We have also seen many times that you would never kill such surrendered fighters when they were all fearful, their bows, arrows and chariots broken, forgetful of their military activities and unable to fight with you. So actually we have nothing to fear from these demigods. They are very proud of being great fighters in peacetime outside the war field, but actually they cannot show any talent or military power on the war field. Although Lord Viṣṇu, Lord Śiva and Lord Brahmā are always ready to help the demigods, headed by Indra, we have no reason to be afraid of them. As far as Lord Viṣṇu is concerned, He has already hidden Himself within the hearts of all living entities, and He cannot come out. As far as Lord Śiva is concerned, he has renounced all activities; he has already entered into the forest. And Lord Brahmā is always engaged in different types of austerities and meditation. And what to speak of Indra—he is a straw in comparison to your strength. Therefore we have nothing to fear from any of these demigods. But we must not neglect them, for the demigods are our determined enemies. We must be careful to protect ourselves. To root them out from their very existence, we should just engage ourselves in your service and be always ready for your command.”
Nothing to fear
Bhagavad-gita As It Is
BG Chapters 1 - 6
The blowing of these different conchshells became uproarious. Vibrating both in the sky and on the earth, it shattered the hearts of the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra.
When Bhīṣma and the others on the side of Duryodhana blew their respective conchshells, there was no heart-breaking on the part of the Pāṇḍavas. Such occurrences are not mentioned, but in this particular verse it is mentioned that the hearts of the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra were shattered by the sounds vibrated by the Pāṇḍavas' party. This is due to the Pāṇḍavas and their confidence in Lord Kṛṣṇa. One who takes shelter of the Supreme Lord has nothing to fear, even in the midst of the greatest calamity.
BG Chapters 7 - 12
Birth and death apply to one's embodiment in the material world. Fear is due to worrying about the future. A person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness has no fear because by his activities he is sure to go back to the spiritual sky, back home, back to Godhead. Therefore his future is very bright. Others, however, do not know what their future holds; they have no knowledge of what the next life holds. So they are therefore in constant anxiety. If we want to get free from anxiety, then the best course is to understand Kṛṣṇa and be situated always in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In that way we will be free from all fear. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.2.37) it is stated, bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syāt: fear is caused by our absorption in the illusory energy. But those who are free from the illusory energy, those who are confident that they are not the material body, that they are spiritual parts of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and who are therefore engaged in the transcendental service of the Supreme Godhead, have nothing to fear. Their future is very bright. This fear is a condition of persons who are not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Abhayam, fearlessness, is possible only for one in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 1
The present age is influenced by the specific qualities of Kali. Since the days of the Battle of Kurukṣetra, about five thousand years ago, the influence of the age of Kali began manifesting, and from authentic scriptures it is learned that the age of Kali is still to run on for 427,000 years. The symptoms of the Kali-yuga, as mentioned above, namely avarice, falsehood, diplomacy, cheating, nepotism, violence and all such things, are already in vogue, and no one can imagine what is going to happen gradually with further increase of the influence of Kali till the day of annihilation. We have already come to know that the influence of the age of Kali is meant for godless so-called civilized man; those who are under the protection of the Lord have nothing to fear from this horrible age. Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira was a great devotee of the Lord, and there was no necessity of his being afraid of the age of Kali, but he preferred to retire from active household life and prepare himself to go back home, back to Godhead. The Pāṇḍavas are eternal companions of the Lord, and therefore they are more interested in the company of the Lord than anything else.
The difference between the Pāṇḍavas and Vidura is that the Pāṇḍavas are eternal associates of the Lord, the Personality of Godhead, whereas Vidura is one of the administrative demigods in charge of the Pitṛloka planet and is known as Yamarāja. Men are afraid of Yamarāja because it is he only who awards punishment to the miscreants of the material world, but those who are devotees of the Lord have nothing to fear from him. To the devotees he is a cordial friend, but to the nondevotees he is fear personified. As we have already discussed, it is understood that Yamarāja was cursed by Maṇḍūka Muni to be degraded as a śūdra, and therefore Vidura was an incarnation of Yamarāja. As an eternal servitor of the Lord, he displayed his devotional activities very ardently and lived a life of a pious man, so much so that a materialistic man like Dhṛtarāṣṭra also got salvation by his instruction. So by his pious activities in the devotional service of the Lord he was able to always remember the lotus feet of the Lord, and thus he became washed of all contamination of a śūdra-born life.
Mahārāja Parīkṣit considered that less intelligent men might find the personality of Kali to be very powerful, but that those who are self-controlled would have nothing to fear. The King was powerful like a tiger and took care for the foolish, careless persons.
Those who are not devotees of the Lord are careless and unintelligent. Unless one is thoroughly intelligent, one cannot be a devotee of the Lord. Those who are not devotees of the Lord fall prey to the actions of Kali. It will not be possible to bring about a saner condition in society unless we are prepared to accept the modes of action adopted by Mahārāja Parīkṣit, i.e., propagation of the devotional service of the Lord to the common man.
SB Canto 2
According to the regulations of the sanātana-dharma institution, one is trained from the beginning to depend fully on the protection of the Lord in all circumstances. The path of renunciation is recommended for acceptance by one who is fully accomplished and fully purified in his existence. This stage is described also in the Bhagavad-gītā (16.5) as daivī sampat. A human being is required to accumulate daivī sampat, or spiritual assets; otherwise, the next alternative, āsurī sampat, or material assets, will overcome him disproportionately, and thus one will be forced into the entanglement of different miseries of the material world. A sannyāsī should always live alone, without company, and he must be fearless. He should never be afraid of living alone, although he is never alone. The Lord is residing in everyone's heart, and unless one is purified by the prescribed process, one will feel that he is alone. But a man in the renounced order of life must be purified by the process; thus he will feel the presence of the Lord everywhere and will have nothing to fear (such as being without any company). Everyone can become a fearless and honest person if his very existence is purified by discharging the prescribed duty for each and every order of life. One can become fixed in one's prescribed duty by faithful aural reception of Vedic instructions and assimilation of the essence of Vedic knowledge by devotional service to the Lord.
Although possessed of all personal qualities, He is nevertheless omnipotent. Therefore, personally He has nothing to do, for everything is being carried out by His omnipotent energies. This is confirmed by the Vedic mantras: parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). This suggests His specific spiritual form, which can never be experienced by the material senses. He can be seen only when the senses are purified by devotional service (yam evaiṣa vṛṇute tena -labhyaḥ Kaṭha Upaniṣad 1.2.23). As such, there are basic differences between the Lord and the living entities, in so many respects. No one can be compared to the Lord, as the Vedas declare (ekam evādvitīyaṁ brahma, dvaitād vai bhayaṁ bhavati). The Lord has no competitor, and He has nothing to fear from any other being, nor can anyone be equal to Him. Although He is the root of all other beings, there are basic differences between Him and other beings. Otherwise there would have been no necessity for the statement in the previous verse that no one can know Him one hundred percent as He is (na yaṁ vidanti tattvena).
SB Canto 3
The demon, who had golden hair on his head and fearful tusks, gave chase to the Lord while He was rising from the water, even as an alligator would chase an elephant. Roaring like thunder, he said: Are You not ashamed of running away before a challenging adversary? There is nothing reproachable for shameless creatures!
When the Lord was coming out of the water, taking the earth in His arms to deliver it, the demon derided Him with insulting words, but the Lord did not care because He was very conscious of His duty. For a dutiful man there is nothing to fear. Similarly, those who are powerful have no fear of derision or unkind words from an enemy. The Lord had nothing to fear from anyone, yet He was merciful to His enemy by neglecting him. Although apparently He fled from the challenge, it was just to protect the earth from calamity that He tolerated Hiraṇyākṣa's deriding words.
Everyone is afraid of the activities of time, but a devotee who knows that the time factor is another representation or manifestation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead has nothing to fear from the influence of time. The phrase rūpa-bhedāspadam is very significant. By the influence of time, so many forms are changing. For example, when a child is born his form is small, but in the course of time that form changes into a larger form, the body of a boy, and then the body of a young man. Similarly, everything is changed and transformed by the time factor, or by the indirect control of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Usually, we do not see any difference between the body of a child and the body of a boy or young man because we know that these changes are due to the action of the time factor. There is cause for fear for a person who does not know how time acts.
SB Canto 6
When Indra saw that actually they were his devoted followers, he said to them: If you are all my brothers, you have nothing more to fear from me.
SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13
Vasudeva considered: By delivering all my sons to Kaṁsa, who is death personified, I shall save the life of Devakī. Perhaps Kaṁsa will die before my sons take birth, or, since he is already destined to die at the hands of my son, one of my sons may kill him. For the time being, let me promise to hand over my sons so that Kaṁsa will give up this immediate threat, and if in due course of time Kaṁsa dies, I shall have nothing to fear.
Vasudeva wanted to save the life of Devakī by promising to deliver his sons to Kaṁsa. "In the future," he thought, "Kaṁsa may die, or I may not beget any sons. Even if a son is born and I deliver him to Kaṁsa, Kaṁsa may die at his hands, for by providence anything could happen. It is very difficult to understand how things are managed by providence." Thus Vasudeva decided that he would promise to deliver his sons to the hands of Kaṁsa in order to save Devakī from the imminent danger of death.
Vasudeva said: O best of the sober, you have nothing to fear from your sister Devakī because of what you have heard from the unseen omen. The cause of death will be her sons. Therefore I promise that when she gives birth to the sons from whom your fear has arisen, I shall deliver them all unto your hands.
Kaṁsa feared Devakī's existence because after her eighth pregnancy she would give birth to a son who would kill him. Vasudeva, therefore, to assure his brother-in-law the utmost safety, promised to bring him all the sons. He would not wait for the eighth son, but from the very beginning would deliver to the hands of Kaṁsa all the sons to which Devakī would give birth. This was the most liberal proposition offered by Vasudeva to Kaṁsa.
The demigods boast uselessly while away from the battlefield. Only where there is no fighting can they show their prowess. Therefore, from such demigods we have nothing to fear. As for Lord Viṣṇu, He is in seclusion in the core of the hearts of the yogīs. As for Lord Śiva, he has gone to the forest. And as for Lord Brahmā, he is always engaged in austerities and meditation. The other demigods, headed by Indra, are devoid of prowess. Therefore you have nothing to fear.
Kaṁsa's ministers told Kaṁsa that all the exalted demigods had fled in fear of him. One had gone to the forest, one to the core of the heart, and one to engage in tapasya. "Thus you can be free from all fear of the demigods," they said. "Just prepare to fight."
SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)
This demon, who still has four arms, will be immune to old age and death, and he will serve as one of your principal attendants. Thus he will have nothing to fear on any account.
The false ego gives shape to illusory material existence and thus experiences material happiness and distress. The spirit soul, however, is transcendental to material nature; he can never actually be affected by material happiness and distress in any place, under any circumstance or by the agency of any person. A person who understands this has nothing whatsoever to fear from the material creation.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Madhya-lila
The brāhmaṇa then began to think that if the people didn’t directly see the Gopāla Deity, they would not believe that He had arrived. "But even if Gopāla stays here," he thought, "there is still nothing to fear."
Hearing this from Rāmānanda Rāya, the Lord again requested him to go a step further. In reply, Rāmānanda Rāya said, “Loving service to Kṛṣṇa rendered in fraternity is the highest perfection.
As long as loving service is rendered to the Lord in the master-servant relationship, there is some fear, for the servant is always afraid of the master, despite the intimacy of self-interest. In this stage the servant is always afraid of the master and respectful of Him. When the devotee is further advanced, he has nothing to fear. He considers the Lord and himself on an equal level. At such a time, the devotee is fully convinced that Lord Kṛṣṇa is a friend and cannot at all be dissatisfied if the devotee lives with Him on an equal level. This understanding is called viśrambha, that is, devoid of a respectful attitude. When this attitude is chosen, it becomes sakhya-prema, or love of Godhead in friendship. On this stage there is developed consciousness of equality between the Lord and the devotee.
Rāmānanda Rāya replied, "My Lord, You are the supreme independent personality. You have nothing to fear from anyone because You are not dependent on anyone."
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead
A devotee is never afraid of death or of changing his body; his consciousness is transformed into Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and even if he does not go back to Godhead, even if he transmigrates to another material body, he has nothing to fear. A vivid example is Bharata Mahārāja. Although in his next life he became a deer, in the life after that he became completely free from all material contamination and was elevated to the kingdom of God. The Bhagavad-gītā affirms, therefore, that a devotee is never vanquished. A devotee's path to the spiritual kingdom, back home, back to Godhead, is guaranteed. Even though a devotee slips in one birth, the continuation of his Kṛṣṇa consciousness elevates him further and further, until he goes back to Godhead. Not only does a pure devotee purify his own personal existence, but whoever becomes his disciple also becomes purified and is ultimately able to enter the kingdom of God without difficulty. In other words, not only can a pure devotee easily surpass death, but by his grace his followers can also do so without difficulty.
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
So they, such yogis, as it is recommended here, yogī yuñjīta satatam ātmānam. One who is actually ascendent on the yogic principles, his first function is that he remains alone. He has no society. He cannot remain in society. Yogī yuñjīta satataṁ rahasi sthitaḥ, ekākī. Ekākī means alone. Or more clearly it is stated. Ekākī yata-cittātmā nirāśīr aparigrahaḥ. Nirāśīḥ, there is no expectation that "By functioning yoga, I shall achieve this power." And aparigraha, and he does not take anything from anybody. Who is going to give him? He is ekākī, he is alone in a secluded place, in, sometimes in jungle, in forest, in mountain. And who is going to give him anything? He doesn't expect because he is firmly convinced that "For whom I have become yogi...I am not alone. My Paramātmā is always with me." He's a yogi of... Unless..., what kind of yogi he is? He is... Although he remains superficially alone, but he knows that "Wherever I go, my Paramātmā friend, who is sitting with me on my heart, He is with me. So I have nothing to fear. So I have nothing to fear." Yata-cittātmā. Ekākī yata-cittātmā nirāśīr aparigrahaḥ. He does not accept anything for anyone.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
This is the version of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Take shelter of Kṛṣṇa. Samāśritā ye pada-pallava-plavam. Pada-pallavam, lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, yaśo murāreḥ. Murāri is Kṛṣṇa. One who has taken shelter of the lotus feet, which is compared with a boat, plavam, then he has nothing to fear from this material ocean of darkness. And this place, this material world, which is darkness, and where there is danger, step by step... Padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ na teṣām. Teṣām, for them, it is not for them. It is for the persons who want to remain in the darkness. And one who does not want to remain in darkness, for him, tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta (SB 11.3.21). He has to take shelter of the bona fide guru.
If you are serious about not remaining in darkness, as it is said in the Vedas, tamasi mā jyotir gama. If you take this instruction of Vedas... Vedic instruction you have to take. Otherwise you'll suffer. That is Vedas. Why Veda is there? To give you intelligence. Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said, anādi-bahirmukha jīva kṛṣṇa bhuli' gela ataeva kṛṣṇa veda-purāṇa karila (CC Madhya 20.117). These rascals, anādi-bahirmukha jīva, bereft of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, jīva, they do not know when they have forgotten Kṛṣṇa. Anādi. Anādi means even before creation.
So rakṣanti bhakti, tad-bhaktimataḥ parebhyo mattaś ca. Now, Yamarāja says mattaś ca. Not only from the enemies, but mattaḥ means "my men," the Yamadūtas. Because they were surprised. The Yamadūtas were surprised: "How is that? Some four-handed, very good-looking persons came and checked our duty." So therefore Yamarāja said that "The devotees are protected from the Yamadūtas by the men of Yamarāja." Mattaś ca, martyān atha sarvataś ca. Therefore a devotee has nothing to fear. He is protected from the attack of enemies, from the attack of Yamadūtas. How is that? There are many hundreds and thousands of instances—Prahlāda Mahārāja, Haridāsa Ṭhākura... But don't think that a devotee will not have enemies. A devotee may have anything. Oh, he may be attacked by enemies. He may be attacked with severe type of diseases and so many things. But he will be protected. That is the difference between a devotee and a nondevotee. A nondevotee is neglected. That is stated by Prahlāda Mahārāja, that people may discover so many antibiotics or antiseptics for giving protection, or "anti—" measures, but unless he is given protection by Kṛṣṇa, all those "anti—" devices will not protect, help him. That is certain.
Correspondence
1968 Correspondence
So we require a lot of pictures in stock; and wherever we open our centers, we must have at least Panca-tattva picture, Visnu picture, Sankirtana painting, and Spiritual Master's picture, and Radha Krishna painting—they are all required. Therefore, Krishna has sent so many devotees to work on the painting department, so we have to utilize them fully, so their service is fully utilized for advancing in Krishna Consciousness.
Thanking you once more for your sincere service, and I hope you are well.
Your ever well-wisher,
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
NB So far Advaita is concerned, please do not be too much worried, because Krishna will save him. Krishna has promised to always give all protection to His devotees, so you may rest assured that Krishna will take very good care of him. Please confer my blessings to Advaita, and tell him to keep his faith in Krishna, and not to fear the people imprisoning him. Fear personified cannot remain in the presence of Krishna. And the authorities there are simply like wooden dolls, or puppets, in the Hands of the Dance-Master, Krishna. So there is nothing to fear, simply it is to be considered a botheration, nothing more. Encourage him to chant continuously, and not to notice the activities of the prison-wardens. ACB
1970 Correspondence
The clue is given there in the Bhagavad-gita that the living entities are fragmental parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord, this means that all the qualities of Krsna are therefore present in minute quantity in each of His parts and parcels. That is simultaneously one and different philosophy—the living entities thus have free will because they are parts of Krsna and Krsna has free will, but the free will of Krsna is Supreme while the freedom of the parts and parcels is minute. So if the living entity out of love subordinates his free will to Krsna that is his liberation. He is no longer forced to act helplessly, but he acts freely rendering loving devotional service to Krsna in every way. Then we have the practical conclusion from Krsna confirmed by Him in Bhagavad-gita (18:66), "Just surrender unto Me; and in return I shall protect you from all sinful reactions. Therefore you have nothing to fear." In this way astral influences are also material and therefore they do not affect the devotee who has taken protection of Krsna's internal energy, by surrendering his life and soul in the service of the Lord.
1972 Correspondence
In the verse that you refer to, Krishna says to Arjuna, "Give up all varieties of religiousness, and just surrender unto Me; and in return I shall protect you from all sinful reactions. Therefore, you have nothing to fear." This verse is actually the essence of the whole Bhagavad Gita. Throughout the Gita, Krishna describes the different processes of spiritual realization to Arjuna - karma yoga, jnana yoga, samkhya yoga - but at the end He says to give up all the different religious systems and just surrender to Him. This is the topmost yoga system, and is the goal of all the others. So this is our process. We don't perform any ritualistic ceremonies for some material gain or economic development, nor do we waste our time in mental speculation to try to find out the Lord with our tiny brain, nor do we perform so many difficult penances and austerities or gymnastic exercises for becoming one with God. We simply surrender to Krishna and His representative, and serve Him with the consciousness that "My Lod, I am Yours. Please always keep me engaged in Your service and protect me from maya." This is real religion, and is the natural position of the living being. I hope this will answer your questions.
After all, this world is full of darkness and controlled by the demons, so difficulties are there certainly. But if we stick to the lotus feet of Krsna, these difficulties will be over, just like a child jumps over the pit caused by the hoof of a calf. Krsna fought with so many demons so fighting is not prohibited if it is for the good cause. But one thing is, these are young boys, so actually if you approach them humbly and you yourself go to their leaders and speak to them nicely about Krsna Consciousness they will agree to leave us alone, that I think. But if you make big armed confrontation and show of strength there will be continuous fighting more and more. Better to resolve the whole situation by approaching their leaders at once and reconciling everything with them by bringing them prasadam and other nice gifts and giving them our philosophy, and if they are willing to hear it, also teach them how to chant Hare Krsna mantra. These are innocent young boys, they are simply misled, so you go to them and give them the right information and then you will have nothing more to fear from them. But if you think buying a shotgun is necessary, that is all right, we have to defend Krsna's temple if it comes to it.
At such young age, from the first night onwards, she can never for a moment forget him, being still child and unspoiled, therefore she becomes the perfect chaste wife, and in those times the wife was so much devoted to her husband that she would voluntarily die in the fire of his cremation, unable to live without him. Myself, I was very young when I got married, and my wife was 11 years only. But there is no question of separation in our marriage belief, neither your daughter will ever be separated from that boy, that is their vow. Rather, it is when people are a little grown-up, when they have got little independence and their own ways of doing things, then if they marry there is often difficulty to adjust, just as it is more difficult to bend the bamboo when it is yellow. So I can assure you that you may have nothing to fear that your daughter has married such a nice boy: bahunam janmanam ante, jnanavan mam prapadyante, vasudevah sarvam iti, sa mahatma sudurlabhah (BG 7.19). Krishna assures us that "After many many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare." (Bhagavad-gita, VII, 19). In this light, try to view these children.
| Page Title: | Nothing to fear |
| Compiler: | Matea |
| Created: | 22 of Jul, 2010 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=2, SB=13, CC=3, OB=2, Lec=3, Con=0, Let=5 |
| No. of Quotes: | 28 |