Fear and the way out

“This world is a place of fear. The most prominent expenditures within society today, all over the planet, are based on fear.” – Radhanath Swami.

People put a lot of time, energy and money into building hospitals and buying medicines. It is all based on fear of disease, fear of death. The cosmetic industry is really based on fear: people are afraid of not looking beautiful, and people are afraid of looking old even though they are. So they just cover the cracks and crevices and put so many things. People are afraid of smelling bad. So, there are so many colognes, so many perfumes, so many deodorants, and everything like that. I am not saying you should use or not use, I am just saying that it is based on fear, whether you know it or not.

And even eating, we are afraid of being hungry. Why do people work? One of the prime motivations for getting a job and working 9 to 5 or for whatever hours we have, is fear. We are afraid of poverty, we are afraid of hunger, we are afraid of not having a proper shelter or house, and so we work so hard. People are also afraid of dishonor, and are afraid of failure. In schools, students are very much afraid of not getting proper grades. So, how much are people motivated by fear in this world? The major expenditure of most nations is defense.

Fear is a suffering condition. There is the saying, “The only thing to fear is fear itself.” But how can you not fear fear? As long as you are thinking, ‘I am the body, I am the proprietor, I am the enjoyer,’ you must fear, because the whole material nature is threatening you at every moment.

bhajahū re mana śrī-nanda-nandana abhaya-caraṇāravinda re

Therefore, devotee prays to the mind, “Please my mind, just remember Krishna, just worship the son of Nanda, then you will be fearless.” And therefore, the only real happiness in life is taking shelter of Krishna. Everything else is a strategic plan of Maya to perpetuate our fear and suffering, everything else except taking shelter of Krishna.