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Overcoming fear by connecting to God
October 1, 2010  |  radhanath-swami

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.”

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121 Comments


  1. wonderful,thank you

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  2. Thanks to Radhanath Swami for sharing this lesson with all of us.

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  3. It depicts how one can become fearless by power of knowledge and strict practice of spirituality.

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  4. Radhanath Swami’s instruction is absolutely valid that to overcome fear, we need to surrender to God & depend upon His mercy & protection. Chanting the Holy Names does help us to overcome the fear of the unknown.

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  5. taking shelter of the source which is all pervading through any existence is the ultimate choice and this is the instruction by radhanth swami, very much acceptable,

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  6. Indeed Radhanath Maharaj is very correct in his understanding that the origin of all fears is in the mind and one who takes complete shelter of the Supreme Lord can free himself of all fears.Our only hpoe is chanting of the Holy name.Thanks Maharaj for this revelation.

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  7. Radhanath swami gains profound realisation from his day to day experiences

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  8. Very True. We can overcome fear by surrendering to god. God is the supreme protector.

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  9. Thanks for sharing the wonderful article on how to overcome fear. This is very enlightening. Thanks.

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  10. Thank you Radhanath Swami to help us overcome fear

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  11. Very nice thank you maharaj

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  12. Very nice article.

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  13. Radhanath Swami is teaching us through examples it is so important to control the mind.

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  14. Maharaj rightly explained that sincere faith in God, we can overcome all fear.

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  15. Thank you Maharaj for such a realistic solution to such Imortant and common problem for most of us.
    This is what differentiates a saint and normal person like me I could have seen similar examples but never would hvae contemplated like this.GREAT!!!

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  16. thank you,wonderful

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  17. Radhanath Swami’s ability to bring out such profound lessons from apparently ordinary day to day incidents as the one in this article is incredible. Most would be shocked, scared or excited about what happened but probably would miss the profound wisdom.

    Thanks to Radhanath Swami for his deep insights

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  18. Radhanath Swami’s ability to bring out such profound lessons from apparently ordinary day to day incidents as the one in this article is incredible. Most would be shocked, scared or even excited about what happened but probably would miss the wisdom hidden within.

    Thanks to Radhanath Swami for his deep insights

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  19. Radhanath Swami explains that all fear originates in an unbalanced, unrealistic material conception of life. This means that fearlessness is in having a balances and spiritual conception of life. If we want fearless lives, we must lead spiritual lives.

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  20. rambaboo maheshwari

    In the association of Radhanath Swami or his association through his teaching one gets fearlessness.

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  21. SUPER. REALISATION,
    THANKS FOR SHARING

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  22. I realy like example of mother and child that he gives. Hopefully one can I can become fearless as a child…

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  23. Inspiring article on overcoming fear…….

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  24. thank you maharaj

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  25. Jitendra Pardeshi

    Thank you Radhanath Swami Maharaj for giving the key to the intrinsic security, everyone is looking for. It comes by the shifting the focus from the self to God.

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  26. Thanks for explaining the words of Maharaj

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  27. “Through knowledge of our spiritual nature and sincere faith in God, we can overcome all fear.” — such a wonderful prayer by Radhanath Swami.. I too pray for the same.

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  28. CS Sandeep Shinde

    Very nice article. Thank you very much.

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  29. satchidanand R SAtpute

    thats great technique and understanding. It is usually taught to fear god but its first time somebody I read oepning coming with Idea of loving GOD which is fabulous. Great way of living life that would make life great now I could understand how in that love saints can live austier life relishing that love in their life.

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  30. Through knowledge of our spiritual nature and sincere faith in God, we can overcome all fear. A clear message from Radhanath Swami.

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  31. Maharaj has gift of observing and relating it to GOD’s arrangement.. He gives really powerful lessons like the one explained above.. thanks.. JAI !!!

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  32. Thank you very much Radhanath Swami.

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  33. Mind is truly amazing, simultaneously a friend and a foe.
    It is up to us to befriend it to help us in our quest for peace in our lives.

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  34. Through knowledge of our spiritual nature and sincere faith in God, we can overcome all fear.

    this is a golden statement by Radhanath Swami Maharaj.

    also the below passage is quite inspiring:
    “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.”

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  35. Amazingly expalined by Maharaj how to overcome fear.

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  36. Maharajah has given perfect everlasting solution to overcome all kind of fear
    “Through knowledge of our spiritual nature and sincere faith in God, we can overcome all fear”.
    and then easiest way to do it
    “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.”

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  37. thanks Radhanath swami for sharing this article.

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  38. “Similarly if we have implicit faith in the protection of God, we can overcome all fears in life” Thank you Radhanath Swami for teaching us to be fearless.

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  39. I also have personal experience of this in childhood. Once When i was going to home in dead night alone on a lonely road surrounded by dense trees, i was tensed and fearful, suddenly I found myself chanting Lord Ram’s name and there was a sense of security and protection .
    It is natural for living being to seek protection in fearful condition and ultimate protection is when one takes shelter of the names of the Lord.

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  40. very deep insight

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  41. we must be attached to good and bad attachment will go

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  42. Radhanath swami shared wonderful thing about fear & how we can become fearless ..thanks

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  43. wonderful way to become fearless
    Thank you radhanath swami .

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  44. Maharaj can adroitly see the hidden lessons in day-to-day activities which we neglect of fail to heed to.

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  45. What a powerful article! Thank you Radhanath Swami!!!

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  46. When Radhanath Swami says that fear originates in an unbalanced, unrealistic material conception of life. It really is wonderful piece of guidance

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  47. M Pandu Rangayya Shetty

    “Fear not, utterly surrender to me.”- Krishna tells in Bhagavad – Gita.Here Radhanatn Swami giving training how to surrender to Krishna in every endeavor. All glories to Radhanath Swami.

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  48. This article truly 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. THANK YOU VERY MUCH MAHARAJ!!

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  49. Yogita Jagannathan

    Practically all industries operate on the fear psychosis of a human being. As Radhanath Swami has said here, the more we place our faith in the eternal Lord, more will we be free from any type of fear in our lives.

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