Just below the hill of Bodhnath, Richard (now Radhanath Swami) saw an interesting sight. A European tourist, over six feet tall, with muscles bulging from beneath his T-shirt, was marching through the field carrying a large bag of groceries. Suddenly, from out of the forest, a gang of brown monkeys surrounded him. Although each monkey was only a fraction of his size, they knew how to find his weakest point and attack. They snarled and bared their teeth, threatening him with intimidating gestures. They took small leaps toward their target, succeeding in attacking his mind. Finally, one of the little monkeys stalked right up to him and seized the grocery bag from his hands. While the monkeys clustered around the bag to devour the groceries, this giant of a man slipped away.
Seconds later, a skinny little Nepalese boy of about eight years old appeared on the scene and skipped towards the monkeys with a stone in his hand. The gang of bandits screeched, terror in their eyes. Suddenly, they abandoned the food and fled in all directions. The little boy collected up the groceries and sat down to dine. Meanwhile, the monkeys anxiously watched from a distance. I was amazed. What had just happened here? That playful boy was hardly the weight of one bicep of the Herculean European. The monkeys were unfazed by the threats of the giant because they sensed fear in his mind. But they feared the child because he had no fear of them. Richard (now Radhanath Swami) thought:
“We are vulnerable to defeat when our minds succumb to fear. The foreigner was unfamiliar with monkeys, but the Nepalese tot had lived around monkeys all of his life. So we fear what we don’t know. Through knowledge of our spiritual nature and sincere faith in God, we can overcome all fear. Please, Lord, bless me with such courage as I find my way to You.”
I once heard Radhanath Swami ask a question to the audience, “Who is our greatest enemy? A clue for you to guess- he’s also our best friend.” I was perplexed by the riddle. Radhanath Swami then revealed the answer, “If uncontrolled, our mind is the worst enemy, and if controlled he becomes our best friend.” To overcome fear, Radhanath Swami’s advice is we need to tackle the mind. He gives a simple example, “Have you seen how peacefully a child sleeps in the lap of his parent, even in a noisy, crowded train? The hustle-bustle disturbs everyone, but not the child-due to his implicit faith in the protection of his parent.” Similarly if we have implicit faith in the protection of God, we can overcome all fears in life.
Radhanath Swami explains that all fear originates in an unbalanced, unrealistic material conception of life. When we seek our sense of identity, self-worth, security and pleasure exclusively from our material positions and possessions, we open ourselves to fear. Why? Because the material realm is characterized by constant, unpredictable changes, which often threaten to destroy or harm whatever is dear to us. Therefore Radhanath Swami advices all seekers of Truth, “The more things change, the more we need to embrace the things that don’t change. The more we harmonize with our eternal spiritual nature, the more we become fearless.” Understanding that we are, at our core, spiritual and, hence indestructible, fills us with an unshakeable self-security; we recognize that worldly upheavals that affect our material assets have no power whatsoever to hurt us. Moreover, understanding that a benevolent God is ultimately orchestrating all material happenings helps us to see order amidst change, plan amidst chaos.
This shift of focus from self to God, Radhanath Swami assures, releases large reserves of mental energy, which are presently choked by our worry about the future. Radhanath Swami’s essence of all advice is, “Chanting God’s names gives us the calmness to see that most fears are imaginary, not real. The more we become free from fear of the future, the more we can fully absorb ourselves in our present duties.”
Table of Contents
Founder-acharya of the International Society For Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)
“Go to India” a sweet but commanding voice; spoke up in the heart of young Richard (later Radhanath Swami) who was immersed in meditation, his search for meaning in life has brought him to the Isle of Crete. Today he was ordered to go to India. Born and raised in the middle class suburbs of Chicago, Radhanath swami grew up in the 1950’s and 60’s era when popular musicians protested war, prejudice and social injustice. Radhanath swami would listen to these songs again and again, but their lyrics referring to God stirred his soul. Peter, Paul and Mary- the folk trio from Greenswich village sang in their debut album
“Early in the morning, about the break of day
I ask the Lord, to help me find my way”
This simple prayer was to guide Radhanath swami in the coming years of his life........
Hari Hari !
View Comment“So we fear what we don’t know. Through knowledge of our spiritual nature and sincere faith in God, we can overcome all fear. Please, Lord, bless me with such courage as I find my way to You.” This is very true. If our mind is trained by the knowledge of scriptures, then it becomes healthy and hearty and also strong.
View CommentFantastic lesson!
View CommentMaharaj has been learning from every sight of his life. It is amazing to see him contemplating on every aspect of day to day life…
View CommentThis shift of focus from self to God, Radhanath Swami assures, releases large reserves of mental energy, which are presently choked by our worry about the future – This is a profound and fantastic statement.
View CommentThank You for Posting Such a Nice Articles, I Also Found http://www.radhanathswamionline.com to Be a Very Good Site.
View CommentVery powerful article. It discloses the secret of our misery in material life- untrained mind and not knowing our true spiritual identity.
View CommentMaharajah has given us the simple solution
““Chanting God’s names gives us the calmness to see that most fears are imaginary, not real. The more we become free from fear of the future, the more we can fully absorb ourselves in our present duties.”
All Glories To.H.H Radhanath Swami Maharaj
Wonderful narration.
Hare Krishna
View CommentRadhanath Swami is beautifully explaining the role of our mind in our success or failure.
View Comment‘The more things change, the more we need to embrace the things that don’t change.’
View CommentPanacea for all our ‘fear’ maladies!
Awesome! The profundity of Radhanath Swami’s realizations through such experiences is awe inspiring.
very beautiful article, haribol bhakti
View Commentthe mind influences us every moment and we must be able to focus ourselves in the right direction and take the right decision eventually, very meaningful learning from this article, regards, rajesh karia
View Comment“understanding that a benevolent God is ultimately orchestrating all material happenings helps us to see order amidst change, plan amidst chaos”- wonderful statement.
View CommentVery nice article on how to overcome fear……..
View Comment“Through knowledge of our spiritual nature and sincere faith in God, we can overcome all fear. Please, Lord, bless me with such courage as I find my way to You.” This meditation of Radhanath Swami is very touching. The incident of monkeys what Radhanath Swami witnessed and the analogy of child sleeping peacefully in mother’s lap amidst disturbances are worth meditating to get the realisation that knowldge of Krishna is our only chance to win over this material world.
View Commentthank you very much
View Commentradhanath swami is simply superb, how nicely he illustrated to convert our fear with faith and trust in the supreme lord,
View CommentRadhanath Swami so nicely explains that all fear originates in an unbalanced, unrealistic material conception of life.
View CommentThank you for sharing this article by Radhanath Swami. Visit http://www.radhanath.com for details of his book – The Journey Home.
View Commentvery nice article on how to overcome fear
View Commentnice article
View CommentBeautifully explained by Radhanath Swami:
“all fear originates in an unbalanced, unrealistic material conception of life.”
“Understanding that we are, at our core, spiritual and, hence indestructible, fills us with an unshakeable self-security; we recognize that worldly upheavals that affect our material assets have no power whatsoever to hurt us. Moreover, understanding that a benevolent God is ultimately orchestrating all material happenings helps us to see order amidst change, plan amidst chaos”
View Comment“Through knowledge of our spiritual nature and sincere faith in God, we can overcome all fear. Please, Lord, bless me with such courage as I find my way to You.”
View CommentVery encouraging isn’t it!
Radhanath Swami is has something to learn and share from every encounter !!
View Commentexcellent!
View CommentHH.Radhanath Swami’s words “Chanting God’s names gives us the calmness to see that most fears are imaginary, not real. The more we become free from fear of the future, the more we can fully absorb ourselves in our present duties” are very inspiring
View CommentRadhanath Swami is right! The only way to move from a fearful stage to a joyous and blissful state is to remove our faiths from artifical temporary material things and shift to the eternal Lordships and serving them humbly will bring us true Joy!And thus experience Peace and Joy under their protection and shelter just like the child in the train
View CommentTrue! As long as a Leaf,fruit or flower stays connected to the Tree or plant till then it is glorified appreciated.The moment it looses connection to the tree it looses its value and is always in fear of being trampled upon or destroyed.Similarly our conncetion to God and His service is the only thing that can save us from constant fear and anxiety .Thank you Radhanath Swsami
View CommentThis is a beautiful discourse on how we can be fearless by self realization and realization of God. Thank you Maharaj!
View CommentSuch profound but practical wisdom! If we acquire true knowledge of our real identity as spirit soul, we will learn to not have fear of the future.
View CommentVery nice reflection of minds power
View CommentAmazing thoughts!! Thanks Maharaj.
View CommentBrilliant analysis : “Radhanath Swami explains that all fear originates in an unbalanced, unrealistic material conception of life. When we seek our sense of identity, self-worth, security and pleasure exclusively from our material positions and possessions, we open ourselves to fear. Why? Because the material realm is characterized by constant, unpredictable changes, which often threaten to destroy or harm whatever is dear to us.”
View Commentwhat a wonderful explanation.Thank U Maharaj
View CommentKrishna consciousness truly creates a sense of fearlessness which i have personally experienced
View CommentSuch deep and profound thoughts have been made so easy for us to apply to our lives.Thank you for continuously guiding us Maharaj
View CommentI sometimes had that fortune of experiencing the potency of that divine sound vibration of God’s holy names
View CommentThis is really a very inspiring meditation through which we can overcome our fear and engage in our natural propensity to Love God. Thanks for sharing this wonderful meditation.
View CommentRadhanath Swami has nicely conveyed the message about the importance of controlling the mind
View CommentThis is the great meditation by Radhanath Swami. As Radhanath Swami says there is a great difference between bravory and strength. Most of the fears of this world are because of bodily consciousness.
View CommentBeautiful meditation. There is no fear of the known. Radhanath Swami teaches us how to know God and then see God in everything, circumstance and situation. Thus fearlessness is guaranteed.
View CommentVery nice insightful article
View CommentVery nice article !
View CommentWonderful article.
View CommentAmazing realization!
View CommentAmazing depth in Maharaj’s analysis of this world!
View CommentSuch an important lesson, as fear is something each of us has experienced. And when one has implicit in God, this fear dissolves. Radhanath Swami teaching the most simple way 2overcome fear……
View CommentWonderful article. Surely faith in the almighty and by connecting to him we will forget all the fear of this world.The lord will act as our Father.
View CommentThank you Radhanath Swami for the wonderful meditation. As Radhanath Swami says when we take up chanting of holy names fo Lord, then we automatically become fearless.
View CommentSuch a nice lecture by Radhanath swami.
View Comment