Wonder as Worship - The Way of the "jignyAsu" -- Part 3

[Guest guest]

(continued from Part 2)

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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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