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Fear of the Unknown

Fear of the unknown plays a big role in our lives. We keep sticking to the sickening routine because we do not know what lies in the domain of the unknown. We like to use the tested brands, buy flat in a known area, like to visit the places for which we have got the feedback, continue with the jobs and businesses that we do not like, continue in the suffocating relationships, and so on. Somehow, we have great fear in the domain of the unknown.

On the other hand, we have people like Columbus and Vasco Da Gama who dared to travel in ships crossing the continents to an unknown world in an era when there were no mobiles or communication systems and these new continents were not even known. How did they have so much confidence in their dreams? What gave them the courage to enter into the sea full of storms and tough weather conditions, with almost 100% chance of losing their lives, to follow a very foggy vision of their dream? Where did this dream come in the first instance when the entire society was busy celebrating its ignorance?

What inspired Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Swami Vivekananda, Paramhansa Yogananda, Shankaracharya, Buddha, and Mahavira to follow that unknown path? A path that is followed by none of their contemporaries. A path having no goal or destination. A path of in fact dropping all the goals and destinations. Why would somebody like Buddha leave all the comforts of the palace and go to the forest and remain hungry? Why would Rama go to the forest when Bharata, for whom Kaikeyi asked the boons, is himself dying to bring Rama back to Ayodhya? Why would Sri Aurobindo who is so well educated that he can write poetry in many languages, leave all the glory in his footsteps and leave worldly pursuits? Why would J Krishnamurti throw away the golden cage set up by his well-wishers? 

Fear is a product of laziness. All the infants are free of fear. They just want to explore freely because freedom is our basic nature. Slowly, our society makes us lazy. It confines our exploration to the domain of the known. Only the books that fit into the syllabus should be read, we should strictly adhere to the social and organizational norms, and so on. Slowly this conditioning gets into our bones. In a strange and stupid bargain, we negotiate comforts giving away our freedom and that is the beginning of our slavery. Not so that it is difficult to see the cage as a cage but we do not want to see it. Because we are used to the comforts and pleasure of the golden cage. That is why we are afraid. Just like a drug addict afraid to miss the next dose of the drugs. Freedom comes with awareness. Awareness of the open sky to fly. Yes, there will be challenges but the challenges make us explore new possibilities. Once we come out of our comfort zone, our instincts become active again and we can now listen to the silent song of nature and sing with it.  

प्रवाह

flow.pravah@gmail.com

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