By: Mahant Jay Jaggessur Saheb, September 30th, 2017
We all have some kind of fear and while we live with this fear, we are almost all the time on our guard. On our guard lest something happens. For instance, people who are afraid they may lose their money take all kinds of precautions to prevent thieves from getting to their money. The fear is about losing something; something dear to us, something we do not want to let go of. It could be money, property, relationships… But what if we do not have anything? Then we would have nothing to lose.
Satguru Kabir Saheb taught us to live every moment of our life joyfully and in harmony with all other living beings because God is present in all of us. We have nothing to lose by living joyfully and by loving everyone. But we are often exposed to all kinds of perversions which make us feel we are different than others. Because of these perversions, we develop a negative outlook on some people and start liking and disliking them. Satguru Kabir Saheb says:
“Dosh Paraaye Dekhi Kari, Chalaa Hasant Hasant; Apne Yaad Na Aavayi Jinkaa Aadi Na Ant.”
In other words, all the negative things we think of, all the bad qualities we think others have, we also possess them. If we are thinking of these bad qualities in others and disliking them for that, then we are in fact the ones who possess these bad qualities but to a greater extent. We laugh at others for the bad qualities we think they are guilty of having; but if we really think about it, there is no beginning or end to these same qualities in our own life. The fear of losing our respect in society makes us downgrade others so that we can be looked up to. We want others to look up to us as respectful; so we start finding faults in everyone else.
We are also full of desires and full of worries. Desires, because we want to obtain something, achieve something. Worries, because we fear that we might not obtain what we want, that we may not achieve what we want to achieve. But Satguru Kabir Saheb teaches us to rid ourselves of these desires which will also clear our worries. No desires, no worries.
Once we stop having desires, which in turn make us worriless, our mind becomes carefree. And when someone is carefree, has no desires, he is a king; in full control of his life. Because of these fears of not achieving our objectives, we fall in the trap of worries and are not able to live our life joyfully and peacefully.
There once was an Emperor who wanted to reward his ministers and advisers for the good work they were doing. As his kingdom was in the mainland, he decided to go on a cruise and bring all his ministers and advisers on that cruise. When the ship started to sail, all of them were very happy to enjoy the sea trip, with the exception of one adviser who was very worried. He was crying, not eating, not sleeping. As he was always whining and complaining and creating trouble, the other ministers/advisers could not enjoy the trip. The Emperor tried all means to calm him down, but in vain. One day, one of his advisers proposed to the Emperor that he could do something to resolve the problem. The Emperor was happy, and told him to go ahead, and that if he was successful, he will also get a reward. So, the adviser requested two men to grab the troublemaker and throw him at sea. Of course the troublemaker was more upset and struggled, but the two men managed to throw him at sea. As soon as he was in the water, he started to struggle to keep afloat, crying for help. He sank, and came to the surface a few times after which the adviser instructed to throw the lifeguard to him and pull him back on the ship. When he came back on board the ship he realized the real nature of his fear. He realized how very safe he was on the ship, and that he was complaining for no reason. He realized the value of being safe, and that he should not live in the fear of something that had not happened yet. Instead, he should enjoy the present moment. From that time, he started enjoying the trip and was no more a trouble to the other passengers.
This story shows us how we often unnecessarily live in fear, in the fear of something that has not happened, or may never happen. We should enjoy each and every moment of our life instead of living in the fear of losing.
