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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00013 Oct 2004

 
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             (continued from Part 2)
------------------------------------------------------


The "ArthA" turns to worship of God out of acute
distress caused by Fear. Fear ("bheeti", "bhaya") is
one of the most primal reasons for worship and 'Fear
of the Unknown' is the most terrifying of all. It is
the 'Mother of all Fears' spawning a myriad other
terrifying 'unknowns' in life. 

It takes only a few common examples to help well
understand the nature of this Fear.

** Death is certainty, of course, but Life after
Death, we know, is dark and terrible 'unknown', isn't
it? It fills us with strange unease if not dread to
even speculate about the fate awaiting us all after we
have shed our moral coils.

** The thought of an uncertain 'Tomorrow' -- i.e. the
Future with all its surprises, twists and
imponderables lying in wait to ambush us -- 'Tomorrow'
is yet another great 'unknown' fear for all men. 

** The probability of unforeseen events is another
terrifying 'unknown' indeed. A fatal disease suddenly
striking us, a nasty mishap on the road disabling us
permanently, the loss of a job or a spouse, sudden
bankruptcy, the uncertain future of our beloved
children... all these 'unknowns' are  deep-seated
fears and anxieties that torment most of us all
through our lives. 

The list of 'unknown' fears lurking within and
haunting Man, if one were to recount them, would
simply go on endlessly. The tragedy of the human
condition is that it is generally helpless in coping
with this distress. In the constant struggle we wage
to overcome our deep anxietes, it often seems to us we
can never emerge outright victors. Fear paralyzes men.
It makes us all cringe. Vedanta describes such a state
of abjectness as the "tamas" that afflicts the
"ArthA". 

Even fearful men, however, do have hope. The hope of
Worship. Such men, the "ArthA", turn to pious Worship,
according to the Gita, and seek relief from the
distress of Fear. Just as a child, fearing unknown
ghosts in the Dark, instinctively grabs the hand of
anyone -- even totally 'unknown' strangers -- who may
happen to be beside and clings dearly to him or her,
so too does the terrified "ArthA" reach out in Worship
to grasp and cling to the solace that lies in the
unseen, unknown Hand of God. 

                   **********
              (to be continued)
Regards,
dAsan,
Sudarshan


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