Fearless

Have you ever seen a toddler learning how to walk? As long as his attention is focused on his father, he is relaxed and in perfect balance. But as soon as he looks down at his wobbly legs, he loses his footing and falls.

Likewise, we are spiritual babies, learning to walk on the path of Sant Mat. As long as we keep our focus on the Master, we find that we are in complete balance, oblivious to the happenings around us. But the moment we turn away from Him, and look down at our wobbly and sorry state, we are overcome with fear and fall to pieces.

How often have we questioned the Lord about why, at our lowest moment, He seems to have forsaken us. He lovingly explains that He is always there with us. If we cannot see Him or feel His presence, it is our own lacking and failing. His grace is ever flowing, like a bountiful spring of water offering a cool drink to the thirsty soul. But if our hearts are not receptive, our thirst can never be quenched. As Maharaj Charan Singh explained to a disciple:

Master is looking at every single one of us on the inside all the time.
_{Thus Saith the Master}

These are turbulent times in which we live. Mankind is harassed by tensions, fears and phobias. The collective disease of humanity is that man is so hypnotized by the world, so engrossed in worries and fears, that he has forgotten his true essence, that which is beyond thought and form. He is so consumed by time, that he has forgotten eternity. Instead of focusing his gaze on the Lord, he looks down at his wobbly legs and finds it difficult to hold his stance. His fear keeps him rooted on the spot, or worse, it allows him to fall.

To some extent we are all afraid, and when we allow this fear to dominate our thoughts, we forget all logic, and react badly to the events that play out before us. Like a deer that is caught in the headlights, instead of running off the highway to safety, it freezes in its tracks, waiting for the accident to happen.

We allow fear to take control of our thoughts and our lives, be it the fear of flying or the fear of dying; the fear of illness, pain or suffering. And the pain that we feel is very real to us – so real that it can sometimes be unbearable, leaving us crying in agony. But this suffering is of our own making – our destiny is the outcome of our past karmas.

Fortunately, the Master does not leave us to face these karmas alone. He faces these times with us, supporting us so that we don’t lose our balance. Time and again, he shows us in many ways that his presence in our lives is even more real than the pain that we experience. We have only to keep our focus on him, like the child who is focused on his father, taking his baby steps towards the father’s outstretched embrace, oblivious to all that is around him. Maharaj Charan Singh lovingly explains:

Whatever karmas we are born with, whether they are good or bad karmas, we have to go through them without losing our mental balance, taking them as the will of the Father.

Whatever we have sown in the past birth, whether it is good or bad karma, we have taken this birth now to reap the results of those karmas. So we have to live in the will of the Lord and pay for all those karmas without losing our balance. We can do this only if we are filled with love and devotion for the Father. Without this love and devotion it is not possible for us to live in the will of the Lord.
_{Thus Saith the Master}

The Master’s protecting hand is always within our reach, helping us retain our balance, shielding us from being buffeted by our karmas. As the saying goes: “The will of God will never take you where the grace of God cannot protect you.”

Whatever may happen, wherever we may go, the Master’s grace is always with us, like a shelter that protects us from the raging storm. He has tied us to himself with this knot of initiation and given us the ways and means to turn our focus to him and him alone – through meditation.

With the help of meditation, you are able to rise above these fears and you are able to shed them all. Otherwise, in one way or another, you are always frightened of something or other. We must attend to our meditation, and slowly and slowly, we are able to shed all those fears, and we become fearless. Then we’re not frightened of anything, whatever may happen in this creation. Meditation makes us fearless.
_{Maharaj Charan Singh, Thus Saith the Master}