Material Fear and Anxiety

In connection with our upcoming trip to Sri Vrindavan Dhama, some people have expressed concern about traveling to India after the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai. If someone really thinks about it, though, the logic is quite faulty. It's like someone is Europe saying, "We should never go to anywhere in America again, because once there was a terrorist attack in New York City"! The fact is that terrorism, calamities, accidents and death can happen anywhere and at anytime. Every time we get into a car we're facing the possibility of an accident or death.

So does that mean we stay locked inside of our houses and never do anything due to fear and anxiety about what bad things could happen? Even if we stayed inside of our house we could be struck with a heart attack and die instantly. There's no fool-proof escape from death. Just as in the movie "Final Destination", they tried to alter their destiny or fate in so many ways to avoid death, but in the end death always found a way to get them. Death is an inevitable part of life.

We have two ways to deal with the reality of death. We can A) choose to be always fearful and in anxiety, worrying about how to avoid it and worrying about how and when it will happen or B) we can surrender to Krishna's will and desire and understand that it is Krishna's plan when and how we will have to leave our material body. The first option is full of material fear, anxiety, stress and worry. These are all mental concoctions and have no benefit, either physically or mentally. It is the mind only that begins to obsess about future events and possibilities. It is the mind only that creates the illusory world of "what if". The mind is such a powerful tool that can have extremely detrimental effects upon us, if we choose to listen to it.

In the second option, fear and anxiety are replaced by a sense of calm acceptance. It's akin to living in the now. When the mind is silenced you begin to realize that the only thing existing is the present moment. And in that present moment, with a silenced mind, you can perceive Krishna's presence and energy. It takes a deep faith to experience this. If we truly, genuinely believe in Krishna and that Krishna is protecting us and with us, then there is no possibility of fear or anxiety. And even if so-called, seemingly "bad" things happen, we are then able to see it as Krishna's loving arrangement. If the terrorist comes kicking the door in and shooting up the room, we can see how it's really Krishna coming to forcibly take us away, back to Goloka Vrindavan.

It's like Radharadhya said in a comment on one of my posts, when St. Terese saw her coughing up of blood as her Lord and lover embracing her and coming to take her away. It's all about perception and consciousness. The more we surrender to Krishna, the less fear and anxiety we will experience, but the more we hold on to our false ego and our attempts to control the material energy, the more our fear, anxiety and stress will increase.