Pearls of Wisdom : Fearlessness should be your Forte

One can always progress towards the goal of Fearlessness by determined and constant endeavour, and by cultivating self-confidence

Every reader of the Gita knows that fearlessness heads the list of the Divine Attributes enumerated in the 16th chapter. Whether this is merely due to the exigencies of metre, or whether the pride of place has been deliberately yielded to fearlessness, is more than I can say. In my opinion, however, fearlessness richly deserves the first rank assigned to it there. For it is a sine qua non for the growth of the other noble qualities.

How can one seek Truth, or cherish Love, without fearlessness? As Pritam has it, ‘the path of Hari (the Lord) is the path of the brave, not of cowards’. Hari here means Truth, and the brave are those armed with fearlessness, not with the sword, the rifle and other carnal weapons, which, strictly speaking are affected only by cowards. Fearlessness connotes freedom from all external fear – fear of disease, bodily injury and death, of dispossession, of losing one’s nearest and dearest, of losing reputation or giving offence, and so on.

One, who overcomes the fear of death, does not surmount all other fears, as is commonly but erroneously supposed. Some of us do not fear death, but flee from the minor ills of life. Some are ready to die themselves, but cannot bear their loved ones to be taken away from them. Some misers will put up with all this, will part even with their lives, but not their property; others will do any number of black deeds in order to uphold their supposed prestige. Some will swerve from the strait and narrow path, which lies clear before them, simply because they are afraid of incurring the world’s odium. The seeker after Truth must conquer all these fears. He should be ready to sacrifice his all in the quest of Truth, even as Harishchandra did. The story of Harishchandra may be only a parable; but every seeker will bear witness to its truth from his personal experience, and therefore that story is more precious than any historical fact

Perfect fearlessness can be attained only by him who has realised the Supreme, as it implies freedom from delusions. One can always progress towards this goal by determined and constant endeavour, and by cultivating self-confidence. As I have stated at the very outset, we must give up all external fears. But the internal foes we must always fear. We are rightly afraid of animal passion, anger, and the like. External fears cease of their own accord, when once we have conquered these traitors within the camp. All fears revolve round the body as the centre, and would therefore disappear, as soon as one got rid of attachment for the body. We thus find, that all fear is the baseless fabric of our own vision. Fear has no place in our hearts, when we have shaken off the attachment for wealth, for family and for the body.

External fears cease of their own accord, when once we have conquered these traitors within the camp. All fears revolve round the body as the centre, and would therefore disappear, as soon as one got rid of attachment for the body

‘Enjoy the things of the earth by renouncing them’ is a noble percept. Wealth, family and body will be there, just the same; we have only to change our attitude towards them. All these are not ours, but God’s. Nothing whatever in this world is ours.’ Even we ourselves are His. Why, then, should we entertain any fears? The Upanishad therefore directs us ‘to give up attachment for things, while we enjoy them’. That is to say, we must be interested in them, not as proprietors, but as only trustees. He, on whose behalf we hold them, will give us the strength and the weapons requisite for defending them against all usurpers. When we thus cease to be masters and reduce ourselves to the rank of servants, humbler than the very dust under our feet, all fears will roll away like mists; we shall attain ineffable peace, and see Satyanarayana (the God of Truth) face to face.

By Mahatma Gandhi