’t know if this is the right way of thinking or approaching…

Listener: “Fear can be answered only with Faith” (A quote by Acharya prashant) What does this mean? And what is ‘Faith’

AP:

Faith is to be certain without reason.

Question: Why does the mind fear change?

Acharya Prashant:

Mind does not fear change. Mind is afraid that it will lose what it has.

Acharya Prashant (AP): The question is that 'why doesn’t one experience so much of fear?' He is quoting a specific incident from yesterday when he saw a large dog and that aroused fear in him. Tell me – what is it that you take as a problem – the fact…

Listener: I was reading a book and I see you put very much attention to fear. I find it interesting because others put emphasis on following time.

Acharya Prashant: All the spiritual teachings, this entire domain has one single objective and that objective is not the attainment of God.…

Questioner: Sir, I experience fear a lot of times. How to get rid of it?

Acharya Prashant: As long as it’s just an experience and you honestly acknowledge it, every such experience will burn away the seed from where this fear comes. Every time you experience without yielding to the…