23 November 2013 - QA 4

Gurudev, how can I gain control over fear?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: This is what we were discussing just now. It is like asking how can you control or get rid of your own shadow. How will you trap your shadow? Catch hold of your own neck, not your shadow.
Who tries to catch a shadow? When you turn away from the Light (of the Self), that is when you see your shadow. When you turn inwards to the Self, then where is the question of the shadow any longer?
When you have love, devotion and a sense of surrender (to the Divine), then where is the space left for any fear? When you have surrendered totally to the Divine, there can be no fear. When your life is filled with love for everyone, there can be no fear.
If there is unshakeable love for something, be it any object, aim, person or a greater cause, such as that of your country, then there is no place for fear.

Recently, some 350 ULFA militants had come to the Ashram and they stayed here for a month. Each one had a very touching and surprising life story. They were just 17 to 18 year old kids who left their homes and families to liberate Assam (from the Indian Union) and give it a separate statehood
. They had been misled for years by being told that there was so much oppression and injustice being done to the people of Assam. They went into hiding in the jungles and dedicated their lives to the cause of liberating Assam. Such was the dedication with which they had set out for this cause. They would many times get food only once in a week. Their stories of struggle and survival are worth listening.
They would many times cook the same rice four times and drink the water of it. They would have no idea where they would get place to sleep in the jungle. Such were their days. They would keep wandering from one place to another.
These so-called terrorists too did such a great penance for the cause. They were only 17 to 18 years of age. They showed pictures of themselves holding guns in uniforms. Many times they did not have food or water to survive. Yet there was no fear.

When they did the Sudarshan Kriya, they experienced such a profound change within themselves. The look on their faces changed, their whole lives were transformed.